Defense-FirstDefense-First

Coach Profile

Lou Tepper

1992-1996 • Illinois

One defining program at Illinois.

Lou Tepper coached 5 seasons, won 45.6%, and posted an average SRS of 5.8. Best season: 1994 Illinois. The profile was defense-first with a highly volatile profile. One primary stint defined the run.

Compare this coach All coach records Ranked opponent record Jump to seasons

Career record: 25-30-2
Career win rate: 45.6%
Average SRS: 5.8
Peak SRS: 19.5

Career Dossier

One glance at the full arc.

The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.

Seasons coached: 5
Career span: 5 years
Best finish: —
Consistency: 27.5

Primary school anchor

Illinois

Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 83.0.

Career Arc

Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.

Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.

Lou Tepper

EliteStrongAverageLean

1992Actual season year • SRS range -5.4 to 19.51996

Active comparison point

Lou Tepper • 1994

Selected

1994 Illinois

Best seasonBiggest improvement

7-5 • SRS 19.5 • SP Overall 21.7

Win %

58.3%

YoY SRS

+13.8

SP Off / Def

33.3 / 12.4

Finish

Unranked

Comparison context

Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.

Ranked opponent record

Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.

Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.

Poll source

AP Top 25Coaches Poll

Ranking timing

Time of gameSeason final

Top 25

4-16-1

Games: 21
Win rate: 21.4%

Top 10

0-5-1

Games: 6
Win rate: 8.3%

Top 5

0-3-1

Games: 4
Win rate: 12.5%

View ranked game results21


1996 Regular Week 12	Illinois	Ohio State	#2	L0-48
1996 Regular Week 11	Illinois	Iowa	#25	L21-31
1996 Regular Week 10	Illinois	Northwestern	#11	L24-27
1996 Regular Week 3	Illinois	USC	#19	L3-55
1996 Regular Week 2	Illinois	Michigan	#12	L8-20
1995 Regular Week 12	Illinois	Ohio State	#2	L3-41
1995 Regular Week 10	Illinois	Northwestern	#8	L14-17
1995 Regular Week 4	Illinois	Arizona	#17	W9-7
1995 Regular Week 3	Illinois	Oregon	#24	L31-34
1995 Regular Week 2	Illinois	Michigan	#13	L14-38
1994 Regular Week 12	Illinois	Penn State	#2	L31-35
1994 Regular Week 9	Illinois	Michigan	#11	L14-19
1994 Regular Week 7	Illinois	Ohio State	#17	W24-10
1993 Regular Week 13	Illinois	Wisconsin	#12	L10-35
1993 Regular Week 12	Illinois	Penn State	#16	L14-28
1993 Regular Week 9	Illinois	Michigan	#13	W24-21
1993 Regular Week 7	Illinois	Ohio State	#6	L12-20
1993 Regular Week 4	Illinois	Arizona	#15	L14-16
1992 Regular Week 12	Illinois	Michigan	#3	T22-22
1992 Regular Week 7	Illinois	Ohio State	#21	W18-16
1992 Postseason Week 1	Illinois	Hawai'i	#20	L17-27

Tenure map

Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

Illinois

1992-1996 • 5 seasons

Avg SRS 5.8 • Win % 45.6%

Longest tenure: Illinois • 5 seasons
Best tenure: Illinois • 5.8 SRS
Best tenure win rate: Illinois • 45.6%

Style and Strength Profile

Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.

These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.

Overall Strength

Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.

Lou Tepper sets the reference point in overall strength.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Lou Tepper sets the reference point in overall strength.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

Lou Tepper

Strong

Raw avg SP Overall: 6.0
Percentile: 75th pct

Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.

Impact by school

See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.

Illinois

1992-1996 • 25-30-2

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 5.8Win % 45.6%

Avg wins

Higher is better

5.0 during vs 6.6 baseline

-1.6

Avg SRS

Higher is better

5.8 during vs 6.0 baseline

-0.2

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

6.0 during vs 6.8 baseline

-0.9

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

0.0% during vs 40.0% baseline

-40.0%

Career highs and lows

High Points

Best Season

Illinois 1994

7-5 • SRS 19.5

Biggest Improvement

Illinois 1994

7-5 • 13.8 SRS

Best Offensive Season

Illinois 1994

7-5 • SP Off 33.3

Best Defensive Season

Illinois 1994

7-5 • SP Def 12.4

Setbacks

Worst Season

Illinois 1996

2-9 • SRS -5.4

Biggest Drop

Illinois 1996

2-9 • -14.0 SRS

Season-by-season results

Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.


Illinois	1996	11	2	9	0	18.2%	—	—	-5.4	-6.3	28.7	34.1	-14.0	-31.8%
Illinois	1995	11	5	5	1	50.0%	—	—	8.6	9.8	25.5	16.9	-10.9	-8.3%
Illinois	1994	12	7	5	0	58.3%	#21	—	19.5	21.7	33.3	12.4	+13.8	+12.9%
Illinois	1993	11	5	6	0	45.5%	—	—	5.7	3.7	24.0	21.0	+5.0	-8.7%
Illinois	1992	12	6	5	1	54.2%	—	—	0.7	1.0	23.7	23.0	—	—

Best finish Unranked • Volatility 7.9

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