Coach Profile
1976-1979 • Northern Illinois
One defining program at Northern Illinois.
Pat Culpepper's coaching record is 14-29-1, highlighted by seasons at Northern Illinois from 1976 to 1979.
Pat Culpepper coached 4 seasons, won 33.0%, and posted an average SRS of -19.9. Best season: 1979 Northern Illinois. The profile was defense-first with a highly volatile profile. One primary stint defined the run.
Career Dossier
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
Primary school anchor
Northern Illinois
Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 16.1.
Quick Answers
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
44 countable games, 33.0% win rate.
4 countable seasons at Northern Illinois.
4 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
0 games using AP ranking at game time.
0 games using AP ranking at game time.
Ball State-Northern Illinois games in this dataset.
0 scored postseason games in this dataset.
0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Nov 24, 1979. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.
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.
Active comparison point
5-5-1 • SRS -9.9 • SP Overall -6.2
Win %
50.0%
YoY SRS
+6.8
SP Off / Def
17.8 / 23.7
Finish
Unranked
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
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.
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Northern Illinois
1976-1979 • 4 seasons
Avg SRS -19.9 • Win % 33.0%
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.
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Pat Culpepper sets the reference point in overall strength.
Pat Culpepper sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Pat Culpepper
Lower end
Lower end
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
1976-1979 • 14-29-1
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg wins
Higher is better
3.5 during vs 5.0 baseline
-1.5
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-19.9 during vs -12.1 baseline
-7.9
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-16.0 during vs -12.5 baseline
-3.5
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
High Points
Best Season
Northern Illinois 1979
5-5-1 • SRS -9.9
Biggest Improvement
Northern Illinois 1977
3-8 • 15.7 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Northern Illinois 1978
5-6 • SP Off 24.7
Best Defensive Season
Northern Illinois 1979
5-5-1 • SP Def 23.7
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Northern Illinois 1976
1-10 • SRS -34.4
Biggest Drop
Northern Illinois 1978
5-6 • 2.0 SRS
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Northern Illinois | 1979 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 50.0% | — | — | -9.9 | -6.2 | 17.8 | 23.7 | +6.8 | +4.5% | Season summary |
| Northern Illinois | 1978 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.5% | — | — | -16.7 | -9.8 | 24.7 | 33.4 | +2.0 | +18.2% | Season summary |
| Northern Illinois | 1977 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 27.3% | — | — | -18.7 | -17.8 | 12.0 | 29.8 | +15.7 | +18.2% | Season summary |
| Northern Illinois | 1976 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 9.1% | — | — | -34.4 | -30.2 | 7.6 | 36.3 | — | — | Season summary |
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.3
Avg SRS -21.3 • Peak SRS -12.2 • 4 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.0
Open profile →avg SRS within 0.1 • volatility within 0.3
Avg SRS -19.8 • Peak SRS -6.6 • 6 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 9.2
Open profile →same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.6
Avg SRS -18.4 • Peak SRS -10.2 • 5 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 5.5
Open profile →avg SRS within 0.3 • volatility within 1.0
Avg SRS -20.2 • Peak SRS -9.2 • 3 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 8.0
Open profile →avg SRS within 1.5 • volatility within 0.0
Avg SRS -18.4 • Peak SRS -6.8 • 3 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 8.9
Open profile →same defense-first identity • career span within 1 years
Avg SRS -16.7 • Peak SRS -9.3 • 3 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.5
Open profile →