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Peak DominatorBalancedLong Career

Coach Profile

James Phelan

1920-1947Missouri, Purdue, Saint Mary's (CA), Washington

4 schools coached, anchored by Washington.

James Phelan coached 27 seasons, won 61.6%, and posted an average SRS of 7.3. Best season: 1929 Purdue. The profile was balanced with a highly volatile profile. 5 stints shaped the career arc.

Career record
136-82-14
Career win rate
61.6%
Average SRS
7.3
Peak SRS
21.2

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
27
Career span
28 years
Best finish
#5
Consistency
31.6

Primary school anchor

Washington

Balanced profile with 4 program stops and a peak score of 87.0.

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.

James Phelan
EliteStrongAverageLean
James Phelan: 1922 PurdueJames Phelan: 1930 WashingtonJames Phelan: 1942 Saint Mary's (CA)
1920Actual season year • SRS range -15.9 to 21.21947

Active comparison point

James Phelan1929

Selected

1929 Purdue

Best season

8-0 • SRS 21.2 • SP Overall

Win %

100.0%

YoY SRS

+6.8

SP Off / Def

/

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
Ranking timing

Top 25

0-13

Games
13
Win rate
0.0%

Top 10

0-8

Games
8
Win rate
0.0%

Top 5

0-7

Games
7
Win rate
0.0%
View ranked game results13
1947 Regular Week 4Saint Mary's (CA)California#14L6-45
1946 Regular Week 8Saint Mary's (CA)UCLA#4L20-46
1946 Postseason Week 1Saint Mary's (CA)Georgia Tech#11L19-41
1945 Postseason Week 1Saint Mary's (CA)Oklahoma State#5L13-33
1943 Regular Week 4Saint Mary's (CA)Del Monte Pre-Flight#17L7-33
1941 Regular Week 6WashingtonStanford#17L7-13
1941 Regular Week 2WashingtonMinnesota#1L6-14
1940 Regular Week 3WashingtonMinnesota#4L14-19
1939 Regular Week 4WashingtonUCLA#11L7-14
1938 Regular Week 6WashingtonCalifornia#9L7-14
1938 Regular Week 2WashingtonMinnesota#2L0-15
1936 Regular Week 2WashingtonMinnesota#1L7-14
1936 Postseason Week 1WashingtonPittsburgh#3L0-21

Tenure map

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

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

Saint Mary's (CA)

1945-19473 seasons

Avg SRS -1.9 • Win % 55.6%

Saint Mary's (CA)

1942-19432 seasons

Avg SRS 1.6 • Win % 50.0%

Washington

1930-194112 seasons

Avg SRS 10.3 • Win % 62.7%

Purdue

1922-19298 seasons

Avg SRS 7.9 • Win % 60.5%

Missouri

1920-19212 seasons

Avg SRS 6.0 • Win % 81.3%

Longest tenure
Washington • 12 seasons
Best tenure
Washington • 10.3 SRS
Best tenure win rate
Missouri • 81.3%

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.

Not enough data to compare.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Not enough data to compare.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

James Phelan

Insufficient sample

Raw avg SP Overall
Percentile

Insufficient sample

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.

Saint Mary's (CA)

1945-194715-12

Baseline comparison is omitted when there are not enough outside-stint seasons for this program.

Avg SRS -1.9Win % 55.6%
No school baseline data available for this tenure.

Saint Mary's (CA)

1942-19438-8-1

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (3 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 1.6Win % 50.0%

Avg wins

Higher is better

4.0 during vs 4.3 baseline

-0.3

Avg SRS

Higher is better

1.6 during vs 5.9 baseline

-4.4

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

during vs baseline

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline

+0.0%

Washington

1930-194165-37-8

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

Avg SRS 10.3Win % 62.7%

Avg wins

Higher is better

5.4 during vs 7.4 baseline

-2.0

Avg SRS

Higher is better

10.3 during vs 10.0 baseline

+0.3

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

during vs baseline

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

16.7% during vs 0.0% baseline

+16.7%

Purdue

1922-192935-22-5

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

Avg SRS 7.9Win % 60.5%

Avg wins

Higher is better

4.4 during vs 2.2 baseline

+2.2

Avg SRS

Higher is better

7.9 during vs 2.5 baseline

+5.4

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

during vs baseline

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline

+0.0%

Missouri

1920-192113-3

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (4 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 6.0Win % 81.3%

Avg wins

Higher is better

6.5 during vs 4.0 baseline

+2.5

Avg SRS

Higher is better

6.0 during vs -2.0 baseline

+7.9

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

during vs baseline

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline

+0.0%

Career highs and lows

High Points

Best Season

Purdue 1929

8-0SRS 21.2

Biggest Improvement

Washington 1940

7-220.3 SRS

Best Offensive Season

Unavailable

Best Defensive Season

Unavailable

Setbacks

Worst Season

Saint Mary's (CA) 1947

3-7SRS -15.9

Biggest Drop

Washington 1930

5-4-21.1 SRS

Season-by-season results

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

Saint Mary's (CA)19471037030.0%-15.9-16.1-36.7%
Saint Mary's (CA)1946963066.7%0.2-9.8-8.3%
Saint Mary's (CA)1945862075.0%#710.0+8.4+46.4%
Saint Mary's (CA)1943725028.6%1.6+0.1-36.4%
Saint Mary's (CA)19421063165.0%1.5-10.4+9.4%
Washington1941954055.6%11.9-7.1-22.2%
Washington1940972077.8%#1019.0+20.3+33.3%
Washington1939945044.4%-1.3-6.6+5.6%
Washington1938935138.9%5.3-3.3-33.8%
Washington19371172272.7%8.6-6.2-2.3%
Washington19361072175.0%#514.8+1.2+12.5%
Washington1935853062.5%13.6+5.9-18.8%
Washington1934861181.3%7.7-3.5+25.7%
Washington1933954055.6%11.2-5.5-14.4%
Washington19321062270.0%16.7+0.3+8.9%
Washington1931953161.1%16.4+16.3+5.6%
Washington1930954055.6%0.1-21.1-44.4%
Purdue19298800100.0%21.2+6.8+31.3%
Purdue1928852168.8%14.4+3.4-6.3%
Purdue1927862075.0%11.0+3.2+6.3%
Purdue1926852168.8%7.8+2.9+25.0%
Purdue1925834143.8%4.9-3.6-27.7%
Purdue1924752071.4%8.5+11.6+40.2%
Purdue1923825131.3%-3.1-1.3+9.8%
Purdue1922715121.4%-1.8-10.2-53.6%
Missouri1921862075.0%8.4+4.9-12.5%
Missouri1920871087.5%3.5

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