Back to Coaches
Peak DominatorBalancedLong Career

Coach Profile

Don Nehlen

1968-2000 • Bowling Green, West Virginia

2 schools coached, anchored by West Virginia.

Don Nehlen coached 30 seasons, won 61.0%, and posted an average SRS of 4.4. Best season: 1988 West Virginia. The profile was balanced with a highly volatile profile. 2 stints shaped the career arc.

Compare this coachAll coach recordsRanked opponent recordJump to seasons
Career record
202-128-8
Career win rate
61.0%
Average SRS
4.4
Peak SRS
22.9

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
30
Career span
33 years
Best finish
#5
Consistency
34.3

Primary school anchor

West Virginia

Balanced profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 89.7.

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.

Don Nehlen
EliteStrongAverageLean
Don Nehlen: 1980 West Virginia
1968Actual season year • SRS range -13.2 to 22.92000

Active comparison point

Don Nehlen • 1988

Selected

1988 West Virginia

Best season

11-1 • SRS 22.9 • SP Overall 25.5

Win %

91.7%

YoY SRS

+11.7

SP Off / Def

45.9 / 23.7

Finish

#5

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

12-50-2

Games
64
Win rate
20.3%

Top 10

2-20-1

Games
23
Win rate
10.9%

Top 5

1-16

Games
17
Win rate
5.9%
View ranked game results64
2000 Regular Week 9West VirginiaNotre Dame#20L28-42
2000 Regular Week 8West VirginiaVirginia Tech#3L20-48
2000 Regular Week 5West VirginiaMiami#12L10-47
1999 Regular Week 11West VirginiaVirginia Tech#3L20-22
1999 Regular Week 10West VirginiaMiami#23L20-28
1998 Regular Week 10West VirginiaVirginia Tech#15L13-27
1998 Regular Week 9West VirginiaMiami#25L31-34
1998 Regular Week 2West VirginiaOhio State#1L17-34
1998 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaMissouri#21L31-34
1997 Regular Week 10West VirginiaVirginia Tech#19W30-17
1997 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaGeorgia Tech#25L30-35
1996 Regular Week 14West VirginiaVirginia Tech#17L14-31
1996 Regular Week 10West VirginiaMiami#25L7-10
1996 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaNorth Carolina#10L13-20
1995 Regular Week 13West VirginiaMiami#25L12-17
1994 Regular Week 14West VirginiaSyracuse#22W13-0
1994 Regular Week 13West VirginiaBoston College#17W21-20
1994 Regular Week 9West VirginiaMiami#7L6-38
1994 Regular Week 5West VirginiaVirginia Tech#14L6-34
1993 Regular Week 14West VirginiaBoston College#11W17-14
1993 Regular Week 13West VirginiaMiami#4W17-14
1993 Regular Week 7West VirginiaLouisville#17W36-34
1993 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaFlorida#5L7-41
1992 Regular Week 10West VirginiaMiami#1L23-35
1992 Regular Week 9West VirginiaPenn State#14L26-40
1992 Regular Week 8West VirginiaSyracuse#14L17-20
1992 Regular Week 6West VirginiaBoston College#22T24-24
1991 Regular Week 13West VirginiaSyracuse#16L10-16
1991 Regular Week 11West VirginiaMiami#2L3-27
1991 Regular Week 9West VirginiaPenn State#8L6-51
1990 Regular Week 11West VirginiaPenn State#21L19-31
1989 Regular Week 10West VirginiaPenn State#16L9-19
1989 Regular Week 5West VirginiaPittsburgh#10T31-31
1989 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaClemson#12L7-27
1988 Regular Week 13West VirginiaSyracuse#14W31-9
1988 Regular Week 5West VirginiaPittsburgh#16W31-10
1988 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaNotre Dame#1L21-34
1987 Regular Week 13West VirginiaSyracuse#4L31-32
1987 Regular Week 10West VirginiaPenn State#16L21-25
1987 Regular Week 3West VirginiaOhio State#5L3-24
1987 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaOklahoma State#11L33-35
1986 Regular Week 10West VirginiaPenn State#2L0-19
1986 Regular Week 7West VirginiaMiami#1L14-58
1986 Regular Week 4West VirginiaMaryland#13L3-24
1985 Regular Week 9West VirginiaPenn State#3L0-27
1985 Regular Week 4West VirginiaMaryland#17L0-28
1984 Regular Week 9West VirginiaBoston College#11W21-20
1983 Regular Week 10West VirginiaMiami#5L3-20
1982 Regular Week 8West VirginiaPenn State#9L0-24
1982 Regular Week 6West VirginiaBoston College#19W20-13
1982 Regular Week 5West VirginiaPittsburgh#2L13-16
1982 Regular Week 2West VirginiaOklahoma#9W41-27
1982 Postseason Week 1West VirginiaFlorida State#13L12-31
1981 Regular Week 8West VirginiaPenn State#1L7-30
1981 Regular Week 6West VirginiaPittsburgh#4L0-17
1980 Regular Week 9West VirginiaPenn State#13L15-20
1980 Regular Week 8West VirginiaPittsburgh#12L14-42
1980 Regular Week 4West VirginiaMaryland#19L11-14
1974 Regular Week 7Bowling GreenMiami (OH)#19L10-34
1973 Regular Week 8Bowling GreenMiami (OH)#16L8-31
1972 Regular Week 2Bowling GreenPurdue#18W17-14
1971 Regular Week 5Bowling GreenToledo#20L7-24
1970 Regular Week 7Bowling GreenToledo#19L0-20
1968 Regular Week 9Bowling GreenOhio#16L27-28

Tenure map

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

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

West Virginia

1980-2000 • 21 seasons

Avg SRS 7.6 • Win % 61.4%

Bowling Green

1968-1976 • 9 seasons

Avg SRS -3.0 • Win % 59.8%

Longest tenure
West Virginia • 21 seasons
Best tenure
West Virginia • 7.6 SRS
Best tenure win rate
West Virginia • 61.4%

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.

Don Nehlen sets the reference point in overall strength.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Don Nehlen sets the reference point in overall strength.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

Don Nehlen

Strong

Raw avg SP Overall
8.9
Percentile
82th pct

Strong

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.

West Virginia

1980-2000 • 149-93-4

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

Avg SRS 7.6Win % 61.4%

Avg wins

Higher is better

7.1 during vs 5.2 baseline

+1.9

Avg SRS

Higher is better

7.6 during vs 1.9 baseline

+5.7

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

9.7 during vs 4.0 baseline

+5.7

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

28.6% during vs 20.0% baseline

+8.6%

Bowling Green

1968-1976 • 53-35-4

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

Avg SRS -3.0Win % 59.8%

Avg wins

Higher is better

5.9 during vs 7.2 baseline

-1.3

Avg SRS

Higher is better

-3.0 during vs -5.4 baseline

+2.5

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

6.5 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

West Virginia 1988

11-1 • SRS 22.9

Biggest Improvement

West Virginia 1987

6-6 • 13.5 SRS

Best Offensive Season

West Virginia 1988

11-1 • SP Off 45.9

Best Defensive Season

West Virginia 1981

9-3 • SP Def 12.3

Setbacks

Worst Season

Bowling Green 1970

2-6-1 • SRS -13.2

Biggest Drop

West Virginia 1989

8-3-1 • -14.2 SRS

Season-by-season results

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

West Virginia20001275058.3%——4.912.241.332.0+2.3+22.0%
West Virginia19991147036.4%——2.62.833.231.9-12.4-30.3%
West Virginia19981284066.7%#11—15.016.340.827.7+13.0+8.3%
West Virginia19971275058.3%——2.05.134.731.6-7.4-8.3%
West Virginia19961284066.7%——9.411.826.715.5+4.7+21.2%
West Virginia19951156045.5%#23—4.72.626.624.8+4.3-8.4%
West Virginia19941376053.8%#24—0.43.128.626.4-11.8-37.8%
West Virginia199312111091.7%—#712.218.939.423.2+6.1+37.1%
West Virginia19921154254.5%——6.18.332.425.8+5.00.0%
West Virginia19911165054.5%——1.14.624.420.2+5.0+18.2%
West Virginia19901147036.4%#25—-3.9-6.722.028.3-12.6-34.5%
West Virginia19891283170.8%#17#218.713.234.422.4-14.2-20.8%
West Virginia198812111091.7%#16#522.925.545.923.7+11.7+41.7%
West Virginia19871266050.0%——11.212.733.221.6+13.5+13.6%
West Virginia19861147036.4%——-2.3-3.126.229.2-7.0-31.8%
West Virginia19851173168.2%——4.71.518.917.7-6.4+1.5%
West Virginia19841284066.7%——11.113.427.814.6-1.5-8.3%
West Virginia19831293075.0%—#1612.616.132.918.3-1.70.0%
West Virginia19821293075.0%—#1914.318.331.914.4-2.00.0%
West Virginia19811293075.0%—#1716.319.330.712.3+10.6+25.0%
West Virginia19801266050.0%——5.77.633.327.4+10.5-4.5%
Bowling Green19761165054.5%——-4.84.932.028.5-10.2-18.2%
Bowling Green19751183072.7%——5.413.830.717.7+4.9+13.6%
Bowling Green19741164159.1%——0.512.430.419.0+4.0-10.9%
Bowling Green19731073070.0%——-3.54.831.428.2-2.0+5.0%
Bowling Green19721063165.0%——-1.510.823.313.1-0.2+5.0%
Bowling Green19711064060.0%——-1.33.529.927.8+11.9+32.2%
Bowling Green1970926127.8%——-13.2-4.417.221.3-11.0-32.2%
Bowling Green19691064060.0%——-2.2———+4.1-5.0%
Bowling Green19681063165.0%——-6.3—————

Similar coaches

Related profiles are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.

Frank Howard

same balanced identity • avg SRS within 0.9

Balanced

Avg SRS 3.5 • Peak SRS 14.5 • 30 seasons

Best finish #10 • Volatility 8.2

Open profile →

Andy Gustafson

same balanced identity • avg SRS within 0.5

Balanced

Avg SRS 4.9 • Peak SRS 16.7 • 20 seasons

Best finish #6 • Volatility 7.5

Open profile →

Dick Tomey

same balanced identity • volatility within 1.9

Balanced

Avg SRS 1.5 • Peak SRS 17.4 • 29 seasons

Best finish #4 • Volatility 9.7

Open profile →

George Welsh

same balanced identity • avg SRS within 1.8

Balanced

Avg SRS 6.2 • Peak SRS 20.6 • 28 seasons

Best finish #15 • Volatility 6.6

Open profile →

James Phelan

same balanced identity • volatility within 0.2

Balanced

Avg SRS 7.3 • Peak SRS 21.2 • 27 seasons

Best finish #5 • Volatility 8.0

Open profile →

Wayne Hardin

same balanced identity • avg SRS within 0.7

Balanced

Avg SRS 5.2 • Peak SRS 19.6 • 18 seasons

Best finish #2 • Volatility 7.5

Open profile →