Bill Blankenship: One Year Later

Bill Blankenship sat comfortably in his chair, slowly swaying from side to side with an obvious grin on his face. Behind him, along the wall, hung letterman's jackets that once belonged to great Tulsa players from years past. The history of a football program, hanging on the wall, just behind the next installment in the Tulsa football timeline.

Blankenship has been the head football coach at the University of Tulsa for one calendar year. He was hired on January 14, 2011, to replace Todd Graham. In his first season as the leader of the Golden Hurricane, Blankenship guided his alma mater to an 8-5 season.

"(My wife) Angie and I really have given a lot of thought to where we were emotionally and personally a year ago," Bill said this week. "That's kind of where it begins for me. Just the amazing changes that occurred in a real short amount of time."

Graham left for Pittsburgh on a Sunday. Blankenship was interviewed three days later and was handed the keys to the Tulsa program on that Friday. The whirlwind beginning to his tenure was appropriate foreshadowing to what would wind up being an opening season to remember for the Spiro native.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

Blankenship was called to the president's office shortly after he interviewed for the job. He was expecting to be told the university was set to hire someone else. Instead, they told him to move his things into the big office. He was off and running.

The Golden Hurricane football program went through a lot of adversity in the past twelve months, and Blankenship was there in the spotlight for all of it. The team suffered through heartache with the passing of three former players.

"It'll be okay if we don't have to do that for a while," he said with a sigh. "The highs are really high and the lows are really low."

Tulsa suspended star wide receiver Damaris Johnson for the season after the team found out he was involved in a felony embezzlement case. The move forced the Golden Hurricane to totally revamp every offensive game plan they had just three weeks before the season opener against No. 1-ranked Oklahoma.

"Absolutely," he replied when asked if he was ever tempted to allow Johnson back on the team. "I love Damaris Johnson. But, it really came down to, this happened, and we can't accept that."

Decisions like that weren't easy for Blankenship. He handled his head coaching obligations, interview requests and the constant flow of questions and added pressures that come with the job very well. He is loved by his players and respected by fellow coaches around the conference.

Related: Blankenship Weighs In On Johnson, NFL

ON THE FIELD

As an assistant and now head coach at Tulsa, Blankenship has been a part of 44 wins over five years. This season, the Golden Hurricane finished in second place in Conference USA's western division. All in all, he calls Year One a good starting point and an opportunity for growth.

"(8-5) is not what I expected. I expected more," he said in a serious tone. "Is it acceptable? Probably for some people. It's not acceptable for me."

Blankenship has found a way to build some chemistry in the locker room in his first season. On more than one occasion, media members waiting to ask postgame questions in the interview room could hear the team celebrating with loud cheers and singing. Bill admits those intimate moments under the stadium after wins, especially against SMU, are the moments that stick with him the most.

The losses, however, stick with him, too. Tulsa lost four games to teams ranked in the Top 10 in the polls at the time the game was played. The team also lost to BYU in the Armed Forces Bowl, 24-21. For Bill, when he looks at his final 8-5 record, the 5 represents too many missed chances.

"There's not a big difference between winning and losing. There's not a big difference between the teams that win the conference championship and the ones that don't," he said. "I felt like I needed to go a year through this job to get a sense for what the pieces of the job were."

LOOKING AHEAD

Bill didn't waste any time. Hours after the bowl game loss to the Cougars, the team's brazened leader started to scribble down ideas.

"I was on the bus riding back from Dallas and started to make a list of all of the things we needed to accomplish as a coaching staff and as players," said Blankenship. "You know, what were going to be some of the focuses going into spring if we're going to be the team I think we can be."

Numbers can lie. The record and stats don't tell the whole story, sometimes. The Golden Hurricane won two more games the season before Blankenship took over, but you can argue his 2011 team was better than the squad that won the Hawai'i Bowl.

Blankenship says he's definitely a better coach today than when he was hired last January. He walked into his introductory press conference on Day 1, wearing his suit and tie, ready to embrace the challenge ahead.

Twelve months later, he's proven that he was a good fit.

He's the man charged with leading Tulsa into the future of college football. Conference USA will join forces with the Mountain West Conference soon. Bill, no doubt, will attack that new challenge with similar zeal to the attitude that drove his Tulsa team to within a single win away from playing for the conference title.

"I think we can be more ‘all-in'. We've got to improve our play in a lot of areas and I think we can coach that," he said with a smile.

 He plans to spend the one year anniversary of getting his dream job on the road in a recruit's house. After all, the head coach is never off the clock.

At 55 years old, Blankenship is just getting started. If Year Two is anything like Year One, Tulsa fans will have something to cheer about again in 2012.