Herman Olcott
Herman Olcott went 47–30–12 as a head coach, 1902–1918, at North Carolina, NYU, Kansas and Great Lakes Navy. Share
Nine seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1902–03 at North Carolina; 1907–12 at NYU; 1918 at Great Lakes Navy. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 47–30–12 career
- Seasons
- 12
- Schools
- 4
- AP poll
- Began in 1936, after this career
- Best season
- 1915 6–2
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1902 | North Carolina * | 5–1–3 | ||||
| 1903 | North Carolina * | 6–3 | ||||
| 1904–06: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 1907 | NYU * | 5–2 | ||||
| 1908 | NYU * | 2–3–2 | ||||
| 1909 | NYU * | 6–1–1 | ||||
| 1910 | NYU * | 2–4–1 | ||||
| 1911 | NYU * | 1–3–3 | ||||
| 1912 | NYU * | 2–6 | ||||
| 1913–14: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 1915 | Kansas | 6–2 | 2nd | |||
| 1916 | Kansas | 4–3–1 | 5th | |||
| 1917 | Kansas | 6–2 | T–2nd | |||
| 1918 | Great Lakes Navy * | 2–0–1 | ||||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against rivals | 9 | 5–3–1 | 61% |
| Conference games | 12 | 7–4–1 | 63% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 6 | 5–0–1 | 92% |
| At home | 13 | 9–3–1 | 73% |
| On the road | 11 | 7–4 | 64% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 14 | 11–2–1 | 82% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 10 | 5–5 | 50% |
His own 24 games on file, 1915–1917, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bennie Owen 1915–1917 | 2–1 | Oklahoma | 3 | |
| Henry Schulte 1915–1917 | 2–1 | Missouri | 3 |
Herman Olcott’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Emporia Stateseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| Washburnseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| Missouriseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Oklahomaseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Kansas Stateseries | 3 | 2–0–1 |
| Nebraskaseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Iowa Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Illinoisseries | 2 | 0–2 |
Coaching tree
Assistants who became head coaches
- Potsy ClarkKansas, Nebraska, Michigan State, Butler, Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Lions
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potsy Clark | Kansas, 1916: assistant coach | Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan State, Butler, Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Lions |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.