Jesse Harper
Jesse Harper went 57–17–7 as a head coach, 1906–1917, at Alma, Wabash and Notre Dame. Share
Six seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1906–07 at Alma; 1909–12 at Wabash. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 57–17–7 career
- Seasons
- 11
- Schools
- 3
- AP poll
- Began in 1936, after this career
- Hall of Fame
- 1971 inducted
- Best season
- 1913 7–0
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | Alma * | 3–2–3 | ||||
| 1907 | Alma * | 5–1–1 | ||||
| 1908: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 1909 | Wabash * | 3–4–1 | ||||
| 1910 | Wabash * | 4–0 | ||||
| 1911 | Wabash * | 3–3–1 | ||||
| 1912 | Wabash * | 5–2 | ||||
| 1913 | Notre Dame | 7–0 | ||||
| 1914 | Notre Dame | 6–2 | ||||
| 1915 | Notre Dame | 7–1 | ||||
| 1916 | Notre Dame | 8–1 | ||||
| 1917 | Notre Dame | 6–1–1 | ||||
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.
Players he coached
Frank RydzewskiConsensus All‑American, 1917
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against rivals | 7 | 5–2 | 71% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 8 | 5–2–1 | 69% |
| At home | 19 | 19–0 | 100% |
| On the road | 21 | 15–5–1 | 74% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 27 | 26–0–1 | 98% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 13 | 8–5 | 62% |
His own 40 games on file, 1913–1917, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Daly 1913–1916 | 2–2 | Army | 4 |
Jesse Harper’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 |
|---|---|---|
| South Dakotaseries | 5 | 5–0 |
| Armyseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Almaseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Haskellseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| Nebraskaseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Michigan Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Texasseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Rose Hulmanseries | 1 | 1–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1906–07 | Alma | Head coach | |
| 1909–12 | Wabash | Head coach | |
| 1913–17 | Notre Dame | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Assistants who became head coaches
- Knute RockneNotre Dame
Coached under him, later head coaches (1)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knute Rockne | Notre Dame, 1914–17: assistant coach | Notre Dame |
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.