BARTLESVILLE BRUINS HEAD FOOTBALL COACH HARRY WRIGHT RESIGNS
Bartlesville High School head football coach Harry Wright resigned on Monday.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Nov. 19, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Bartlesville High School football fans won't see the familiar sight of Harry Wright walking the Bruin sidelines as head coach next season.
Following four years at the helm of the Bruin program, Wright has submitted his resignation. The timing allows Bartlesville to hire a new coach to take charge early in the offseason.
It can be difficult to characterize Wright’s era. Prior to his arrival, the team had won only 10 games the previous five seasons and only 13 the previous six seasons. The team also failed to earn a playoff berth those six seasons (although it did play in the 2020 postseason after the OSSAA opened the playoffs for every team due to a COVID-related shortage of teams.)
Wright's arrival brought immediate improvement. During his first two seasons (2022, 2023), the Bruins battled to respectable back-to-back 5-7 seasons — the first time Bartlesville had one at least five games in consecutive seasons since 2014-15.
But the team came in at 3-8 his next two seasons (2024, 2025), including the recently concluded 2025 campaign.
Perhaps the Wright era will be — and should be — best known for guiding the Bruins to four-straight playoff seasons.
In the 40 seasons prior to this arrival, Bartlesville had never been to the postseason more than two years in a row.
Now, it must be noted in fairness to the past Bruin teams that Wright’s tenure at Bartlesville coincided with an expanded playoff format that made it easier to qualify.
Even so, Wright did the right stuff to succeed according to the rules of his time.
In addition, his Bartlesville years should be remembered for guiding Bartlesville to back-to-back first-round playoff wins (2022, 2023) — the only time that has been achieved since the 1987 and 1988 teams.
Bad luck took a toll on the program during Wright's four years.
Some of those challenges included a declining number of players, injuries to vital personnel, losing his two best returning athletes in 2024 to transfers, the transfer loss before the 2024 season by arguably what would have his best returning players, some player turmoil late in the 2024 season that caused a major roster shakeup (but Wright still navigated the team to the playoffs), and piecing together a very young lineup — exacerbated by injuries to veterans — in 2025.
In his letter of resignation, Wright stated, “I want to express my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to lead the Bartlesville football program. It has been an honor to work with our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and the entire community. I’m grateful for the trust placed in me and for the support shown to both me and my family during my time here.”
Wright leaves as the 11th Bruin head football coach in 44 seasons. He and first coach Mickey Ripley were the only ones to guide Bartlesville to more than two playoff appearances.
Bartlesville hasn’t really followed a particular pattern in hiring football coaches.
Of the past six head coaches, including Wright, dating back to 2011, three were hired from outside the district, two were promoted from the Bruin assistant staff ranks, and the other was a former Bruin assistant that was still teaching in the school district.Assuming in this era of easy transfers that all the main Bruin players will be back next season, the new coach should have a lot of exceptional talent on which to build the program.