BARTLESVILLE FOOTBALL COACH SEARCH ONGOING, COULD BE RESOLVED BY CHRISTMAS
By Mike Tupa
Dec. 3, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Without knowing firsthand Bartlesville Athletic Director Thad Dilbeck’s Christmas wish list, there’s one gift he would dearly love Santa to deliver by Christmas morning.
A new head football coach is installed and ready to go.
“We’re still receiving resumes and still vetting potential candidates,” Dilbeck said Tuesday, adding the opening has drawn major interest from multiple places.
Outgoing head coach Harry Wright led the program for four years prior to his recent resignation. Among his accomplishments was to guide the team into the playoffs all four years — a new team record. But the team never experienced a winning record.
“We’re talking to people on the phone and doing our research,” he continued. “There’s kind of a way of doing this. … There may be some potential candidates and their teams may still be playing.”
Dilbeck hopes to make the announcement within the next few weeks so that the coach can be ready to go full bore in offseason conditioning once the new semester starts.
The incoming skipper will be the 12th head coach in the 45-year history of Bruin football (once next season kicks off). The others, along with their records, have been Mickey Ripley (1982-1993, 59-72, 5 playoff appearances), Tom Wheeler (1994-95, 1-19), Lee Brower (1996-99, 16-24), Rich McGuire (2000-03, 20-21, 1 playoff appearance), Greg Willis (2004-05, 4-16), Ron Smith (2006-10, 26-27, 2 playoff appearances), John McKee (2011-2017, 32-31, 2 playoff appearances), Kyle Ppool (2017, 1-7), Lee Blankenship (2018, 4-6), Jason Sport (2019-21, 8-23, 1 playoff appearance) and Harry Wright (2022-25, 16-30, 4 playoff appearances).
With the Bruin veterans set to return in 2026, the new coach should have plenty of talent — and experience — on which to try to steer the program back to a consistent winning path for the first time in a decade.
Among the slated returnees will be junior-to-be quarterback Michael Kent — who has nearly a year-and-a-half of starting experience under his belt — and several other warriors that have seen substantial playing time since their freshman or sophomore years.
“It’s important we continue to spend a lot of time in the weight room,” to keep the pace of development and getting stronger and more athletic going without interruption, Dilbeck said, which is one reason he hopes to have the new leadership in place prior to school starting up after Christmas.
“We want somebody with a proven track record,” he said about the resume of the new coach. “We want an experienced head coach who has experienced success. We want the coach to not only bring confidence in his leadership and confidence in the community in their ability to lead the football program.”
Dilbeck also praised the effort of Wright in his labor with Bruin football.
“I really, really think very highly of coach Wright,” Dilbeck said. “He’s been nothing but professional. He leaves the program in better shape than when he came. No one can question that he’s put in a lot of time. Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way he expected them to or we hoped they would go. He’s certainly been dedicated.”
Wright inherited a Bruin team that had recorded only eight wins the previous three seasons. During his first two campaigns (2022, 2023), the team improved to back-to-back 5-7 records and first-round playoff wins. But the program relied on a serious youth movement while starting the next two seasons (2024, 2025) at 0-7 and 0-6, respectively.
The new coach should hopefully benefit from the refinement due to the growing pains of the past two seasons.