Bill Blankenship

Bill Blankenship (born December 12, 1956) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head high school football coach at Owasso High School in Owasso, OK.

He was the head coach of the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane from 2011 through 2014. Before entering the college ranks, Blankenship was a successful high school coach for over 20 years, with most of his success happening at Union High School in Tulsa, OK. He was named to the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009.

Playing career Blankenship played for the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane beginning in 1975 and served two stints as starting quarterback, 1977 and 1979.

Owasso High School On January 6, 2017, it was announced that Blankenship had accepted the vacant head coaching position at Owasso High School, a Class 6A-I program in Owasso, Oklahoma. Owasso went on to win the Class 6A-1 Oklahoma State Championship by defeating Union High School 21-14, breaking the 21-year Union-Jenks streak. In 2021, Blankenship led Owasso to an 8-3 record before losing to Broken Arrow High School, 41-40. In December 2023, Blankenship announced his decision to retire from coaching after seven seasons with Owasso.

In December 2024, after a season away from Owasso High School, it was announced that Blankenship will be returning as the school's head high school football coach.

College Coaching career University of Tulsa In 2005 Blankenship decided that he wanted to pursue seriously his goal of coaching at the college level. Days after winning his third state title in four years, he resigned as Union's head coach (and, later, as its athletic director). At the time, Blankenship said that he was resigning, in part, because otherwise potential employers would not believe he would be willing to leave his successful position at Union. He spent the following year out of coaching, and then accepted Tulsa Golden Hurricane head coach Todd Graham's offer to become receivers coach at Tulsa. After the 2010 season, Graham left Tulsa to become the head coach at Pitt. After a brief search, Blankenship was named Tulsa's new head coach on January 14, 2011.

Personal life Blankenship and his wife Angie are the parents of three sons: Josh, Caleb, and Adam, all of whom played football in high school and college. Josh Blankenship played quarterback at Tulsa before transferring to Eastern Washington, where he was a second-team Division I-AA All-American. He later played arena football, including three years as quarterback of the Tulsa Talons; after working as an assistant coach at Union and elsewhere, in December 2010 he was named head coach at Muskogee High School. Caleb Blankenship played tight end for four years at Tulsa, and was named to the John Mackey Award watch list his senior year, awarded to the Best Collegiate Tight End in Division I-A. Adam Blankenship played at Nebraska and Illinois State, was an assistant coach at Union, and in 2011 joined his father's new coaching staff at Tulsa.

Head coaching record College

Awards Merv Johnson Integrity in College Coaching Award, Oklahoma Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (2008). Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, 2009. Conference USA Coach of the Year, 2012.