How family, faith and innovation helped shape Bill Blankenship’s 40-year coaching career

Time has always been of the essence for Bill Blankenship.

Whether playing catch in the backyard with a group of his 13 grandchildren, in the congregation alongside his wife, Angie, at church, or talking into his headset to players on the sidelines — Blankenship centered his life around living in the present.

Yet, given his knack for establishing a gameplan to follow, it was his nature to covertly remain one step ahead of his intuition.

As the proverbial clock ticked away in his mind, Blankenship fully embraced the inevitable curtain call he'd anxiously awaited in previous months.

"I can read, and I can count, so I'm more than aware of what the calendar says my age is," Blankenship told The Oklahoman with a sheepish smirk, then a chuckle.

"I know the Lord says that we ought to number our days because that's the only way we gain wisdom."

After Blankenship spent the past four decades coaching at the high school and collegiate levels, he announced his retirement earlier this month at Owasso High School, where he won two state championships in seven seasons.

The 67-year-old exits the sidelines cemented as one of Oklahoma high school football's all-time best coaches.

In 35 years as a head coach, Blankenship won a combined five state championships at Tulsa Union and Owasso. He even added one in his lone season outside of the state when he coached at Fayetteville High in Arkansas.

There would be no Jenks-Union rivalry without Blankenship. Perhaps there is no split in Class 6A or even the East powers dominating the state.

“Bill is a legendary figure that has set the bar high for everyone,” said Bixby coach Loren Montgomery, a former Jenks assistant.

“He's a guy that's had success wherever he's been and in everything that he's done. I just think that speaks to his charisma, his knowledge of the game and the way he treats people.”

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A seed planted in concrete

The Blankenship story ultimately originates with Bill's grandmother, Golsie Rucker Blankenship — a single, impoverished mother of four living in Fairview during the height of the Great Depression.

Despite inhumane living conditions, she obsessed over keeping her four boys committed to their faith in church and remaining disciplined in school.

"When people hear about her story, they figure that she had nothing," Golsie's great-grandson and Mustang head football coach Lee Blankenship said.

"That couldn't be further from the truth — my great-grandmother walked alongside God every single step of the way," he continued. "It's not easy to be a woman in the middle of nowhere in rural Oklahoma trying to raise four sons. Her sacrifices during troubling times helped them become men of character."

Thanks to her immense influence, all four of her children earned their master's degrees in college over 20 years later. Golsie’s code of belief during the Depression laid a clear foundation of faith early in the roots of the Blankenship family tree.

"I wouldn't be," Blankenship said before he paused to gather his thoughts.

“This family wouldn't be where it is today had it not been for her faith,” he said. “I admire her for the belief of just knowing to stay plugged in at church. Truly, the legacy of faith in our family is incredible, and I just try to live up to that in everything I do. So, all the credit for the success you've seen from me just comes from my grandma."

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After the Depression, Golsie sought a fresh start. She planted roots in Spiro, a small town nearly 200 miles east of Oklahoma City on the outskirts of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

She had four boys. The third was Gerald, who became a coach who would ultimately influence his son, Bill, to follow his footsteps.

Gerald had a legendary coaching career throughout Bill's adolescence. He coached high school football and basketball at Spiro and Vian, retiring from coaching in 1986 with a record of 118-53 in football and 382-95 in basketball.

Gerald was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame in 1972. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In his coaching career spanning three decades, he made it a mission to embody his faith as he walked through life just as his mother did.

A mission that a young Bill Blankenship could do nothing but admire.

"I like to tell people that my dad was the Coach Blankenship," Bill said. "What impacted me most when I was younger was seeing how many of his former players would come to our house and knock on the door.

"I would just sit on the floor in awe of all these guys coming back that seem to have this special relationship with my dad. So, I think that probably some way planted the seed for me to want to coach at a young age."

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Introduction to coaching

Given his father's influence, Bill's love of football was inevitable.

His legendary journey with the pigskin began as a quarterback and linebacker at Spiro High School. Soon after, he transitioned to playing at the University of Tulsa from 1975 to 1979.

Initially, Blankenship had zero ambition to become a coach. His parents were against him working in public education due to the struggles they endured working in the Spiro school system.

Gerald always envisioned his son becoming a doctor or a lawyer.

Yet, after playing his first season under Golden Hurricanes coach F.A. Dry, Blankenship grew increasingly fascinated with the idea of coaching.

"His wisdom sparked a fascination and a further love for the game of football inside me," Blankenship said. "Probably through osmosis or something, I just absorbed all this stuff from him without wanting to become a coach, which made me want to do the same for others, too."

Blankenship worked with his dad at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for three years upon graduating from Tulsa. He intended to get a business job afterward but began to hear rumbles of a coaching opportunity at a private school in Tulsa.

As an amateur for the time being in the coaching ranks, Blankenship accepted the head coaching job at Eastwood Christian School.

"We weren't very good," Blankenship says. "Yeah, we struggled, but it made me fall in love with coaching even more."

Eastwood Christian shut down after Blankenship's only year there and began coaching as an assistant to long-time coach Steve Spavital at Sapula. After one year, he returned to his hometown and coached at Spiro for four seasons.

Blankenship saw his first success as a head coach, coaching the Bulldogs to 34 wins in four years while making two deep playoff runs, which included a state runner-up finish in 1988. Thanks to his success there, he was hired as the head coach at Edmond High School, the largest high school in the state at the time.

Following two modest seasons, Blankenship decided his time was up at Edmond with the district splitting into what is now a three-school system.

Blankenship's next move began as a leap of faith — the same belief he'd leaned on repeatedly up to that point in his life.

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Return to coaching in Tulsa

Blankenship was hired as the head coach of Tulsa Union High School in 1992, embarking on a historic 14-year run at the school in south Tulsa.

Blankenship won 27 games in his first three seasons. In his first season, he appointed a sophomore as his starting quarterback — Justin Fuente, who would later play at OU.

In his time under center for Union, Fuente threw for 6,104 yards and 65 touchdowns while being named The Oklahoman's All-State Offensive Player of the Year as a senior in 1994.

"I don't think Coach B gets enough credit for being the wizard he is on the sidelines," Fuente said. "He embodied what it means to be an innovator. We ran one running back offense when it wasn't exactly mainstream. We were no huddling and running plays back then that a lot of offenses run today — and that was 30 years ago."

Fuente would go on to become the starting quarterback at OU before he embarked on his own head-coaching career in which he led Memphis and Virginia Tech.

“Coach always had faith in me at times when I didn’t have it in myself as both a player and even when I got into coaching," Fuente continued. "He gave me a whole other understanding of what being a leader is supposed to look like."

Blankenship was 154-26 at Union, where he won three Class 6A state championships along with eight straight district titles. He made seven state championship games while helping establish the greatest rivalry in the state with Jenks along with legendary coach Allan Trimble.

For 21 consecutive seasons, Jenks or Union emerged victorious in the state's largest class.

"The matchups in both the season and the playoffs were always exciting and quite often came down to the wire," said current Jenks head coach Keith Riggs, who joined Trimble's staff in 2000.

"Coach Blankenship and Coach Trimble really raised the bar for high school football and set the standard early. Over time, teams started to catch up and play at a similar level, but it all started with them and those big rivalry games throughout the late 90s and early 2000s."

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By 2005, Blankenship felt it was time for a new challenge. He next decided to pursue his long-held dream of becoming a college coach shortly after his tenure at Union ended.

Following in-depth discussions with recently hired head coach Todd Graham, Blankenship was appointed assistant coach at the University of Tulsa in 2007. Then, in 2011, Blankenship took Graham's place as head coach at his alma mater. He guided the Golden Hurricanes to the Conference USA title in 2012 while being named Conference USA Coach of the Year.

Blankenship later spent one season as the head coach at Fayetteville High School, where his team went 12-1 and won the 2016 Arkansas Class 7A state championship.

In 2017, Blankenship was hired by Owasso and won a state championship in his first year  — ending the 21-year streak of either Jenks or Union while winning the state's largest classification.

During his seven years at Owasso, Blankenship added to his illustrious legacy. He guided the Rams to win two state championships and another trip to the state final in 2022.

"Coach Blankenship is just an inspiring figure and a man of grand morals," Justin Fuente said.

"Just think about how many kids, coaches and people he's had a positive influence on in their life — any number of wins or championships can't measure that kind of grace for others."

Blankenship's legacy is one of winning and grace. The OCA Hall of Famer finished with a record of 310-114.

But there was more than just wins and losses that mattered.

"I want to be remembered as someone who poured everything he had into the people around him," Blankenship said. "My hope is that the players I coached and staff I coached with have a strong desire to be better men.

“Football is hard, so to see others stick to their faith as dads when it's hard, as husbands when it's hard and employees when it's hard embodies a leader mentality. And if they could invest in that belief while playing under my leadership, I would view that as success.”

Jordan Davis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Jordan? He can be reached at jdavis@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @jdavis34_. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Jordan’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How Bill Blankenship built lasting legacy in Oklahoma HS football