Pettibone spent time as an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Southern Methodist University, and Texas A&M University. In his career as an assistant coach, he coached in 11 major bowl games and won eight Big Eight Conference championships. Teams he was with collectively produced a record of. He was with two national championship teams and helped to recruit 20 consensus All-Americans, two Heisman Trophy winners, two Outland Trophy winners and a Lombardi Award winner. At Oklahoma, Pettibone was part of eight bowl games and was with two national championship teams. He was part of seven Big Eight championship teams at Oklahoma. Pettibone recruited running back Billy Sims, the Heisman Trophy winner in 1978 after rushing for 1,782 yards. One of Pettibone's early Oklahoma classes graduated 17 of 25 players into the National Football League. At Nebraska, he coached in three bowl games. As recruiting coordinator, he helped to recruit consensus All-Americans Irving Fryar, running back Mike Rozier and centerMark Traynowicz. Rozier won the Heisman Trophy in 1983 after rushing for 2,148 yards. At Texas A&M, Pettibone was named as 'No. 1 Recruiter in America' by Sports Illustrated. Pettibone's initial recruiting class at Texas A&M ranked first in the Southwest Conference and #5 in the nation. That class produced six Aggie starters the first year.
Head coach
Pettibone's first head coaching position was in 1985 at Northern Illinois University in the Mid-American Conference and he led the Huskies for six seasons, the last five as an independent. Northern Illinois recorded a 9–2 record in 1989 to tie the best-ever record in history of the school. Pettibone was named Coach of the Year for major northern independent schools by Sporting News. NIU established four school records and the Huskies were ranked among the top 25 in five different categories. Northern Illinois recorded its first-ever victory over a ranked team in 1990 when it routed #24 Fresno State 73–18 on October 6 in DeKalb. Northern Illinois also established 51 school records and seven NCAA records during Pettibone's final three years. With the Huskies, he posted a record. After the 1990 season, Pettibone left NIU in early December for the Pacific-10 Conference at Oregon State University in Corvallis, replacing Dave Kragthorpe. The contrasting styles of offenses made the transition very difficult; Kragthorpe ran an extremely pass oriented offense, while Pettibone preferred the running game and specifically the wishbone formation and the triple option. In his first two seasons at Oregon State, the team struggled, winning only one game in both 1991 and 1992. However, in 1993 and 1994, things started to click and the Beavers posted four wins each year. Oregon State finished second in the nation in rushing in 1993, and Pettibone was named co-runner-up for the Division I-A Coach of the Year honors by Sports Illustrated. In his fifth season in 1995, they fell to 1–10; after a 2–9 season in 1996, Pettibone resigned in late November, and was succeeded by Mike Riley in 1997.
Later life and family
Pettibone left Corvallis to become the assistant athletic director at his alma mater Oklahoma in 1996. After one year, his position was terminated in the wake of budget cuts in the department. Pettibone lives in Norman with his wife Susy and currently works for Sooners Helping Sooners, a non-profit that helps former OU student athletes find employment. In addition to his responsibilities with Sooners Helping Sooners he also has maintains a personal football evaluation service for high school and junior college athletes to help them determine what level their playing ability falls under, and how to navigate the college recruiting process.
