Bartlesville Football Hires New Head Coach to Lead Program

The Bruins have their new leader after former coach Harry Wright stepped down in November

Bartlesville Bruins Football/Facebook

The Bartlesville football program in Oklahoma has been on the hunt for a new head coach after Harry Wright resigned last month.

The Bruins finally found its coach to lead the team. On Tuesday, it was announced that Matt Hennesy is taking over the program after Wright led the Bruins since 2022.

“We’re going to create that winning mindset and do the best we can,” Hennesy said via Bartlesville Radio. “There’s a process to this whole thing, and it starts with building little by little and learning how to work day-by-day.”

Hennesy has been the head coach at Pawhuska for the last eight seasons. He also had head coaching stops at Locust Grove and Muskogee, according to Touchdown Friday Night, and coached at Dodge City (Kansas) and Jenks (Oklahoma).

Pawhuska finished its 2025 season with an 11-2 record and OSSAA semifinal appearance that ended with a tough 42-35 loss to Rejoice Christian.

In his time with Pawhuska, Hennesy compiled a 72-25 record and led the team to three OSSAA 6A semifinal appearances. The Huskies went 0-10 the season before Hennesy arrived.

Thad Dilbeck, Bartlesville athletics and activities director, said that Hennesy has built a reputation for himself in the area.

“He’s certainly someone who’s made a name for himself,” Dilbeck said via Bartlesville Radio. “His ability to lead football programs, there’s a lot of moving parts. It involves a lot of coaches and kids. There’s a lot of involvement with parents and community – and Matt has experience with that. He has proven he has the ability to get things going in the right direction.”

According to Bartlesville Radio, Hennesy will soon enter his 22nd season as a head coach and 33 years as a high school football coach. During that span, Hennesy has a 172-71 head coaching record.

The Bruins went 3-8 in their 2025 campaign. The team, however, won three of its last four games to reach the playoffs. Bartlesville lost 53-28 to Piedmont in its playoff opener on Nov. 14, three days before Wright stepped down.

Hennesy told Bartlesville Radio he’s looking forward to preparing for the 2026 season and beyond.

“We’ve got players,” Hennesy added. “We’ll start building, go to work and do what we do. The goal is to outwork everyone else and get competitive.”

Hennesy is a former Academic All-Big 8 linebacker at Kansas State. He was part of a state championship team at Enid High School.

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