The oxidative coupling polymerization of o‐cresol was investigated using various 2‐substituted pyridine/CuCl catalysts under an oxygen atmosphere, in which 2‐phenylpyridine/CuCl and 2‐(p‐tolyl)pyridine/CuCl catalysts yielded poly(o‐cresol)s with higher regioselectivity for 1,4‐coupling. These polymerizations produced branched and crosslinked polymers in the later stages of polymerization. These polymers showed good thermal properties, such as 5% weight loss temperatures of up to 406 °C and glass transition temperatures of up to 151 °C. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 878–884