List of BYU Cougars head football coaches
The BYU Cougars college football team represents Brigham Young University (BYU) in the Big 12 Conference (Big 12). The Cougars competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 14 head coaches since it began play during the 1922 season. Since December 2015, Kalani Sitake has served as head coach at BYU.[1]
Five coaches have led BYU in postseason bowl games: Tommy Hudspeth, LaVell Edwards, Gary Crowton, Bronco Mendenhall, and Kalani Sitake. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: Hudspeth captured one and Edwards 18 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference; and Edwards and Crowton captured one and Mendenhall two as a member of the Mountain West Conference.
Edwards is the leader in seasons coached, games won, and winning percentage, with 257 victories (0.716 winning percentage) during his 29 years with the program. Hal Mitchell has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.267. Of the 14 different head coaches who have led the Cougars, Edwards has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Key
[edit]| General | Overall | Conference | Postseason[A 1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Order of coaches[A 2] | GC | Games coached | CW | Conference wins | PW | Postseason wins |
| DC | Division championships | OW | Overall wins | CL | Conference losses | PL | Postseason losses |
| CC | Conference championships | OL | Overall losses | CT | Conference ties | PT | Postseason ties |
| NC | National championships | OT | Overall ties[A 3] | C% | Conference winning percentage | ||
| † | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage[A 4] | ||||
Coaches
[edit]| No. | Name | Season(s) [A 6] |
GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | CC | NC | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alvin Twitchell | 1922–1924 | 19 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 0.289 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 0.206 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2 | Charles J. Hart | 1925–1927 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 0.350 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 0.361 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 3 | G. Ott Romney | 1928–1936 | 81 | 44 | 31 | 6 | 0.580 | 31 | 26 | 2 | 0.542 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 4 & 6 | Eddie Kimball | 1937–1941 1946–1948 |
74 | 34 | 32 | 8 | 0.514 | 20 | 20 | 7 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 5 | Floyd Millet | 1942 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.286 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 7 | Chick Atkinson | 1949–1955 | 70 | 18 | 49 | 3 | 0.279 | 8 | 33 | 3 | 0.216 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 8 | Hal Kopp | 1956–1958 | 30 | 13 | 14 | 3 | 0.483 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0.571 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 9 | Tally Stevens | 1959–1960 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 0.286 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0.286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 10 | Hal Mitchell | 1961–1963 | 30 | 8 | 22 | 0 | 0.267 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0.286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 11 | Tommy Hudspeth | 1964–1971 | 82 | 39 | 42 | 1 | 0.482 | 19 | 27 | 0 | 0.413 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 12 | LaVell Edwards† | 1972–2000 | 361 | 257 | 101 | 3 | 0.716 | 175 | 42 | 2 | 0.804 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 1 | Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1979) AFCA Coach of the Year (1984) Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1984) Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (2003) |
| 13 | Gary Crowton | 2001–2004 | 49 | 26 | 23 | — | 0.531 | 16 | 12 | — | 0.571 | 0 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — |
| 14 | Bronco Mendenhall | 2005–2015 | 142 | 99 | 43 | — | 0.697 | 39 | 9 | — | 0.813 | 6 | 5 | — | 2 | 0 | — |
| 15 | Kalani Sitake | 2016–present | 102 | 70 | 41 | — | 0.598 | 2 | 7 | — | 0.222 | 4 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
Notes
[edit]- ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
- ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
- ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
- ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
- ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
- ^ BYU did not field teams from 1943–1945 due to World War II.
References
[edit]- ^ "BYU agrees with Kalani Sitake to become next head coach". ESPN.com. December 19, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
- ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
- ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
- ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.