List of Kentucky Wildcats head football coaches

The Kentucky Wildcats college football team represents the University of Kentucky in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Wildcats compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 37 head coaches since it began play during the 1881 season.[1] On November 27, 2012, Mark Stoops was introduced as Kentucky's 37th head coach.[2]

B&W image of man standing wearing a hat, white shirt and non-bowtie.
Jerry Claiborne is one of two Kentucky coaches to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

The team has played more than 1,150 games over 122 seasons of Kentucky football.[1] Both the inaugural 1881 squad and the revived 1891 squad have unknown coaches according to university records in winning two games and losing three.[1] Since 1892, eight coaches have led the Wildcats in postseason bowl games: Bear Bryant, Fran Curci, Jerry Claiborne, Bill Curry, Hal Mumme, Rich Brooks, Joker Phillips[3] and Mark Stoops.

Two of those coaches also won conference championships: Bryant and Curci won a combined three as a member of the SEC.[4]

Stoops is the leader in both seasons coached, with ten, and all-time wins, with 66. At the time of this writing is entering his 11th season as coach of the Wildcats.[5] Fran Curci was the previous leader with 9 seasons coached.[4] Bryant was the previous leader in games won, with 60 victories during his eight seasons with the program.[4] Jack Wright has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .875.[4] Bernie Shively has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .200.[4] Of the 36 different head coaches who have led the Wildcats, Bryant[6] and Jerry Claiborne[7] have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana.

Key to symbols in coaches list
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
List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Term GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC
[A 6]
CC NC Awards
1 A. M. Miller 1892 7 2 4 1 0.357 0
2 John A. Thompson 1893 8 5 2 1 0.687 0
3 W. P. Finney 1894 7 5 2 0 0.714 0
4 Charles B. Mason 1895 9 4 5 0 0.444 0
5 Dudley Short 1896 9 3 6 0 0.333 0
6 Lyman Eaton 1897 6 2 4 0 0.333 0
7 W. R. Bass 1898–1899 16 12 2 2 0.813 0
8 William H. Kiler 1900–1901 19 6 12 1 0.342 0
9 E. W. McLeod 1902 9 3 5 1 0.389 0
10 Jack Wright 1903 8 7 1 0 0.875 0
11 Fred Schacht 1904–1905 20 15 4 1 0.775 0
12 J. White Guyn 1906–1908 25 17 7 1 0.700 1 4 1 0.250 0 0
13 Edwin Sweetland 1909–1910
1912
28 23 5 0 0.821 4 0 0 1.000 0 0
14 Prentiss Douglass 1911 10 7 3 0 0.700 1 1 0 0.500 0 0
15 Alpha Brumage 1913–1914 16 11 5 0 0.688 1 2 0 0.333 0 0
16 John J. Tigert 1915–1916 15 10 2 3 0.767 3 2 3 0.563 0 0
17 Stanley A. Boles 1917 9 3 5 1 0.389 1 5 0 0.167 0 0 0 0 0
18 Andrew Gill 1918–1919 11 5 5 1 0.500 4 2 1 0.643 0 0 0 0 0
19 William Juneau 1920–1922 25 13 10 2 0.560 3 8 2 0.308 0 0 0 0 0
20 Jack Winn 1923 9 4 3 2 0.556 0 2 2 0.250 0 0 0 0 0
21 Fred J. Murphy 1924–1926 27 12 14 1 0.463 7 9 1 0.441 0 0 0 0 0
22 Harry Gamage 1927–1933 62 32 25 5 0.556 21 23 4 0.479 0 0 0 0 0
23 Chet A. Wynne 1934–1937 39 20 19 0 0.513 5 14 0 0.236 0 0 0 0 0
24 A. D. Kirwan 1938–1944 56 24 28 4 0.464 4 22 3 0.190 0 0 0 0 0
25 Bernie Shively 1945 10 2 8 0 0.200 0 5 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0
26 Bear Bryant 1946–1953 88 60 23 5 0.710 25 19 4 0.563 3 1 0 1 1 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1950)[12]
27 Blanton Collier 1954–1961 80 41 36 3 0.531 21 34 3 0.388 0 0 0 0 0 SEC Coach of the Year (1954)[12]
28 Charlie Bradshaw 1962–1968 70 25 41 4 0.386 11 25 2 0.316 0 0 0 0 0
29 John Ray 1969–1972 43 10 33 0 0.233 4 24 0 0.143 0 0 0 0 0
30 Fran Curci 1973–1981 100 47 51 2 0.480 25 30 0 0.455 1 0 0 2 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1977)[12]
31 Jerry Claiborne 1982–1989 90 41 46 3 0.472 13 37 0 0.260 1 1 0 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1983)[12]
32 Bill Curry 1990–1996 78 26 52 0 0.333 14 40 0 0.259 0 1 0 0 0 0
33 Hal Mumme 1997–2000 46 20 26 0.435 10 22 0.313 0 2 0 0 0 0
34 Guy Morriss 2001–2002 23 9 14 0.391 4 12 0.250 0 0 0 0 0 0
35 Rich Brooks 2003–2009 86 39 47 0.453 16 39 0.291 3 1 0 0 0 0
36 Joker Phillips 2010–2012 37 13 24 0.351 4 20 0.167 0 1 0 0 0 0
37 Mark Stoops 2013–present 137 73 64 0.533 35 55 0.389 4 3 0 0 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (2018)[12]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ 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.[8]
  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.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[9]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[10]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ Divisional champions have advanced to the SEC Championship Game since the institution of divisional play beginning in the 1992 season. Since that time, Kentucky has competed as a member of the East Division of the SEC.[11]

References

edit

General

  • "Kentucky Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  • Kentucky Football Media Guide (PDF). Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky Athletics Department. 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

Specific

  1. ^ a b c Kentucky Football Media Guide, p. 177
  2. ^ "Mark Stoops hired by Kentucky". ESPN. November 27, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  3. ^ Kentucky Football Media Guide, p. 141
  4. ^ a b c d e Kentucky Football Media Guide, pp. 190–196
  5. ^ "Mark Stoops". UK Athletics. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  6. ^ "Paul "Bear" Bryant". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  7. ^ "Jerry Claiborne". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Harwell, Hoyt (November 30, 1990). "SEC sets division lineups". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 1C. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  12. ^ a b c d e Kentucky Football Media Guide, p. 146