The Memphis Tigers football team represents the University of Memphis in college football. The team competes in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team has had 25 head coaches since it began in 1912.[1] Since the end of the 2019 regular season, Ryan Silverfield has served as head coach of the Tigers.[2]
As of the conclusion of the 2020 season, the team has played 1,066 games over 109 seasons. In that time, six head coaches and one interim coach have led the Tigers in postseason play. The first was Ralph Hatley in 1956, who led Memphis to a 32–12 victory over Middle Tennessee in the Burley Bowl,[3] a game not sanctioned by the NCAA. The second was Billy J. Murphy, who, in his final year at the helm in Memphis, took the Tigers to the Pasadena Bowl, where they defeated San Jose State.[4] After Murphy, the Tigers did not make another postseason appearance until Tommy West's third season, where Memphis started a streak of six bowl games in seven years, starting with the 2003 New Orleans Bowl and ending with the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl.[5][6] The final two of Justin Fuente's four seasons produced postseason appearances for the Tigers, the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl and the 2015 Birmingham Bowl.[7][8] Darrell Dickey coached the latter of the two in an interim capacity following Fuente's departure for Virginia Tech.[9] Mike Norvell, to date, has more postseason appearances with Memphis than any other coach, with six: three conference championships and three bowl games. The team's first-ever New Year's Six bowl appearance came under Ryan Silverfield, who took over from Norvell for the 2019 Cotton Bowl Classic after Norvell departed for Florida State.[10][11]
Allyn McKeen, who led the Tigers for two years from 1937 to 1938, is the only former Memphis coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[12] In his second and final season at Memphis, McKeen led the Tigers to an undefeated record, their first in eleven years.[13]
Key
editGeneral | 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
editNo. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | DC | CC | NC | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Clyde H. Wilson[1] | 1912–1915 | 22 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 0.432 | |||||||||||
2 | Tom Shea[1] | 1916 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0.417 | |||||||||||
3 | V. M. Campbell[1] | 1917, 1919 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.500 | |||||||||||
4 | John Childerson[1] | 1918 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0.333 | |||||||||||
5 | Elmer George[1] | 1920 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0.000 | |||||||||||
6 | Rollin Wilson[1] | 1921 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0.450 | |||||||||||
7 | Lester Barnard[1] | 1922–1923 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 0.694 | |||||||||||
8 | Zach Curlin[1] | 1924–1936 | 117 | 43 | 60 | 14 | 0.427 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 0.588 | 2 | ||||||
9 | Allyn McKeen[1] † | 1937–1938 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0.684 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.500 | 1 | College Football Hall of Fame (1991)[12] | |||||
10 | Cecil C. Humphreys[1] | 1939–1941 | 30 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 0.467 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0.556 | |||||||
11 | Lefty Jamerson[1] | 1942 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0.222 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.333 | |||||||
12 | Ralph Hatley[1] | 1947–1957 | 107 | 59 | 43 | 5 | 0.575 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
13 | Billy J. Murphy[17] † | 1958–1971 | 136 | 91 | 44 | 1 | 0.673 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0.833 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||
14 | Fred Pancoast[1] | 1972–1974 | 33 | 20 | 12 | 1 | 0.621 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.500 | |||||||
15 | Richard Williamson[1] | 1975–1980 | 66 | 31 | 35 | 0 | 0.470 | |||||||||||
16 | Rex Dockery[1] | 1981–1983 | 33 | 8 | 24 | 1 | 0.258 | |||||||||||
17 | Rey Dempsey[1] | 1984–1985 | 22 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 0.386 | |||||||||||
18 | Charlie Bailey[1] | 1986–1988 | 33 | 12 | 20 | 1 | 0.379 | |||||||||||
19 | Chuck Stobart[1] | 1989–1994 | 66 | 29 | 36 | 1 | 0.447 | |||||||||||
20 | Rip Scherer[1] | 1995–2000 | 66 | 22 | 44 | 0 | 0.333 | 11 | 19 | 0.367 | ||||||||
21 | Tommy West[18] | 2001–2009 | 110 | 49 | 61 | 0.445 | 32 | 39 | 0.451 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
22 | Larry Porter[1] | 2010–2011 | 24 | 3 | 21 | 0.125 | 1 | 15 | 0.063 | |||||||||
23 | Justin Fuente[1] | 2012–2015 | 50 | 26 | 24 | 0.520 | 17 | 15 | 0.531 | 1 | 0 | 1 | American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (2014)[19] | |||||
Int | Darrell Dickey[20] | 2015 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
24 | Mike Norvell[1] | 2016–2019 | 53 | 38 | 15 | 0.717 | 24 | 8 | 0.750 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |||||
25 | Ryan Silverfield[1][21] | 2019–present | 50 | 31 | 19 | 0.620 | 17 | 15 | 0.531 | 3 | 1 |
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.[14]
- ^ 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.[15]
- ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[16]
- ^ The statistics displayed in the table are correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "2020 Football Media Guide" (PDF). University of Memphis. pp. 3, 240–241, 262–271. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- ^ Barnes, Evan; Giannotto, Mark. "Ryan Silverfield hired as Memphis head coach". The Florida Times-Union. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- ^ "Big Parade, Grid Game to Climax Festivities". Johnson City Press. November 22, 1956. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Sun, Pasadena Bowls on Tap". The News & Observer. December 18, 1971. p. 14. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "New Orleans Bowl kicks off holiday bowl stretch". The Daily Advertiser. December 16, 2003. p. 21. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Guide to Florida's bowl season". Florida Today. December 16, 2008. p. 15. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Memphis and BYU had a massive brawl at the end of the Miami Beach Bowl". USA Today. December 22, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Johnson lifts Auburn past Memphis 31-10 in Birmingham Bowl". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Mizzou stays in-house, picks Odom as new coach". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 4, 2015. pp. C005. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Tigers fall short in record-setting Cotton Bowl Classic". University of Memphis Athletics. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "FSU hires Memphis' Norvell as new head coach". ESPN.com. December 8, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ a b "Allyn McKeen (1991) - Hall of Fame". National Football Foundation. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Memphis Teachers to play in Prune Bowl". Johnson City Chronicle. November 27, 1938. p. 15. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Billy Murphy Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Tommy West Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "American Athletic Conference Announces 2014 Postseason Football Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Darrell Dickey Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Ryan Silverfield Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.