List of Mississippi State Bulldogs head football coaches

The Mississippi State Bulldogs college football team represents Mississippi State University in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Bulldogs compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 35 head coaches since it began play during the 1895 season.[1]

The team has played more than 1,050 games over 111 seasons.[2] In that time, eleven coaches have led the Bulldogs in postseason bowl games: Ralph Sasse, Allyn McKeen, Paul E. Davis, Bob Tyler, Emory Bellard, Jackie Sherrill, Sylvester Croom, Dan Mullen, Joe Moorhead, Mike Leach, and Zach Arnett. [3] McKeen led the Bulldogs to their lone conference championship as a member of the SEC in 1941.[2]

Sherrill is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 75 victories during his 13 years with the program.[2] McKeen has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .764.[2] W.M. Matthews and J.B. Hildebrand have the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .000.[2] Of the 35 different head coaches who have led the Bulldogs, Bernie Bierman,[4] McKeen[5] and Darrell Royal[6] have been inducted as head coaches 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

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List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Term
[A 6]
GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC
[A 7]
CC NC Awards
1 W. M. Matthews 1895 2 0 2 0 .000 0
2 J. B. Hildebrand 1896 4 0 4 0 .000 0 2 0 .000 0 0
3 L. B. Harvey 1901 5 2 2 1 0.500 1 2 0 0.333 0 0
4 L. Gwinn 1902 6 1 4 1 0.250 0 4 1 0.100 0 0
5 Daniel S. Martin 1903–1906 24 10 11 3 0.479 5 9 3 0.382 0 0
6 Fred Furman 1907–1908 16 9 7 0 0.563 5 6 0 0.455 0 0
7 W. D. Chadwick 1909–1913 43 29 12 2 0.698 19 12 2 0.606 1 0 0
8 Earl C. Hayes 1914–1916 25 15 8 2 0.640 10 8 0 0.556 0 0
9 Stanley L. Robinson 1917–1919 21 16 5 0 0.762 11 3 0 0.786 0 0 0 0 0
10 Fred Holtkamp 1920–1921 17 9 7 1 0.559 7 5 1 0.577 0 0 0 0 0
11 Dudy Noble 1922 9 3 4 2 0.444 2 3 0 0.400 0 0 0 0 0
12 Earl Abell 1923–1924 18 10 6 2 0.611 5 3 2 0.545 0 0 0 0 0
13 Bernie Bierman 1925–1926 17 8 8 1 0.500 3 7 0 0.300 0 0 0 0 0
14 John W. Hancock 1927–1929 24 8 12 4 0.412 3 9 1 0.269 0 0 0 0 0
15 Chris Cagle 1930 9 2 7 0 0.222 2 1 0 0.666 0 0 0 0 0
16 Ray G. Dauber 1931–1932 16 5 11 0 0.313 0 9 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0
17 Ross McKechnie 1933–1934 20 7 12 1 0.375 1 10 1 0.125 0 0 0 0 0
18 Ralph Sasse 1935–1937 32 20 10 2 0.656 8 7 0 0.533 0 1 0 0 0
19 Spike Nelson 1938 10 4 6 0 0.400 1 4 0 0.200 0 0 0 0 0
20 Allyn McKeen 1939–1942
1944–1948
87 65 19 3 0.764 29 16 2 0.638 1 0 0 1 0
21 Arthur Morton 1949–1951 27 8 18 1 0.315 5 15 0 0.250 0 0 0 0 0
22 Murray Warmath 1952–1953 19 10 6 3 0.605 6 5 3 0.536 0 0 0 0 0
23 Darrell Royal 1954–1955 20 12 8 0 0.600 7 7 0 0.500 0 0 0 0 0
24 Wade Walker 1956–1961 56 22 32 2 0.411 8 30 2 0.225 0 0 0 0 0
25 Paul E. Davis 1962–1966 50 20 28 2 0.420 9 22 2 0.303 1 0 0 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1963)[11]
26 Charles Shira 1967–1972 63 16 45 2 0.270 5 32 2 0.154 0 0 0 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1970)[11]
27 Bob Tyler
[A 8]
1973–1978 67 21 44 2 0.328 7 30 0 0.189 1 0 0 0 0
28 Emory Bellard 1979–1985 79 37 42 0 0.468 15 27 0 0.357 1 1 0 0 0
29 Rockey Felker 1986–1990 55 21 34 0 0.382 5 28 0 0.151 0 0 0 0 0
30 Jackie Sherrill 1991–2003 152 75 75 2 0.500 43 59 1 0.422 2 4 0 1 0 0
31 Sylvester Croom 2004–2008 59 21 38 0.356 10 30 0.250 1 0 0 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (2007)[11]
SEC Coach of the Year (2007)[11]
32 Dan Mullen 2009–2017 115 69 46 0.600 33 39 0.458 5 2 0 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (2014)
Int Greg Knox 2017 1 1 0 1.000 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
33 Joe Moorhead 2018–2019 26 14 12 0.538 7 9 0.438 0 2 0 0 0
34 Mike Leach 2020–2022 36 19 17 0.528 11 15 0.423 1 1 0 0 0
35 Zach Arnett 2022–2023 11 5 6 0.455 1 6 0.143 1 0 0 0 0
Int Greg Knox 2023 2 1 1 0.500 0 1 .000 0 0 0 0 0
36 Jeff Lebby 2024–present 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

[14][15]

Notes

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  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.[7]
  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.[8]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[9]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2016 college football season.
  6. ^ Mississippi State did not field teams between the 18971900 seasons and again for the 1943 season due to World War II.[2]
  7. ^ Divisional champions have advanced to the SEC Championship Game since the institution of divisional play beginning in the 1992 season. Since that time, Mississippi State has competed as a member of the West Division of the SEC.[10]
  8. ^ Tyler's record on-the-field in 1975 was six wins and four losses and one tie (6–4–1, 1–4–1 SEC), nine wins and two losses (9–2, 4–2 SEC) in 1976 and five wins and six losses (5–6, 2–4 SEC) in 1977. In May 1978, the NCAA ruled that Mississippi State must forfeit 19 victories due to playing an ineligible player. As a result of this penalty, the official NCAA record for these years are 2–9, 0–11 and 0–11 respectively.[12][13]

References

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General

  • "Mississippi State Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  • 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide (PDF). Starkville, Mississippi: Mississippi State Athletic Media Relations Office. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2011.

Specific

  1. ^ 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, pp. 86–92
  2. ^ a b c d e f 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, p. 93
  3. ^ 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, p. 143
  4. ^ "Bernie Bierman". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  5. ^ "Allyn McKeen". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  6. ^ "Darrell Royal". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Harwell, Hoyt (November 30, 1990). "SEC sets division lineups". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 1C. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, p. 116
  12. ^ "Bulldogs forced to forfeit 19 football games". The Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. May 24, 1978. p. 19. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  13. ^ 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, p. 90
  14. ^ "2016 Mississippi State Football Media Guide". Mississippi State University Athletics. August 1, 2016. pp. 104–105. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  15. ^ "2016 Mississippi State Football Schedule". ESPN Internet Ventures. 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2017.