The Northern Colorado Bears football program is a college football team that represents University of Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Conference, a part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship. The team has had 18 head coaches since its first recorded football game in 1892.[1] Since December 2022, Ed Lamb has served as Northern Colorado's head coach.[2]
Four coaches have led Northern Colorado in the postseason: John W. Hancock, Bob Blasi, Joe Glenn, and Kay Dalton. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: Hancock and Blasi each captured two as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Blasi captured an additional three as a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference and one as a member of the North Central Conference. Glenn captured four and Dalton one as a member of the Big Sky. Glenn also captured two national championships as head coach at Northern Colorado in 1996 and 1997.
Blasi is the leader in seasons coached, with 19 years as head coach and games coached (181) and won (107). Glenn has the highest winning percentage at 0.737. John Lister and Lamb have the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000.
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 7] | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | CCs | NCs | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Unknown | 1892 1897 |
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 1 | John Lister | 1893 1895–1896 |
4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 2 | Arthur Kendel | 1899–1900 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0.286 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 3 | Samuel E. Abbott | 1905 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.250 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 4 | Ralph Glaze | 1917–1918 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0.222 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 5 | William E. Search | 1919–1921 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0.125 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 6 | George E. Cooper | 1922–1927 | 47 | 15 | 29 | 3 | 0.351 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0.211 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 7 | Bill Saunders | 1928–1931 | 29 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 0.483 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 0.457 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 8 | John W. Hancock | 1932–1943 1946–1953 |
160 | 77 | 78 | 5 | 0.497 | 44 | 38 | 3 | 0.535 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — |
| 9 | Joe Lindahl | 1954–1962 | 83 | 35 | 44 | 4 | 0.446 | 16 | 28 | 3 | 0.372 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 10 | William C. Heiss | 1963–1965 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 0.464 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 11 | Bob Blasi | 1966–1984 | 181 | 107 | 71 | 3 | 0.599 | 50 | 22 | 0 | 0.694 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — |
| 12 | Ron Simonson | 1985–1988 | 43 | 13 | 30 | 0 | 0.302 | 11 | 25 | 0 | 0.306 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 13 | Joe Glenn | 1989–1999 | 133 | 98 | 35 | 0 | 0.737 | 70 | 28 | 0 | 0.714 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 2 – 1996 1997 |
— |
| 14 | Kay Dalton | 2000–2005 | 69 | 38 | 31 | — | 0.551 | 17 | 18 | — | 0.486 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 15 | Scott Downing | 2006–2010 | 56 | 9 | 47 | — | 0.161 | 5 | 35 | — | 0.125 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 16 | Earnest Collins Jr. | 2011–2019 | 100 | 28 | 72 | — | 0.280 | 19 | 53 | — | 0.264 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 17 | Ed McCaffrey | 2020–2022 | 22 | 6 | 16 | — | 0.273 | 4 | 12 | — | 0.250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 18 | Ed Lamb | 2023–present | 11 | 0 | 11 | — | .000 | 0 | 8 | — | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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.[3]
- ^ 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.[4]
- ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[5]
- ^ Northern Colorado has been a member of Big Sky Conference since the 2006 season.
- ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
- ^ Northern Colorado did not field teams for the 1894, 1898, 1901–1904, 1906–1916, 1944–1945, and 2020 seasons.
References
edit- ^ Shafer, Ian. "Northern Colorado (All seasons results)". College Football Reference. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
- ^ Vannini, Chris (December 6, 2022). "Northern Colorado has its new coach". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
- ^ 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.