List of Wyoming Cowboys head football coaches

The Wyoming Cowboys college football team represents the University of Wyoming in the Mountain West Conference (MWC), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 33 head coaches, and 1 interim head coach, since it began play during the 1892 season. Since December 2023, Jay Sawvel has served as Wyoming's head coach.[1]

Craig Bohl served as head coach from 2014–2023.

Nine coaches have led Wyoming in postseason bowl games: Bowden Wyatt, Phil Dickens, Bob Devaney, Lloyd Eaton, Fred Akers, Paul Roach, Joe Tiller, Joe Glenn, Dave Christensen, and Craig Bohl. Five of those coaches also won conference championships: Devaney captured four, Wyatt two, and Dickens one, as a member of the Skyline Conference; Eaton captured three, Roach two, and both Akers abd Tiller one as a member of Western Athletic Conference.

Bohl is the leader in seasons coached, with 10 years as head coach and games coached (121) and won (61). Justus F. Soule has the highest winning percentage at 0.850. Joel Hunt has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.063. Of the 33 different head coaches who have led the Cowboys, Wyatt, Devaney, Pat Dye, and Dennis Erickson have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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[A 5], postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 6]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DCs CCs NCs Awards
1 Fred Hess 1892
1894
1898
8 4 4 0 0.500 0
2 Justus F. Soule 1894–1897
1899
10 8 1 1 0.850 0
3 William McMurray 1900–1906 28 16 11 1 0.589 0
4 Robert Ehlman 1907–1908 6 3 3 0 0.500 0
5 Harold I. Dean 1909–1911 24 11 12 1 0.479 2 3 0 0.400 0 0
6 Leon Exelby 1912 9 2 7 0 0.222 0 5 0 .000 0 0
7 Ralph Thacker 1913–1914 11 1 10 0 0.091 0 10 0 .000 0 0
8 John Corbett 1915–1917
1919–1923
62 15 44 3 0.266 10 38 3 0.225 0 0
9 William Henry Dietz 1924–1926 25 10 13 2 0.440 6 11 2 0.368 0 0
10 George McLaren 1927–1929 26 7 19 0 0.269 1 16 0 0.059 0 0
11 John Rhodes 1930–1932 27 10 15 2 0.407 5 11 2 0.333 0 0
12 Willard Witte 1933–1938 49 16 30 3 0.357 11 26 3 0.313 0 0
13 Joel Hunt 1939 8 0 7 1 0.063 0 5 1 0.083 0 0
14 Okie Blanchard 1940 9 1 7 1 0.167 0 5 1 0.083 0 0
15 Bunny Oakes 1941–1942
1946
28 6 20 2 0.250 2 16 0 0.111 0 0
16 Bowden Wyatt 1947–1952 57 39 17 1 0.693 21 13 1 0.614 1 0 0 2 0
17 Phil Dickens 1953–1956 41 29 11 1 0.720 21 5 1 0.796 1 0 0 1 0
18 Bob Devaney 1957–1961 50 35 10 5 0.750 27 4 3 0.838 1 0 0 4 0
19 Lloyd Eaton 1962–1970 92 57 33 2 0.630 32 19 0 0.627 1 1 0 3 0
20 Fritz Shurmur 1971–1974 44 15 29 0 0.341 10 18 0 0.357 0 0 0 0 0
21 Fred Akers 1975–1976 23 10 13 0 0.435 7 7 0 0.500 0 1 0 1 0
22 Bill Lewis 1977–1979 35 13 21 1 0.386 10 10 0 0.500 0 0 0 0 0
23 Pat Dye 1980 11 6 5 0 0.545 4 4 0 0.500 0 0 0 0 0
24 Al Kincaid 1981–1985 58 29 29 0 0.500 19 21 0 0.475 0 0 0 0 0
25 Dennis Erickson 1986 12 6 6 0 0.500 4 4 0 0.500 0 0 0 0 0
26 Paul Roach 1987–1990 50 35 15 0 0.700 26 6 0 0.813 0 3 0 2 0
27 Joe Tiller 1991–1996 70 39 30 1 0.564 26 22 1 0.541 0 1 0 1 1 0
28 Dana Dimel 1997–1999 35 22 13 0.629 14 9 0.609 0 0 0 0 0
29 Vic Koenning 2000–2002 34 5 29 0.147 1 21 0.045 0 0 0 0
30 Joe Glenn 2003–2008 71 30 41 0.423 15 31 0.326 1 0 0 0
31 Dave Christensen 2009–2013 62 27 35 0.435 16 21 0.410 1 1 0 0
Int. Pete Kaligis
[A 7]
2012 1 0 1 .000 0 1 .000 0 0 0 0 0
32 Craig Bohl 2014–2023 121 61 60 0.504 37 41 0.474 4 2 1 0 0
33 Jay Sawvel 2024–present 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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.[2]
  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.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Wyoming has been a member of Mountain West Conference since the 1999 season.
  6. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  7. ^ Kaligis served as interim head coach for Wyoming's October 27, 2012, game against Boise State, after Dave Christensen was suspended for one-game.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Rittenberg, Adam (December 6, 2023). "Wyoming football coach Craig Bohl retiring after bowl game". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Wyoming coach suspended, fined". ESPN.com. Associated Press. October 22, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2024.