List of Arizona Wildcats head football coaches

Dick Tomey (right) served as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats from 1987 to 2000 and has the most wins in program history.

The Arizona Wildcats football program is a college football team representing the University of Arizona that is a member of the Pac-12 Conference. The team has had 31 head coaches and two interim head coaches since its founding in 1899. The Wildcats have played in more than 1,100 games in 113 seasons. Arizona's most recent head coach is Brent Brennan, who became the 31st head coach in 2024. ^[1]

Nine coaches have led Arizona in postseason bowl games: Pop McKale, Mike Casteel, Darrell Mudra, Tony Mason, Larry Smith, Dick Tomey, Mike Stoops, Rich Rodriguez and Jedd Fisch. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: Tex Oliver captured two and Casteel one as a member of the Border Conference; and LaRue and Young captured one as a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

McKale is the leader in seasons coached with sixteen. Tomey is the leader in games won with 90. Leslie Gillett is the leader in winning percentage with a perfect 1.00. Mike Hankwitz has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.143. Of the 14 different head coaches who have led the Wildcats, Mudra has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key

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

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards ^{[A 5]}

No.	Name	Season(s) [A 6]	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	CC	NC	Awards
1	Stuart Forbes	1899	3	1	1	1	0.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	William W. Skinner	1900–1901	9	7	2	0	0.778	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	Leslie Gillett	1902	5	5	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	Orin A. Kates	1903–1904	8	5	1	2	0.750	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	William M. Ruthrauff	1905	7	5	2	0	0.714	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	H. B. Galbraith	1908–1909	9	8	1	0	0.889	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
7	Frank Shipp	1910–1911	10	8	1	1	0.850	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
8	Raymond L. Quigley	1912	3	2	1	0	0.667	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
9	Frank A. King	1913	4	2	2	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10	Pop McKale	1914–1930	118	80	32	6	0.703	—	—	—	—	0	1	0	—	—	—
11	Fred Enke	1931	9	3	5	1	0.389	1	1	1	0.500	0	0	0	0	—	—
12	August W. Farwick	1932	9	4	5	0	0.444	3	2	0	0.600	0	0	0	0	—	—
13	Tex Oliver	1933–1937	47	32	11	4	0.723	15	4	2	0.762	0	0	0	2	—	—
14	Orian Landreth	1938	9	3	6	0	0.333	0	3	0	.000	0	0	0	0	—	—
15	Mike Casteel	1939–1948	75	46	26	3	0.633	21	11	1	0.652	0	1	0	1	—	—
16	Bob Winslow	1949–1951	31	12	18	1	0.403	8	11	0	0.421	0	0	0	0	—	—
17	Warren B. Woodson	1952–1956	50	26	22	2	0.540	11	10	1	0.523	0	0	0	0	—	—
18	Ed Doherty	1957–1958	20	4	15	1	0.225	2	5	0	0.286	0	0	0	0	—	—
19	Jim LaRue	1959–1966	80	41	37	2	0.525	14	13	0	0.519	0	0	0	1	—	—
20	Darrell Mudra †	1967–1968	21	11	9	1	0.548	6	5	0	0.545	0	1	0	0	—	—
21	Bob Weber	1969–1972	42	16	26	0	0.381	12	13	0	0.480	0	0	0	0	—	—
22	Jim Young	1973–1976	44	31	13	0	0.705	20	8	0	0.714	0	0	0	1	—	—
23	Tony Mason	1977–1979	35	16	18	1	0.471	10	11	0	0.476	0	1	0	0	—	—
24	Larry Smith	1980–1986	79	48	28	3	0.627	30	21	2	0.585	1	0	1	0	—	—
25	Dick Tomey	1987–2000	163	95	64	4	0.595	60	49	4	0.549	4	3	0	0	—	—
26	John Mackovic	2001–2003	28	10	18	—	0.357	3	14	—	0.176	0	0	—	0	—	—
Int.	Mike Hankwitz	2003	7	1	6	—	0.143	1	6	—	0.143	0	0	—	0	—	—
27	Mike Stoops	2004–2011	91	41	50	—	0.451	27	38	—	0.415	1	2	—	0	—	—
Int.	Tim Kish	2011	6	3	3	—	0.500	2	3	—	0.400	0	0	—	0	—	—
28	Rich Rodriguez	2012–2017	78	43	35	—	0.551	24	30	—	0.444	3	2	—	0	—	—
29	Kevin Sumlin	2018–2020	29	9	20	—	0.310	6	17	—	0.261	0	0	—	0	—	—
30	Jedd Fisch	2021–2023	24	16	21	—	0.432	11	16	—	0.407	1	0	—	0	—	—
31	Brent Brennan	2024–present	0	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	0	—	—

Statistical leaders

Updated as of January 2024

Most overall wins Dick Tomey – 95 Wins Most Pac-12 wins Dick Tomey – 60 Wins Highest overall winning percentage (min. 20 games) Tex Oliver – 0.723% Highest Pac-12 winning percentage (min. 20 games) Tex Oliver – 0.762%

Lowest overall winning percentage (min. 20 games) Ed Doherty – 0.225% Lowest Pac-12 winning percentage (min. 20 games) John Mackovic – 0.176% Pac-12 championships None National championships None

Notes

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. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
6. Arizona did not field teams in 1906, 1907, 1918, 1943, and 1944.

References

General

• "Arizona Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
• Pacific Coast Conference Records Book 1916–1948. Los Angeles, CA: Pacific Coast Conference. 1949.

1. "Arizona hires San Jose State's Brent Brennan as head football coach".
2. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived from the original on August 22, 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 November 24, 2009. 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 October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.