List of Clemson Tigers head football coaches

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney

The Clemson Tigers football program is a college football team that represents Clemson University in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Tigers compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team has had 25 head coaches since it began play in the 1896 season. ^[1] Since October 2008, Dabo Swinney has served as Clemson's head coach. ^[2]

The team has played in over 1,300 games over 129 seasons. ^{[3] [4]} In that time, eight coaches have led Clemson to postseason bowl games: Jess Neely, Frank Howard, Charley Pell, Danny Ford, Ken Hatfield, Tommy West, Tommy Bowden, and Swinney. ^[1] Five coaches have won conference championships with the Tigers: John Heisman won two as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association; Howard won two as a member of the Southern Conference; and Howard, Pell, Ford, Hatfield, and Swinney won a combined 14 as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. ^[4] In 1981, Ford led the Tigers to the national championship. ^[5] Swinney has guided the Tigers to six ACC championships and four national title appearances, winning the 2016 and 2018 championships, while losing the 2015 and 2019 championships.

Howard is the all-time leader in games coached (295), seasons coached (30), and second in total wins (165). ^[1] Heisman has the highest winning percentage, with .833 in his four years at Clemson. ^[1] Of coaches with more than one season, Hootie Ingram has the lowest winning percentage (.364 in 3 seasons). ^[1] Of the 25 head coaches who have led the Tigers, Heisman, ^[6] Jess Neely, ^[7] Ford, and Howard ^[8] have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches; Josh Cody was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player. ^[9]

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	Term(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	DCs	CCs	NCs	Awards
1	Walter Riggs	1896 1899	9	6	3	0	0.667	3	2	0	0.600	—	—	—	0	0	—
2	William M. Williams	1897	4	2	2	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	—
3	John Penton	1898	4	3	1	0	0.750	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	—
4	John Heisman †	1900–1903	24	19	3	2	0.833	16	0	2	0.944	—	—	—	3	0	—
5	Shack Shealy	1904	7	3	3	1	0.500	3	3	1	0.500	—	—	—	0	0	—
6	Eddie Cochems	1905	6	3	2	1	0.583	3	2	1	0.583	—	—	—	0	0	—
7	Bob Williams	1906 1909 1913–1915 1926 [A 6]	46	21	19	6	0.522	10	10	5	0.500	0	0	—	0	0	—
8	Frank Shaughnessy	1907	8	4	4	0	0.500	1	3	0	0.250	—	—	—	0	0	—
9	John N. Stone	1908	7	1	6	0	0.143	0	4	0	.000	—	—	—	0	0	—
10	Frank Dobson	1910–1912	24	11	12	1	0.479	7	12	1	0.375	—	—	—	0	0	—
11	Wayne Hart	1916	9	3	6	0	0.333	2	4	0	0.333	0	0	—	0	0	—
12	Edward Donahue	1917–1920	36	21	12	3	0.625	13	10	2	0.560	0	0	—	0	0	—
13	E. J. Stewart	1921–1922	18	6	10	2	0.389	2	9	2	0.231	0	0	—	0	0	—
14	Bud Saunders	1923–1926	28	10	17	1	0.375	2	9	1	0.208	0	0	—	0	0	—
15	Josh Cody † [A 7]	1927–1930	41	29	11	1	0.720	12	9	0	0.571	0	0	—	0	0	—
16	Jess Neely †	1931–1939	85	43	35	7	0.547	18	13	2	0.576	1	0	—	0	0	—
17	Frank Howard †	1940–1969	295	165	118	12	0.580	100	48	5	0.670 [A 8]	3	3	—	8	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1958) [13] ACC Coach of the Year (1966) [13]
18	Hootie Ingram	1970–1972	33	12	21	0	0.364	8	10	0	0.444	0	0	—	0	0	—
19	Red Parker	1973–1976	44	17	25	2	0.409	10	11	1	0.477	0	0	—	0	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1974) [13]
20	Charley Pell	1977–1978	23	18	4	1	0.804	10	1	1	0.875	0	1	—	1	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1977) [13] ACC Coach of the Year (1978) [13]
21	Danny Ford †	1978–1989 [A 9]	129	96	29	4	0.760	56	16	1	0.774	6	2	—	5	1 – 1981	ACC Coach of the Year (1981) [13] FWAA Coach of the Year (1981) [14] Woody Hayes Trophy (1981) [15] AFCA Coach of the Year (1981) [16]
22	Ken Hatfield	1990–1993	46	32	13	1	0.707	19	10	1	0.650	1	1	—	1	0	—
23	Tommy West	1993–1998 [A 10]	59	31	28	0	0.525	21	19	0	0.525	1	3	—	0	0	—
24	Tommy Bowden	1999–2008	117	72	45	—	0.615	43	32	—	0.573	3	5	0	0	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1999) [13] ACC Coach of the Year (2003) [13]
25	Dabo Swinney	2008–present [A 11]	227	180	47	—	0.793	109	24	—	0.820	12	9	10	9	2 — (2016) (2018)	Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year (2011) [17] AP Coach of the Year (2015) [18] Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2015) ACC Coach of the Year (2015)

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. ^[10]
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. ^[11]
4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss. ^[12]
5. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2010 college football season.
6. Williams replaced Saunders for the final 5 games of the 1926 season.
7. Cody was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player at Vanderbilt. ^[9]
8. Howard had a record of 34–18–3 (0.645) against Southern Conference opponents and 66–30–2 (0.684) against ACC opponents.
9. Ford replaced Pell for the final game of the 1978 season.
10. West replaced Hatfield for the final game of the 1993 season.
11. Swinney replaced Bowden for the final 7 games of the 2008 season.

References

General

• Bourret, Tim. "2010 Clemson Football Media Guide" (PDF). Clemson University. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2011.

Specific

1. 2010 Media Guide , p. 175
2. "Clemson's Bowden steps down". Sports Illustrated . October 13, 2008. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
3. "NCAA Statistics – Year By Year History (Clemson)". National Collegiate Athletic Association . Retrieved January 3, 2025.
4. 2010 Media Guide , pp. 198–199
5. "1981 National Championship Season" (PDF). Clemson University. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011. Under Swinney's guidance the tigers have won four ACC championships, and has made three national championship appearances;winning both the 2016 and 2018 national title.
6. College Football Hall of Fame profile
7. College Football Hall of Fame profile
8. College Football Hall of Fame profile
9. College Football Hall of Fame profile
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. "ACC Honors Year by Year" (PDF). 2010 ACC Football Information Guide. Atlantic Coast Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
14. "Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award". Football Writers Association of America. Archived from the original on August 8, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
15. "Woody Hayes Trophy". Touchdown Club of Columbus. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
16. "Past National COTY Winners". American Football Coaches Association. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
17. "Clemson University Head Coach Dabo Swinney Named Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year for 2011". Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. December 31, 2011. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
18. "Clemson coach Dabo Swinney named coach of the year". January 14, 2016. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2016.