The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets college football team represents the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Yellow Jackets compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The school has had 23 official head coaches since first fielding a team in 1892, including four who have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: John Heisman, William Alexander, Bobby Dodd, and Paul Johnson. [1] [2] Brent Key is the current head coach of the program, taking over the role midway through the 2022 season following the dismissal of Geoff Collins. [3]
Georgia Tech has played in over 1,300 football games across 131 seasons. [4] During that time, four head coaches have won a national championship: Heisman (1917), Alexander (1928), Dodd (1952), and Bobby Ross (1990). Six coaches (Heisman, Alexander, Dodd, Ross, George O'Leary, and Johnson [A 1] ) have won conference championships and twelve different coaches have led Georgia Tech in a post-season bowl game. [6]
Alexander holds the Georgia Tech record for the longest coaching tenure (25 seasons), most games coached (244), most losses (95), and most ties (15). Heisman has the highest winning percentage, (.759), among Georgia Tech coaches who coached at least ten games. Dodd holds the Georgia Tech record for most wins (165). [7]
General | Overall | Conference | Postseason [A 2] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Order of coaches [A 3] | 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 4] | C% | Conference winning percentage | ||
† | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage [A 5] |
No. | Name | Term | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | DC [A 7] | CC | NC | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ernest West | 1892 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
2 | Leonard Wood [A 8] | 1893 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.625 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
3 | Dutch Dorsey [A 9] | 1894 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
— | No team | 1895 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
4 | J. B. Wood [A 10] | 1896–1898 | 11 [A 11] | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0.318 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
5 | Cow Nalley [A 12] | 1899 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
6 | Harris Collier [A 13] | 1900 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
7 | John McKee [A 14] | 1901 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.900 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
8 | George Andree [A 15] | 1902 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0.125 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
9 | Oliver Huie [A 16] | 1903 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0.375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
10 | John Heisman † | 1904–1919 | 138 | 102 | 29 | 7 | 0.764 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 [A 17] | 1 (1917) | — |
11 | William Alexander † | 1920–1944 | 244 | 134 | 95 | 15 | 0.580 | 74 | 54 | 15 | 0.570 | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | 8 [A 17] | 1 (1928) | SEC Coach of the Year (1939) [25] AFCA Coach of the Year (1942) [26] |
12 | Bobby Dodd † | 1945–1966 | 237 | 165 | 64 | 8 | 0.713 | 82 | 39 | 4 | 0.672 | 9 | 4 | 0 | — | 2 | 1 (1952) | SEC Coach of the Year (1951) [27] |
13 | Bud Carson | 1967–1971 | 54 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 0.500 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 0 | — |
14 | Bill Fulcher | 1972–1973 | 23 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0.543 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | — |
15 | Pepper Rodgers | 1974–1979 | 67 | 34 | 31 | 2 | 0.522 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 0 | — |
16 | Bill Curry | 1980–1986 | 78 | 31 | 43 | 4 | 0.423 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 0.614 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ACC Coach of the Year (1985) [28] |
17 | Bobby Ross | 1987–1991 | 58 | 31 | 26 | 1 | 0.543 | 15 | 18 | 1 | 0.456 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 (1990) | ACC Coach of the Year (1990) [29] AFCA Coach of the Year (1990) [26] Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year (1990) [30] FWAA Coach of the Year (1990) [31] Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (1990) [32] Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year (1990) [33] Walter Camp Coach of the Year (1990) [34] Woody Hayes Trophy (1990) [35] |
18 | Bill Lewis [A 18] | 1992–1994 | 30 | 11 | 19 | 0 | 0.367 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 0.318 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
19 | George O'Leary [A 19] | 1994–2001 | 85 | 52 | 33 | 0 | 0.612 | 36 | 23 | 0 | 0.610 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ACC Coach of the Year (1998, 2000) [29] Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year (2000) [30] |
— | Mac McWhorter [A 20] | 2001 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
20 | Chan Gailey [A 21] | 2002–2007 | 76 | 44 | 32 | — | 0.579 | 28 | 20 | — | 0.583 | 2 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | — |
— | Jon Tenuta [A 22] | 2007 | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | .000 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
21 | Paul Johnson † | 2008–2018 | 142 | 82 | 60 | — | 0.577 | 51 | 37 | — | 0.580 | 3 | 6 | — | 3 | 1 [A 23] | 0 | ACC Coach of the Year (2008, 2009, 2014) [29] |
22 | Geoff Collins [A 24] | 2019–2022 | 38 | 10 | 28 | — | 0.263 | 7 | 19 | — | 0.269 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
23 | Brent Key [A 25] | 2022–present | 38 | 22 | 16 | — | 0.579 | 15 | 9 | — | 0.625 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |