List of Hillsdale Chargers head football coaches

The Hillsdale Chargers football program is a college football team that represents Hillsdale College in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a part of the NCAA Division II. The team has had 29 head coaches (not counting "student coaches") since its first recorded football game in 1891. The current coach is Nate Shreffler who first took the position for the 2024 season. ^[1]

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

No.	Name	Term	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	CCs	Awards
0	No coach	1891–1895	18	10	7	1	.583	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1	Duncan M. Martin	1896, 1898	9	4	4	1	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	Nate Duffy	1897	3	1	1	1	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
0	No coach	1899–1903	28	9	19	0	.321	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	Harry McRae	1904	7	0	7	0	.000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
0	No coach	1905	10	5	5	0	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	William Boone	1906	7	0	7	0	.000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	James Whipple	1907	6	4	2	0	.667	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	Herbert C. Reed	1908–1910	21	7	9	5	.452	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
7	Claude J. Hunt	1911–1912	12	8	3	1	.708	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
8	Charles Firth	1913	6	2	3	1	.417	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
9	Leroy Buchiet	1914–1917	27	10	14	3	.426	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10	Lawrence Manson	1918	6	1	5	0	.167	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
11	Samuel Taylor	1919	7	3	4	0	.429	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
12	William J. Rennie	1920–1921	17	12	4	1	.735	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
13	Louis Ost	1922	8	3	5	0	.375	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
14	Howard B. Jefferson	1923–1924	15	9	4	2	.667	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
15	Elroy Guckert	1925–1926	16	9	5	2	.625	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
16	Dwight Harwood	1927–1945	135	69	52	14	.563	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
17	David M. Nelson †	1946–1947	17	14	1	2	.882	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
18	Gib Holgate	1948	9	6	2	1	.722	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
19	Jack Petoskey	1949–1950	19	11	7	1	.605	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
20	Irv Wisniewski	1951	8	2	6	0	.250	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
21	Henry Fallon	1952	8	3	5	0	.375	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
22	Charlie Bachman †	1953	10	5	3	2	.600	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
23	Muddy Waters †	1954–1973	190	138	47	5	.739	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
24	Jack McAvoy	1974–1977	41	24	16	1	.598	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
25	Ron Lynch	1978–1979	22	8	14	0	.364	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
26	Dick Lowry	1980–1996	188	134	52	2	.718	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
27	Dave Dye	1997–2001	55	21	34	0	.382	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
28	Keith Otterbein	2002–2023	229	127	102	0	.555	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
29	Nate Shreffler	2024–present	11	6	5	0	.545	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

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]

References

1. Athletics, Hillsdale College. "Hillsdale College football head coach Keith Otterbein retires; Nate Shreffler to take over". Hillsdale Daily News. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
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.