List of Ohio State Buckeyes head football coaches

Urban Meyer, head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2012 to 2018

The Ohio State Buckeyes college football team represents the Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 25 coaches since it began play during the 1890 season. ^[1] The Buckeyes have played over 1,200 games over 125 seasons. In those seasons, nine head coaches have led the Buckeyes to postseason bowl games: John Wilce, Wes Fesler, Woody Hayes, Earle Bruce, John Cooper, Jim Tressel, Luke Fickell, Urban Meyer, and Ryan Day. 13 coaches have won conference championships with the Buckeyes: Albert Herrnstein, John Richards, Wilce, Francis Schmidt, Paul Brown, Carroll Widdoes, Fesler, Hayes, Bruce, Cooper, Tressel, Meyer, and Day. Five coaches led the Buckeyes to national championships: Brown, Hayes, Tressel, Meyer, and Day. Hayes is the all-time leader in games coached and years coached with the Buckeyes, while also leading all coaches in victories (205). Meyer currently holds the highest winning percentage of all Buckeye coaches (.902), with a record of 83–9 through seven seasons. David Edwards holds the lowest winning percentage of any Buckeye head coach (.167), going 1–7–1 in the only season that he coached. Of the 24 Buckeye head coaches, Howard Jones, Wilce, Schmidt, Fesler, Hayes, Bruce, Cooper, Tressel, and Meyer have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The previous head coach of the Buckeyes was Urban Meyer who was hired in November 2011 ^[2] and then announced December 4, 2018, he would retire following the Rose Bowl. Ryan Day then became the new coach of the Buckeyes. ^[3]

Key

General # Number of coaches [A 1] DCs Divisional championships [A 2] CCs Conference championships [A 3] NCs National championships † Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

Overall GC Games coached OW Wins OL Losses OT Ties [A 4] O% Winning percentage [A 5]

Conference CW Wins CL Losses CT Ties C% Winning percentage

Postseason [A 6] PW Wins PL Losses PT Ties

Coaches

#	Name	Term	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	CCs	DCs	NCs	National awards
1	Alexander Lilley	1890–1891	8	3	5	0	.375	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	Frederick Ryder	1892–1895, 1898	46	22	22	1	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	Charles Hickey [A 7]	1896	11	5	5	1	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	David Edwards	1897	9	1	7	1	.167	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	John Eckstorm	1899–1901	29	22	4	3	.810	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	Perry Hale	1902–1903	21	14	5	2	.714	5	2	0	.714	—	—	—	—	—	—
7	Edwin Sweetland	1904–1905	23	14	7	2	.652	4	1	1	.750	—	—	—	—	—	—
8	Albert Herrnstein	1906–1909	39	28	10	1	.731	17	6	1	.729	—	—	1	—	—	—
9	Howard Jones [8] †	1910	10	6	1	3	.750	5	1	2	.750	—	—	—	—	—	—
10	Harry Vaughan	1911	10	5	3	2	.600	4	1	2	.714	—	—	—	—	—	—
11	John Richards	1912	9	6	3	0	.667	5	0	0	1.000	—	—	1	—	—	—
12	John Wilce [9] †	1913–1928	120	78	33	9	.688	37	30	4	.549	0	1	3	—	—	—
13	Sam Willaman	1929–1933	41	26	10	5	.695	14	8	4	.615	—	—	—	—	—	—
14	Francis Schmidt [10] †	1934–1940	56	39	16	1	.705	30	9	1	.763	—	—	2	—	—	—
15	Paul Brown	1941–1943	27	18	8	1	.685	9	6	1	.594	—	—	1	—	1 – 1942	—
16	Carroll Widdoes	1944–1945	18	16	2	0	.889	11	2	0	.846	—	—	1	—	—	AFCA Coach of the Year (1944) [11]
17	Paul Bixler	1946	9	4	3	2	.556	2	3	1	.417	—	—	—	—	—	—
18	Wes Fesler [12] †	1947–1950	37	21	13	3	.608	13	10	2	.560	1	0	1	—	—	—
19	Woody Hayes [13] †	1951–1978	276	205	61	10	.761	152	37	7	.793	5	6	13	—	5 – 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970	AFCA Coach of the Year (1957) [11] Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1957, 1968, 1975) [14] Walter Camp Coach of the Year (1968) [15]
20	Earle Bruce [16] †	1979–1987	108	81	26	1	.755	57	17	0	.770	5	3	4	—	—	AFCA Coach of the Year (1979) [11] Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1979) [14] Woody Hayes Trophy (1979) [17]
21	John Cooper [18] †	1988–2000	158	111	43	4	.715	70	30	4	.692	3	8	3	—	—	—
22	Jim Tressel [19] [A 8] †	2001–2010	128	94	22	—	.810	59	14	—	.808	5	4	6	—	1 – 2002	AFCA Coach of the Year (2002) [11] Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (2002) [14] Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (2002) [21] Woody Hayes Trophy (2002) [17]
Int	Luke Fickell [A 9]	2011	13	6	7	—	.462	3	5	—	.375	0	1	—	—	—	—
23	Urban Meyer †	2012–2018	92	83	9	—	.902	54	4	—	.931	5	2	3	7	1 – 2014	Woody Hayes Trophy (2012) [17]
24	Ryan Day [A 10]	2019–present	86	76	10	—	.896	49	5	—	.907	4	3	2	3	1 — 2024	—

See Also

List of Sports Coaches From Youngstown, Ohio

Notes

1. A running total of the number of coaches of the Buckeyes. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is counted only once. Acting head coaches are not included in the count.
2. The Big Ten began divisional play in 2011. From 2011–2013 they were in the Leaders division, from 2014 on they have been in the East.
3. Ohio State did not join a conference until 1902. ^[4]
4. Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since. ^[5]
5. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss. ^[6]
6. The Big Ten Conference began a conference championship game during the 2011 season and the results are included in the calculation of postseason wins and losses.
7. Charles Hickey was hired part-way through the 1896 season and student coached the team in several games. ^[7]
8. Ohio State finished the 2010 season with an overall record of 12–1 and a conference record of 7–1. Ohio State voluntarily vacated all victories during the season, as well as the conference championship and Sugar Bowl victory, as a result of NCAA infractions. ^[20]
9. Luke Fickell was named interim head coach in May 2011, following the resignation of Jim Tressel. ^[22]
10. Ryan Day was named acting head coach during the three-game suspension of Urban Meyer at the beginning of the 2018 season. His statistics include these three games. ^[23]

References

General

• "Ohio State Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse . Retrieved June 11, 2012.
• "Ohio State Records – Coaching Records" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved June 11, 2012.

Specific

1. "Ohio State Buckeyes Coaching Records" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
2. "Ohio State football: Meyer signs contract". Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
3. "Urban Meyer Announces Retirement Following Rose Bowl, Ryan Day To Take Over As Ohio State's Next Head Coach". Eleven Warriors. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
4. "Ohio State Records – Head Coaching Records" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
5. Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
6. Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big Plays Help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
7. "History of Ohio State Football" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
8. "Howard Jones". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
9. "John Wilce". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
10. "Francis Schmidt". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
11. "AFCA Coach of the Year Award – Past Winners". American Football Coaches Association. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
12. "Wes Fesler". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
13. "Woody Hayes". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
14. "Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award Winners". SR/College Football. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
15. "Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award Winners". SR/College Football. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
16. "Earle Bruce". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
17. "Past Touchdown Club Trophies :: Touchdown Club of Columbus". www.tdccolumbus.com. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
18. "John Cooper". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
19. "Hall of Famers: Jim Tressel". USA Today. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
20. "Ohio State vacates all 2010 victories". ESPN. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
21. "Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award Winners". SR/College Football. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
22. "Luke Fickell Named Interim Ohio State Football Coach". 10TV.com. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
23. Gardner, Steve (August 1, 2018). "Who is Ohio State interim football head coach Ryan Day?". USA Today. Retrieved December 4, 2018.