List of The Citadel Bulldogs head football coaches

The Citadel Bulldogs football program is a college football team that represents The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

The first season of football at The Citadel was in 1905. The team has had twenty-five different head coaches, with two serving for two separate stretches of time. There was no team from 1943 through 1945 due to World War II.

The Bulldogs have appeared in and won one bowl game, the 1960 Tangerine Bowl under head coach Eddie Teague. They have also made five appearances in the NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) Playoffs, holding an overall record of 2–5. The first three appearances were under head coach Charlie Taaffe, while the others were led by Mike Houston and Brent Thompson. The Citadel has claimed four Southern Conference championships, in 1961 under the leadership of Teague, in 1992 under Taaffe, in 2015 under Houston, and 2016 under Thompson. The Bulldogs have not won a national championship in football.

Through the end of the 2018 season, Charlie Taaffe has coached the most games for the Bulldogs, and claimed the most wins. He and Mike Houston are the only coaches to lead the team and win a game in the Division I-AA playoffs. Kevin Higgins recorded the most losses in Citadel history and second most games overall, just one behind Taaffe. After three seasons, Brent Thompson has the highest winning percentage at .588, while John D. McMillan has the lowest winning percentage at .225.

Taaffe earned National Coach of the Year honors in 1992, from Sports Information Directors in the Eddie Robinson Award, The Sports Network, and from the American Football Coaches Association. Six coaches have earned Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors: Teague (1961), Tom Moore (1984), Taaffe (1988 and 1992), Higgins (2012), Houston (2015), and Thompson (2016). Additionally, John Sauer and Teague earned South Carolina Coach of the Year awards in 1955 and 1961, respectively.

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 ^{[4] [A 5]}

No.	Name	Term(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	DCs	CCs	NCs	Awards [5]
1	Syd Smith	1905	6	2	3	1	.417	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	—
2	Ralph Foster	1906–1908	16	8	6	2	.563	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
3	Sam Costen	1909–1910	16	7	7	2	.500	1	4	1	.250	—	—	—	0	0	—
4	Louis LeTellier	1911–1912	16	8	6	2	.563	1	5	0	.167	—	—	—	0	0	—
5	George C. Rogers	1913–1915, 1919	33	14	16	3	.470	4	12	1	.265	0	0	—	0	0	—
6	Harry J. O'Brien	1916–1918, 1920–1921	33	14	15	4	.485	8	13	2	.391	0	0	—	0	0	—
7	Carl Prause	1922–1929	77	41	32	4	.558	24	16	3	.593	0	0	—	0	0	—
8	Johnny Floyd	1930–1931	15	9	9	3	.500	7	1	1	.833	0	0	—	0	0	—
9	Tatum Gressette	1932–1939	78	34	41	3	.455	14	21	0	.400 [A 6]	0	0	—	0	0	—
10	Bo Rowland	1940–1942	24	13	10	1	.563	2	8	1	.227	0	0	—	0	0	—
11	J. Quinn Decker	1946–1952	65	23	39	1	.373	8	25	0	.242	0	0	—	0	0	—
12	John D. McMillan	1953–1954	20	4	15	1	.225	1	7	0	.125	0	0	—	0	0	—
13	John Sauer	1955–1956	18	8	9	1	.472	3	5	0	.375	0	0	—	0	0	1955 South Carolina Coach of the Year
14	Eddie Teague	1957–1965	91	45	44	2	.505	29	26	0	.527	1	0	—	1	0	1955 South Carolina Coach of the Year 1961 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
15	Red Parker	1966–1972	73	39	34	0	.534	25	20	0	.556	0	0	—	0	0	—
16	Bobby Ross	1973–1977	55	24	31	0	.436	11	19	0	.367	0	0	—	0	0	—
17	Art Baker	1978–1982	55	30	24	1	.555	15	13	1	.330	0	0	—	0	0	—
18	Tom Moore	1983–1986	44	18	25	1	.420	7	18	1	.288	0	0	—	0	0	1984 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
19	Charlie Taaffe	1987–1995	103	55	47	1	.539	30	34	1	.469	1	3	—	1	0	1988 Southern Conference Coach of the Year 1992 Eddie Robinson Award 1992 The Sports Network Coach of the Year 1992 AFCA Division I-AA Coach of the Year 1992 SC Hall of Fame Coach of the Year 1992 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
20	Don Powers	1996–2000	55	19	36	—	.345	13	27	—	.325	0	0	—	0	0	—
21	Ellis Johnson	2001–2003	34	12	22	—	.353	7	17	—	.292	0	0	—	0	0	—
22	John Zernhelt	2004	10	3	7	—	.300	2	5	—	.286	0	0	—	0	0	—
23	Kevin Higgins	2005–2013	102	43	57	—	.430	26	43	—	.377	0	0	—	0	0	2012 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
24	Mike Houston	2014–2015	25	14	11	—	.560	9	5	—	.643	1	1	—	1	0	2015 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
25	Brent Thompson	2016–2022	80	36	44	—	.450	27	29	—	.482	0	1	—	1	0	2016 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
26	Maurice Drayton	2023–present	35	9	26	—	.257	6	18	—	.250	0	0	—	0	0	—

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. ^[1]
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. ^[2]
4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss. ^[3]
5. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2024 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
6. Gressette had a record of 10–7 (.588) against Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponents and 4–14 (.222) against Southern Conference opponents.

References

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. The Citadel Football - 2011 Media Guide. citadelsports.com. p. 142. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
5. "Coaches of the Year". citadelsports.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013.