List of UConn Huskies head football coaches

Last updated

Jim Mora served as head coach 2021-2025. Jim Mora in El Paso (cropped).jpg
Jim Mora served as head coach 2021-2025.

The UConn Huskies football team has represented the University of Connecticut in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football since the team's founding in 1896. The program has had 31 head coaches, including two interim coachs and an early period where the team had no head coach. As of 2021, the current coach is Jim Mora.

Contents

The nickname "Huskies" was adopted following a student poll in The Connecticut Campus in 1934 after the school's name changed from Connecticut Agricultural College to Connecticut State College in 1933; before then, the teams were referred to as the Aggies. [1] [2] Although the school's abbreviated nickname "UConn" and the Canadian Yukon territory—where huskies are commonly used in dogsledding [3] —are homophones, the "Huskies" nickname predates the school's 1939 name change to the University of Connecticut. [2] The first recorded use of "UConn" (as "U-Conn", both separately and with "Huskies") was later in 1939. [4]

The Huskies have played 1,181 games during the program's 127 seasons through 2024. UConn joined the fledgling Yankee Conference in 1947, which merged with and became the Atlantic 10 football conference in 1997. Seven coaches—J. Orlean Christian, Robert Ingalls, John Toner, Robert Casciola, Larry Naviaux, Walt Nadzak, and Tom Jackson—led Connecticut to conference championships prior to the team's transition from Division I-AA to Division I-A in 2000, [A 1] and one coach—Skip Holtz—led UConn to the Division I-AA playoffs in 1998. Following the transition, Edsall led the Huskies to Big East Conference [A 2] championships in 2007 and 2010.

Randy Edsall is Connecticut's all-time leader in games coached (144), coaching wins (74), bowl game appearances (5), and bowl game wins (3).[ General ] [7] Bob Diaco is the only other UConn head coach to lead the team to a bowl game, which was lost. Dave Warner, who led the then-Aggies to a 3–0 record in his only season coached in 1914, is the all-time leader in winning percentage (1.000); E. S. Mansfield and Leo Hafford, who both lost every game they coached in 1898 and 1911, [A 3] respectively, share the lowest-ever winning percentage (.000). Among coaches that led the team for longer than a single season, T. D. Knowles is the all-time leader in winning percentage (.712), while John F. Donahue has the all-time lowest winning percentage (.125).

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
GeneralOverallConferencePostseason [A 4]
No.Order of coaches [A 5] GCGames coachedCWConference winsPWPostseason wins
DCDivision championshipsOWOverall winsCLConference lossesPLPostseason losses
CCConference championshipsOLOverall lossesCTConference tiesPTPostseason ties
NCNational championshipsOTOverall ties [A 6] C%Conference winning percentage
†Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O%Overall winning percentage [A 7]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, [A 8] postseason records, division [A 9] and conference [A 10] championships, and selected awards [A 11] [A 12]
 OverallConferencePostseason 
No.NameSeason(s)GCOWOLOTO%CWCLCTC%PWPLPTDCCCAwards
—No coach1896–97151050.667——————————
1 E. S. Mansfield 18983030.000——————————
2 T. D. Knowles 1899–1901261871.712——————————
3 Edwin O. Smith 1902–052814131.518——————————
4 George H. Lamson 1906–0713490.308——————————
5 William F. Madden 19088431.563——————————
6 S. Frank G. McLean 19098350.375——————————
7 M. F. Claffey 19107151.214——————————
8 Leo Hafford [A 3] 19115050.000——————————
9 Abraham J. Sharadin 19126330.500——————————
10 P. T. Brady 19138530.625——————————
11 Dave Warner 191433001.000——————————
12 John F. Donahue 1915–16162140.125——————————
XNo football played1917–18 [A 13] ———————————————
13 Roy J. Guyer 19198260.250————000———
14 Ross Swartz 19208161.188————000———
15 J. Wilder Tasker 1921–2217584.412————000———
16 Sumner Dole 1923–3389363914.483————000———
17 J. Orlean Christian 1934–49 [A 14] 12166514.562530.625000—1—
18 Arthur Valpey 1950–5116790.438240.333000—0—
19 Robert Ingalls 1952–6310649543.47629163.635000—6—
20 Rick Forzano 1964–65187101.417431.563000—0—
21 John Toner 1966–704720243.4571762.720000—2 Husky of Honor (as athletic director) [14]
22 Robert Casciola 1971–7218981.528821.773000—1—
23 Larry Naviaux 1973–764318241.4301381.614000—1—
24 Walt Nadzak 1977–826524392.38514151.483000—1—
25 Tom Jackson 1983–9311962570.52142350.54500002 Yankee Conference Coach of the Year (1986) [15]

UPI New England Coach of the Year (1986) [15]

26 Skip Holtz 1994–985734230.59622180.55011010—
27 Randy Edsall 1999–20101447470—.5142531—.44632—02 Big East Coach of the Year (2010) [16]
28 Paul Pasqualoni 2011–13 [A 15] 281018—.35759—.35700——0—
Int. T. J. Weist 2013 [A 15] 835—.37535—.37500——0—
29 Bob Diaco 2014–16371126—.297618—.25001—00—
30 Randy Edsall 2017–202138632—.158222—.08300—00—
Int. Lou Spanos 2021716—.143––—–00—00—
31 Jim L. Mora 2022–2025381820—.47400—–11—00—
Int.Gordon Sammis2026———————————————

Notes

  1. ↑ In August 2006 the NCAA changed the name of Division I-A to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Division I-AA to Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). [5] In this article the old names are used to refer to events that occurred prior to August 2006.
  2. ↑ The American Athletic Conference operated as the Big East Conference from 1979 through 2013. [6] See 2010–13 Big East Conference realignment for more information. This article uses the name "Big East" to refer to the conference for the years 2013 and earlier.
  3. 1 2 According to one source, Hafford died on October 1, 1911, one day after Connecticut's first game of the 1911 season. [8] The official university record book credits him with four losses in games played after that date, however.[ General ]
  4. ↑ 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. [9]
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since. [10]
  7. ↑ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss. [11]
  8. ↑ The University of Connecticut does not record conference records until 1947, the first season of the Yankee Conference. UConn was not a member of a conference for football from 2000–03.[ General ]
  9. ↑ Connecticut participated in divisional play for seven seasons in the Division I-AA era, between the expansion of the Yankee Conference to twelve teams and two divisions in 1993 [12] and the beginning of UConn's transition to Division I-A in 2000.[ General ] The American Athletic Conference began divisional play in 2015 following the addition of the Navy Midshipmen, which brought the total number of teams in the conference to twelve. [13]
  10. ↑ Conference championships include both sole and shared championships for all years between 1947–99 and 2004–14, where UConn played in conferences with no championship game.[ General ]
  11. ↑ Selected awards include only those associated with the coach's time at the University of Connecticut.
  12. ↑ Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  13. ↑ No football games were played in 1917 nor 1918 due to World War I.[ General ]
  14. ↑ No football games were played in 1943 due to World War II.[ General ]
  15. 1 2 Paul Pasqualoni was fired following the first four games of the 2013 season, which constituted the entire non-conference portion of that year's schedule. Interim coach T. J. Weist took over for the remaining eight games of the season, which constituted the entire conference portion of the schedule.[ General ] [17]

References

General

Specific

  1. ↑ "History – University of Connecticut". uconn.edu. University of Connecticut . Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Stave, Bruce M.; Burmeister, Laura (2006). Red Brick in the Land of Steady Habits: Creating the University of Connecticut, 1881–2006 . Lebanon, New Hampshire: University Press of New England. p.  28. ISBN   978-1-58465-570-1.
  3. ↑ Holland, Eva (February 20, 2015). "Survival Is the Ultimate Goal in World's Toughest Sled Dog Race". National Geographic . National Geographic Society . Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  4. ↑ Roy, Mark (April 5, 1999). "Traditional Husky Fight Song captures school spirit across generations". The UConn Advance. University of Connecticut. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  5. ↑ Albright, Dave (December 15, 2006). "NCAA misses the mark in Division I-AA name change". espn.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
  6. ↑ "American Athletic Conference". American Athletic Conference. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  7. ↑ Anthony, Mike (December 28, 2016). "Randy Edsall Back At UConn: Coach Says He Should Have Done Things Differently When He Left". The Hartford Courant . Tribune Corporation. Archived from the original on December 31, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
  8. ↑ Cross, John L. (March 27, 2012). "Whispering Pines: Dreaming of Fields". Bowdoin Daily Sun . Bowdoin College. Archived from the original on January 4, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ "Three schools to join all-football Yankee Conference". United Press International . News World Communications. March 22, 1991. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  13. ↑ Bahl, Andrew (May 30, 2014). "Navy football will be in West Division when it joins American Athletic Conference in 2015". The Baltimore Sun . Baltimore. ISSN   2165-1752 . Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  14. ↑ "John Toner To Be Inducted Into "Huskies Of Honor"". www.uconnhuskies.com. University of Connecticut. February 23, 2000. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  15. 1 2 Smith, George (November 18, 1993). "UConn's Jackson Out After 11 Seasons". The Hartford Courant . Tribune Corporation . Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  16. ↑ Otterbein, Jeff (December 28, 2016). "The Randy Edsall File: Bio, Record, UConn History". The Hartford Courant . Tribune Corporation . Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  17. ↑ Connor, Desmond (October 1, 2013). "T.J. Weist Takes Over UConn Football Program; Knows He Has To Win". The Hartford Courant . Tribune Corporation. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
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