List of Utah Utes head football coaches

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The Utah Utes football program is a college football team that represents the University of Utah. The team has had 23 head coaches since organized football began in 1892. Harvey Holmes was the first paid head coach, and the Utes have had 17 paid, professional head coaches. The Utes have played in more than 1,000 games during its 116 seasons. In those seasons, 5 coaches have led the Utes to postseason bowl games: Ike Armstrong, Ray Nagel, Ron McBride, Urban Meyer, and Kyle Whittingham. 7 coaches have won conference championships with the Utes: Thomas Fitzpatrick, Armstrong, Jack "Cactus Jack" Curtice, Nagel, McBride, Meyer, and Whittingham. Armstrong is the all-time leader in number of games coached with 211, years coached with 25, and total wins with 141. Meyer is the all-time leader in winning percentage with a percentage of .917 in his two seasons at Utah. Tom Lovat is, in terms of winning percentage, the worst coach the Utes have had with a percentage of .152 during his three seasons as head coach (with the exception of Walter Shoup who only coached one game in 1895.)

Contents

Of the 23 Utes head coaches, Ike Armstrong has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Kyle Whittingham is the current head coach and has received National Coach of the Year honors from multiple organizations. He was hired in December 2004.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
GeneralOverallConferencePostseason [A 1]
No.Order of coaches [A 2] GCGames coachedCWConference winsPWPostseason wins
DCDivision championshipsOWOverall winsCLConference lossesPLPostseason losses
CCConference championshipsOLOverall lossesCTConference tiesPTPostseason ties
NCNational championshipsOTOverall 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 [A 5]
#Name Term GCWLTWP%CWCLCTC%PWPLPTWP%CCsNational awards
1 Robert Harkness 1894 3120.333
2 Walter Shoup 1895 1010.000
3 C. B. Ferris 1896 5320.600
4 Byron Cummings 1897 6150.166
5 Benjamin Wilson 1898 3210.667
6 Charles Gatehouse 1899 3210.667
7 Harvey Holmes 1900–1903 231391.587
8 Joe Maddock 1904–1909 382891.750
9 Fred Bennion 1910–1913 271683.6481061.618
10 Nelson Norgren 1914–1917 2413110.54210100.500
11 Thomas Fitzpatrick 1919–1924 4323173.57017103.6171
12 Ike Armstrong [4] † 1925–1949 2111415515.704108248.80011

[A 6]

0.50013
13 Jack Curtice 1950–1957 8145324.5803292.7674
14 Ray Nagel 1958–1965 8242391.51821171.5511001.0001
15 Mike Giddings 1966–1967 219120.429550.500
16 Bill Meek 1968–1973 6433310.51623140.622
17 Tom Lovat 1974–1976 335280.1525120.294
18 Wayne Howard 1977–1981 5630242.55417132.563
19 Chuck Stobart 1982–1984 3416171.48510111.477
20 Jim Fassel 1985–1989 5825330.43114260.350
21 Ron McBride 1990–2002 15188630.58358420.580330.5002
22 Urban Meyer 2003–2004 242220.9171310.9292001.0002 The Sporting News National Coach of the Year (2003) [7]

Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (2004) [8]

23 Kyle Whittingham 2005–present241162790.672100600.62511

[A 7]

60.6473 Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (2008) [10]

AFCA National Coach of the Year Award (2008) [11]

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 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ↑ The Pineapple Bowl, which was Armstrong's only loss in a bowl game, was not an NCAA certified bowl game and counts a regular season loss in official NCAA records. [5] [6]
  7. ↑ Kyle Whittingham and Urban Meyer were listed as "Co-head Coaches" for the 2005 Fiesta Bowl; both coaches are credited with the win in official NCAA records. [9]

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References

General
Specific
  1. ↑ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived from the original on August 22, 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 November 24, 2009. 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 October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Ike Armstrong". College Football Hall of Fame . Football Foundation. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  5. ↑ Joe Drape (2001-12-20). "ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Fish to FedEx: Bowl Name Game". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  6. ↑ "Utah Bowl Games". College Football Trivia. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  7. ↑ "Utah's Meyer named coach of the year". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  8. ↑ "Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award". Football Writers Association of America. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  9. ↑ "All-Time Coaching Records: Urban Meyer & Kyle Whittingham Records by Year". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  10. ↑ "Whittingham wins Bryant Award". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
  11. ↑ "Whittingham earns AFCA award". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
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