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List of Arizona Wildcats head football coaches

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Two coaches talking on-field
Dick Tomey (right) served as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats from 1987 to 2000 and has the most wins in program history.

The Arizona Wildcats football program is a college football team representing the University of Arizona that is a member of the Big 12 Conference. The team has had 31 head coaches and two interim head coaches since its founding in 1899. The Wildcats have played in more than 1,100 games in 113 seasons. Arizona's most recent head coach is Brent Brennan, who became the 31st head coach in 2024.[1]

Nine coaches have led Arizona in postseason bowl games: Pop McKale, Mike Casteel, Darrell Mudra, Tony Mason, Larry Smith, Dick Tomey, Mike Stoops, Rich Rodriguez and Jedd Fisch. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: Tex Oliver captured two and Casteel one as a member of the Border Conference; and LaRue and Young captured one as a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

McKale is the leader in seasons coached with sixteen. Tomey is the leader in games won with 90. Leslie Gillett is the leader in winning percentage with a perfect 1.00. Mike Hankwitz has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.143. Of the 14 different head coaches who have led the Wildcats, Mudra has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key

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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

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List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Season(s)
[A 6]
GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Stuart Forbes 1899 3 1 1 1 0.500
2 William W. Skinner 1900–1901 9 7 2 0 0.778
3 Leslie Gillett 1902 5 5 0 0 1.000
4 Orin A. Kates 1903–1904 8 5 1 2 0.750
5 William M. Ruthrauff 1905 7 5 2 0 0.714
6 H. B. Galbraith 1908–1909 9 8 1 0 0.889
7 Frank Shipp 1910–1911 10 8 1 1 0.850
8 Raymond L. Quigley 1912 3 2 1 0 0.667
9 Frank A. King 1913 4 2 2 0 0.500
10 Pop McKale 1914–1930 118 80 32 6 0.703 0 1 0
11 Fred Enke 1931 9 3 5 1 0.389 1 1 1 0.500 0 0 0 0
12 August W. Farwick 1932 9 4 5 0 0.444 3 2 0 0.600 0 0 0 0
13 Tex Oliver 1933–1937 47 32 11 4 0.723 15 4 2 0.762 0 0 0 2
14 Orian Landreth 1938 9 3 6 0 0.333 0 3 0 .000 0 0 0 0
15 Mike Casteel 1939–1948 75 46 26 3 0.633 21 11 1 0.652 0 1 0 1
16 Bob Winslow 1949–1951 31 12 18 1 0.403 8 11 0 0.421 0 0 0 0
17 Warren B. Woodson 1952–1956 50 26 22 2 0.540 11 10 1 0.523 0 0 0 0
18 Ed Doherty 1957–1958 20 4 15 1 0.225 2 5 0 0.286 0 0 0 0
19 Jim LaRue 1959–1966 80 41 37 2 0.525 14 13 0 0.519 0 0 0 1
20 Darrell Mudra 1967–1968 21 11 9 1 0.548 6 5 0 0.545 0 1 0 0
21 Bob Weber 1969–1972 42 16 26 0 0.381 12 13 0 0.480 0 0 0 0
22 Jim Young 1973–1976 44 31 13 0 0.705 20 8 0 0.714 0 0 0 1
23 Tony Mason 1977–1979 35 16 18 1 0.471 10 11 0 0.476 0 1 0 0
24 Larry Smith 1980–1986 79 48 28 3 0.627 30 21 2 0.585 1 0 1 0
25 Dick Tomey 1987–2000 163 95 64 4 0.595 60 49 4 0.549 4 3 0 0
26 John Mackovic 2001–2003 28 10 18 0.357 3 14 0.176 0 0 0
Int. Mike Hankwitz 2003 7 1 6 0.143 1 6 0.143 0 0 0
27 Mike Stoops 2004–2011 91 41 50 0.451 27 38 0.415 1 2 0
Int. Tim Kish 2011 6 3 3 0.500 2 3 0.400 0 0 0
28 Rich Rodriguez 2012–2017 78 43 35 0.551 24 30 0.444 3 2 0
29 Kevin Sumlin 2018–2020 29 9 20 0.310 6 17 0.261 0 0 0
30 Jedd Fisch 2021–2023 24 16 21 0.432 11 16 0.407 1 0 0
31 Brent Brennan 2024–present 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Statistical leaders

[edit]
Updated as of January 2024

Notes

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  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]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ Arizona did not field teams in 1906, 1907, 1918, 1943, and 1944.

References

[edit]
General
  • "Arizona Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  • Pacific Coast Conference Records Book 1916–1948. Los Angeles, CA: Pacific Coast Conference. 1949.
  1. ^ "Arizona hires San Jose State's Brent Brennan as head football coach".
  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.