List of Duke Blue Devils head football coaches

Steve Spurrier in a suit at a press conference.
Steve Spurrier won the most recent conference championship at Duke as head coach in 1989.

The Duke Blue Devils college football team represents Duke University in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Blue Devils compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 24 head coaches since it began play during the 1889 season. Since December 7, 2023, Manny Diaz has served as head coach at Duke.

Seven coaches have led Duke in postseason bowl games: Wallace Wade, Eddie Cameron, William D. Murray, Steve Spurrier, Fred Goldsmith, David Cutcliffe, and Elko. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: Wade captured six, Cameron three, and Murray one as a member of the Southern Conference; Murray captured six and Spurrier one as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Wade is the leader in seasons coached with 16 years as head coach and games won with 110. Floyd J. Egan has the highest winning percentage at 0.900. Ted Roof has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.118. Of the 24 different head coaches who have led the Blue Devils, Jones, Wade, Murray, McGee, and Spurrier have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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[A 5]
No. Name
[A 6] 		Season(s)
[A 7] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 John Franklin Crowell 1889–1889 5 3 2 0 0.600 — — — — — — — — — —
2 Floyd J. Egan 1920 5 4 0 1 0.900 — — — — — — — — — —
3 James A. Baldwin 1921 9 6 1 2 0.778 — — — — — — — — — —
4 Herman G. Steiner 1922 10 7 2 1 0.750 — — — — — — — — — —
5 E. L. Alexander 1923 9 5 4 0 0.556 — — — — — — — — — —
6 Howard Jones† 1924 9 4 5 0 0.444 — — — — — — — — — —
7 James P. Herron 1925 9 4 5 0 0.444 — — — — — — — — — —
8 Jimmy DeHart 1926–1930 49 24 23 2 0.510 7 3 1 0.682 — — — 0 — —
9
11 		Wallace Wade† 1931–1941
1946–1950 		153 110 36 7 0.742 68 18 3 0.781 0 2 0 6 — —
10 Eddie Cameron 1942–1945 37 25 11 1 0.689 15 1 1 0.912 1 0 0 3 — —
12 William D. Murray† 1951–1965 153 93 51 9 0.637 63 17 2 0.780 2 1 0 7 — —
13 Tom Harp 1966–1970 51 22 28 1 0.441 15 16 1 0.484 0 0 0 0 — —
14 Mike McGee† 1971–1978 88 37 47 4 0.443 17 25 4 0.413 0 0 0 0 — —
15 Shirley Wilson 1979–1982 44 16 27 1 0.375 7 17 0 0.292 0 0 0 0 — —
16 Steve Sloan 1983–1986 44 13 31 0 0.295 8 20 0 0.286 0 0 0 0 — —
17 Steve Spurrier† 1987–1989 34 20 13 1 0.603 11 9 1 0.548 0 1 0 1 — —
18 Barry Wilson 1990–1993 44 13 30 1 0.307 4 26 0 0.133 0 0 0 0 — —
19 Fred Goldsmith 1994–1998 56 17 39 0 0.304 8 32 0 0.200 0 1 0 0 — Bobby Dodd COY (1994)
20 Carl Franks 1999–2003 52 7 45 — 0.135 3 33 — 0.083 0 0 — 0 — —
21 Ted Roof 2003–2007 51 6 45 — 0.118 3 33 — 0.083 0 0 — 0 — —
22 David Cutcliffe 2008–2021 174 77 97 — 0.443 35 79 — 0.307 3 3 — 0 — Walter Camp COY (2013)
Sporting News Co-COY (2013)
Bobby Dodd COY (2013)
AFCA COY (2013)
23 Mike Elko 2022–2023 25 16 9 — 0.640 9 7 — 0.563 1 0 — 0 — —
24 Manny Diaz 2024– 0 0 0 — – 0 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 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ Duke did not have a head coach from their 1890–1895 seasons.
  7. ^ Duke did not field teams from the 1896–1919 seasons.

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.