List of Furman Paladins head football coaches

The Furman Paladins college football team represents the Furman University in the Southern Conference. The Paladins compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 23 head coaches since it began play during the 1889 season. Since December 2016, Clay Hendrix has served as head coach at Furman.[1]

Six coaches have led Northwestern in postseason appearances: Dick Sheridan, Jimmy Satterfield, Bobby Johnson, Bobby Lamb, Bruce Fowler, and Hendrix. Eight of those coaches also won conference championships: Billy Laval captured three and Dizzy McLeod captured one as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association; and Sheridan captured six, Satterfield three, Johnson two, and Lamb and Fowler one each as a member of the Southern Conference.

Bob King is the leader in overall seasons coached with his 15 years as head coach. Laval has the most all time wins with 80 and H. C. Granger has the highest winning percentage at 1.000. William Beattie has the lowest winning percentage at 0.000. Of the 23 different head coaches who have led the Paladins, Dick Sheridan has 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 Season(s)
[A 6] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 William Beattie 1889 2 0 2 0 .000 — — — — — — — — — —
2 H. C. Granger 1890 2 2 0 0 1.000 — — — — — — — — — —
3 H. P. Young 1891–1993
1895 		6 2 4 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — — —
4 Frank Sims 1896 5 2 3 0 0.400 — — — — — — — — — —
5 Frank Spencer 1900 3 0 2 1 0.167 — — — — — — — — — —
6 Charles Roller 1901–1902 15 5 5 5 0.500 1 2 1 0.375 — — — 0 — —
7 Cuppy Farmer 1913 9 6 3 0 0.667 — — — — — — — — — —
8 W. B. Bible 1914–1916 14 6 8 0 0.429 0 1 0 .000 — — — 0 — —
9 Billy Laval 1915–1926 119 80 35 4 0.689 32 18 3 0.632 — — — 3 — —
10 T. B. Amis 1928–1931 38 21 13 4 0.605 7 2 1 0.750 — — — 0 — —
11 Dizzy McLeod 1932–1942 100 56 37 7 0.595 34 19 6 0.627 — — — 1 — —
12 Bob Smith 1946–1947 19 4 15 0 0.211 2 8 0 0.200 — — — 0 — —
13 Red Smith 1948–1949 18 5 12 1 0.306 5 7 0 0.417 — — — 0 — —
14 Bill Young 1950–1954 50 23 24 3 0.490 9 10 2 0.476 — — — 0 — —
15 Homer Hobbs 1955–1957 30 6 24 0 0.200 4 4 0 0.500 — — — 0 — —
16 Bob King 1958–1972 152 60 88 4 0.408 25 45 0 0.357 — — — 0 — —
17 Art Baker 1973–1977 55 27 24 4 0.527 12 15 2 0.448 — — — 0 — —
18 Dick Sheridan† 1978–1985 94 69 23 2 0.745 41 10 1 0.798 3 3 0 6 — AFCA Division I-AA COY (1985)
19 Jimmy Satterfield 1986–1993 98 66 29 3 0.689 39 17 1 0.693 7 3 0 3 1
1988 		AFCA Division I-AA COY (1988)
20 Bobby Johnson 1994–2001 96 60 36 0 0.625 41 23 0 0.641 4 4 0 2 — —
21 Bobby Lamb 2002–2010 107 67 40 — 0.626 43 25 — 0.632 3 4 — 1 — —
22 Bruce Fowler 2011–2016 70 27 43 — 0.386 20 26 — 0.435 1 1 — 1 — —
23 Clay Hendrix 2017–present 80 51 29 — 0.638 39 16 — 0.709 3 4 — 2 — —

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.[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 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  6. ^ Furman did not field a team for the 1894, 1897–1899, 1903–1912, and 1943–1945 seasons.

References

  1. ^ Robinson, Manie (December 19, 2016). "Furman taps alum Clay Hendrix as new football coach". The Greenville News. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  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.