List of Montana Grizzlies head football coaches

Bobby Hauck has served as head coach of the Grizzlies since November 2017, and previously served in the same capacity from 2003–2009.

The Montana Grizzlies college football team represents the University of Montana in the Big Sky Conference (Big Sky), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 36 head coaches since it began play during the 1897 season.[1] Since November 2017, Bobby Hauck has served as Montana's head coach.[2]

Nine coaches have led Montana in the postseason: Jack Swarthout, Larry Donovan, Don Read, Mick Dennehy, Joe Glenn, Robin Pflugrad, Mick Delaney, Bob Stitt, and Hauck. Seven of those coaches also won conference championships: Hauck captured eight; Dennehy and Glenn captured three; Read and Swarthout captured two; and, Donovan and Pflugrad each captured one as a member of the Big Sky. Two have also captured national championships as head coach at Montana: Read (1995) and Glenn (2001).

Hauck is the leader in seasons coached, with 14 years as head coach and games coached (165) and won (129). Glenn has the highest winning percentage at 0.867. Dewitt Peck and Clyde Carpenter have the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000. Of the 36 different head coaches who have led the Grizzlies, Bernie Bierman 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[A 5], postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 6]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CCs NCs Awards
1 Fred D. Smith 1897 6 1 2 3 0.417 — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 Benjamin F. Searight 1898 5 3 2 0 0.600 — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 Guy Cleveland 1899 3 1 2 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 Frank Bean 1900–1901 6 2 4 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 Dewitt Peck 1902 3 0 3 0 .000 — — — — — — — — 0 —
6 Hiram Conibear 1903–1904 12 5 7 0 0.417 — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 Frederick Schule 1905–1906 11 4 7 0 0.364 — — — — — — — — 0 —
8 Albion Findlay 1907 6 4 1 1 0.750 — — — — — — — — 0 —
9 Roy White 1908–1909 11 7 2 2 0.727 — — — — — — — — 0 —
10 Robert H. Cary 1910–1911 9 5 3 1 0.611 — — — — — — — — 0 —
11 Wallace Philoon 1912 7 4 3 0 0.571 — — — — — — — — 0 —
12 A. George Heilman 1913–1914 14 9 4 1 0.679 — — — — — — — — 0 —
13 Jerry Nissen 1915–1917 17 7 7 3 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
14 Bernie Bierman† 1919–1921 21 9 9 3 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
15 John W. Stewart 1922–1923 15 7 8 0 0.467 — — — — — — — — 0 —
16 Earl Clark 1924–1925 16 7 8 1 0.469 1 7 0 0.125 — — — 0 0 —
17 Frank W. Milburn 1926–1930 43 18 22 3 0.453 1 20 1 0.068 — — — 0 0 —
18 Bunny Oakes 1931–1934 31 8 22 1 0.274 0 18 1 0.026 — — — 0 0 —
19 Doug Fessenden 1931–1934
1946–1948 		90 46 40 4 0.533 7 24 1 0.234 — — — 0 0 —
20 Clyde Carpenter 1942 8 0 8 0 .000 0 6 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
21 George Dahlberg 1945 5 1 4 0 0.200 0 1 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
22 Ted Shipkey 1949–1951 28 12 16 0 0.429 1 7 0 0.125 — — — 0 0 —
23 Ed Chinske 1952–1954 27 8 18 1 0.315 4 14 0 0.222 — — — 0 0 —
24 Jerry Williams 1955–1957 29 6 23 0 0.207 5 15 0 0.250 — — — 0 0 —
25 Ray Jenkins 1958–1963 57 14 43 0 0.246 5 24 0 0.172 — — — 0 0 —
26 Hugh Davidson 1964–1966 28 8 20 0 0.286 3 8 0 0.273 — — — 0 0 —
27 Jack Swarthout 1967–1975 93 51 41 1 0.554 24 21 1 0.533 0 2 0 2 0 —
28 Gene Carlson 1976–1979 41 16 25 0 0.390 10 15 0 0.400 0 0 0 0 0 —
29 Larry Donovan 1980–1985 64 25 38 1 0.398 16 26 0 0.381 0 1 0 1 0 —
30 Don Read 1986–1995 121 85 36 0 0.702 54 22 0 0.711 8 4 0 2 1 – 1995 AFCA Division I-AA COY (1995)
31 Mick Dennehy 1996–1999 51 39 12 — 0.765 27 5 — 0.844 3 4 — 3 0 —
32 Joe Glenn 2000–2002 45 39 6 — 0.867 20 2 — 0.909 8 2 — 3 1 – 2001 —
33 Bobby Hauck 2003–2009
2018–present 		165 129 36 — 0.782 74 19 — 0.796 21 14 — 8 0 —
34 Robin Pflugrad
[A 7] 		2010–2011 20 13 7 — 0.650 10 4 — 0.714 0 1 — 1 0 —
35 Mick Delaney 2012–2014 38 24 14 — 0.632 15 9 — 0.625 0 2 — 0 0 —
36 Bob Stitt 2015–2017 35 21 14 — 0.600 14 11 — 0.560 1 1 — 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.[3]
  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.[4]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[5]
  5. ^ Montana has been a member of Big Sky Conference since the 1963 season.
  6. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  7. ^ Pflugrad's record does not include 5 total wins and 2 conference wins during 2011 season which were vacated by the NCAA in 2013. The 2011 team's on-field conference record was 7–1 and overall record was 11–3.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Hauck back as Montana football coach with 3-year contract". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 1, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "NCAA penalizes Univ. of Montana over booster perks". USA TODAY. Pflugrad cannot count the five vacated wins toward his career totals and Johnson and Kemp's statistics from the games in which they were ineligible must be erased from the record books.