List of The Citadel Bulldogs head football coaches

The Citadel Bulldogs football program is a college football team that represents The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

The first season of football at The Citadel was in 1905. The team has had twenty-five different head coaches, with two serving for two separate stretches of time. There was no team from 1943 through 1945 due to World War II.

The Bulldogs have appeared in and won one bowl game, the 1960 Tangerine Bowl under head coach Eddie Teague. They have also made five appearances in the NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) Playoffs, holding an overall record of 2–5. The first three appearances were under head coach Charlie Taaffe, while the others were led by Mike Houston and Brent Thompson. The Citadel has claimed four Southern Conference championships, in 1961 under the leadership of Teague, in 1992 under Taaffe, in 2015 under Houston, and 2016 under Thompson. The Bulldogs have not won a national championship in football.

Through the end of the 2018 season, Charlie Taaffe has coached the most games for the Bulldogs, and claimed the most wins. He and Mike Houston are the only coaches to lead the team and win a game in the Division I-AA playoffs. Kevin Higgins recorded the most losses in Citadel history and second most games overall, just one behind Taaffe. After three seasons, Brent Thompson has the highest winning percentage at .588, while John D. McMillan has the lowest winning percentage at .225.

Taaffe earned National Coach of the Year honors in 1992, from Sports Information Directors in the Eddie Robinson Award, The Sports Network, and from the American Football Coaches Association. Six coaches have earned Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors: Teague (1961), Tom Moore (1984), Taaffe (1988 and 1992), Higgins (2012), Houston (2015), and Thompson (2016). Additionally, John Sauer and Teague earned South Carolina Coach of the Year awards in 1955 and 1961, respectively.

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[4][A 5]
No. Name Term(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL DCs CCs NCs Awards[5]
1 Syd Smith 1905 6 2 3 1 .417 — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 Ralph Foster 1906–1908 16 8 6 2 .563 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
3 Sam Costen 1909–1910 16 7 7 2 .500 1 4 1 .250 — — — 0 0 —
4 Louis LeTellier 1911–1912 16 8 6 2 .563 1 5 0 .167 — — — 0 0 —
5 George C. Rogers 1913–1915, 1919 33 14 16 3 .470 4 12 1 .265 0 0 — 0 0 —
6 Harry J. O'Brien 1916–1918, 1920–1921 33 14 15 4 .485 8 13 2 .391 0 0 — 0 0 —
7 Carl Prause 1922–1929 77 41 32 4 .558 24 16 3 .593 0 0 — 0 0 —
8 Johnny Floyd 1930–1931 15 9 9 3 .500 7 1 1 .833 0 0 — 0 0 —
9 Tatum Gressette 1932–1939 78 34 41 3 .455 14 21 0 .400[A 6] 0 0 — 0 0 —
10 Bo Rowland 1940–1942 24 13 10 1 .563 2 8 1 .227 0 0 — 0 0 —
11 J. Quinn Decker 1946–1952 65 23 39 1 .373 8 25 0 .242 0 0 — 0 0 —
12 John D. McMillan 1953–1954 20 4 15 1 .225 1 7 0 .125 0 0 — 0 0 —
13 John Sauer 1955–1956 18 8 9 1 .472 3 5 0 .375 0 0 — 0 0 1955 South Carolina Coach of the Year
14 Eddie Teague 1957–1965 91 45 44 2 .505 29 26 0 .527 1 0 — 1 0 1955 South Carolina Coach of the Year
1961 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
15 Red Parker 1966–1972 73 39 34 0 .534 25 20 0 .556 0 0 — 0 0 —
16 Bobby Ross 1973–1977 55 24 31 0 .436 11 19 0 .367 0 0 — 0 0 —
17 Art Baker 1978–1982 55 30 24 1 .555 15 13 1 .330 0 0 — 0 0 —
18 Tom Moore 1983–1986 44 18 25 1 .420 7 18 1 .288 0 0 — 0 0 1984 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
19 Charlie Taaffe 1987–1995 103 55 47 1 .539 30 34 1 .469 1 3 — 1 0 1988 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
1992 Eddie Robinson Award
1992 The Sports Network Coach of the Year
1992 AFCA Division I-AA Coach of the Year
1992 SC Hall of Fame Coach of the Year
1992 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
20 Don Powers 1996–2000 55 19 36 — .345 13 27 — .325 0 0 — 0 0 —
21 Ellis Johnson 2001–2003 34 12 22 — .353 7 17 — .292 0 0 — 0 0 —
22 John Zernhelt 2004 10 3 7 — .300 2 5 — .286 0 0 — 0 0 —
23 Kevin Higgins 2005–2013 102 43 57 — .430 26 43 — .377 0 0 — 0 0 2012 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
24 Mike Houston 2014–2015 25 14 11 — .560 9 5 — .643 1 1 — 1 0 2015 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
25 Brent Thompson 2016–2022 80 36 44 — .450 27 29 — .482 0 1 — 1 0 2016 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
26 Maurice Drayton 2023–present 0 11 0 — .000 0 8 — .000 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 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  6. ^ Gressette had a record of 10–7 (.588) against Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponents and 4–14 (.222) against Southern Conference opponents.

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.
  4. ^ The Citadel Football - 2011 Media Guide. citadelsports.com. p. 142. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  5. ^ "Coaches of the Year". citadelsports.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013.