List of Jacksonville State Gamecocks head football coaches

A color head shot of Rich Rodriguez
Rich Rodriguez has served as head coach at Jacksonville State from 2021 to 2024.

The Jacksonville State Gamecocks college football team represents Jacksonville State University as a member of Conference USA (C-USA). The Gamecocks competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 29 head coaches, and three interim head coaches since it began play during the 1904 season. Since December 2024, Charles Kelly has served as head coach at Jacksonville State.[1]

Since 1904, ten coaches have led Jacksonville State in postseason appearances: Don Salls, Jim Blevins, Charley Pell, Jim Fuller, Bill Burgess, Jack Crowe, Bill Clark, John Grass, Rich Rodriguez, and Rod Smith. Nine of those coaches also won conference championships: Salls captured three as a member of the Alabama Intercollegiate Conference; Salls captured four and Blevins two as a member of the Alabama Collegiate Conference; Pell captured one as a member of the Mid-South Athletic Conference; Clarkie Mayfield captured one, Fuller four, Burgess four as a member of the Gulf South Conference; Crowe captured two and Grass six as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference; and Rodriguez one as a member of the ASUN Conference and one as a member of C-USA. The Gamecocks also won a national championship under Burgess in 1992 (D-II).

Salls is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 95 victories during his 18 years with the program. Grass has the highest winning percentage with 0.735, and F. A. Harwood has the lowest winning percentage with .000.

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 DC CC NC Awards
1 Charles Holton 1904–1905 7 2 5 0 0.286 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 Earl Wells 1908 7 4 3 0 0.571 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 F. A. Harwood 1909 2 0 2 0 .000 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 George Penton 1910 6 1 3 2 0.333 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 Ben Harris 1911–1919 57 34 16 7 0.658 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
6
10 		J. W. Stephenson 1920–1921
1929–1930 		34 21 9 4 0.676 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 C. C. Bush 1922–1924 23 13 9 1 0.587 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
8 Earl Wren 1925 7 1 6 0 0.143 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
9 Al Clemens 1926–1928 22 8 13 1 0.386 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
11 T. B. Shotts 1931–1937 50 12 34 4 0.280 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
12
14 		Chester C. Dillon 1938–1939
1945 		19 2 14 3 0.184 0 3 1 0.125 — — — — 0 0 —
13 Osmo Smith 1940 8 3 5 0 0.375 3 2 0 0.600 — — — — 0 0 —
15
17 		Don Salls 1946–1952
1954–1964 		163 95 57 11 0.617 38 12 2 0.750 3 1 0 — 7 0 —
16 Ray Wedgeworth 1953 9 3 5 1 0.389 0 3 0 .000 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
18 Jim Blevins 1965–1968 38 22 15 1 0.592 7 4 1 0.625 1 0 0 — 2 0 —
19 Charley Pell 1969–1973 47 33 13 1 0.713 17 5 1 0.761 1 0 0 — 1 0 —
20 Clarkie Mayfield 1974–1976 33 22 11 0 0.667 18 6 0 0.750 0 0 0 — 1 0 —
21 Jim Fuller 1977–1983 79 54 25 0 0.684 36 12 0 0.750 3 5 0 — 4 0 —
22 Joe Hollis 1984 10 4 5 1 0.450 4 4 0 0.500 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
23 Bill Burgess 1985–1996 137 84 49 4 0.628 43 15 3 0.730 12 4 0 — 4 1 – 1992 —
24 Mike Williams 1997–1999 26 9 17 — 0.346 5 10 — 0.333 0 0 — — 0 0 —
Int.
[A 7] 		Jeff Richards 1999 7 1 6 — 0.143 1 5 — 0.167 0 0 — — 0 0 —
25 Jack Crowe 2000–2012 144 87 57 — 0.604 66 35 — 0.653 0 3 — — 2 0 —
26 Bill Clark 2013 15 11 4 — 0.733 5 3 — 0.625 2 1 — — 0 0 —
27 John Grass 2014–2020 98 72 26 — 0.735 49 9 — 0.845 5 6 — — 6 0 —
Int.
[A 8] 		Maxwell Thurmond 2020 2 1 1 — 0.500 1 1 — 0.500 0 0 — — 0 0 —
28 Rich Rodriguez 2021–2024 37 27 10 — 0.730 18 3 — 0.857 1 0 — — 2 0 —
Int. Rod Smith
[A 9] 		2024 1 0 1 — .000 0 0 — – 0 1 — 0 0 0 —
29 Charles Kelly 2025–present 0 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.[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 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ Jacksonville State did not field teams in 1906 from 1941–1945 due to World War II.
  7. ^ Mike Williams served as Jacksonville State's head coach for the first four games of the 1999 season before resigning. Richards was appointed interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The Gamecocks finished the year with an overall record of 2–9 and a mark of 1–6 in conference play.[5][6]
  8. ^ John Grass served as Jacksonville State's head coach for the first nine games of the 2021 season before resigning. Thurmond was appointed interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The Gamecocks finished the year with an overall record of 5–6 and a mark of 3–3 in conference play.[7]
  9. ^ Rod Smith was named interim head coach for the 2024 Cure Bowl, following the resignation of Rich Rodriguez as head coach.[8]

References

  1. ^ Schlabach, Mark (December 20, 2024). "Sources: Charles Kelly returning to Jacksonville St. as coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  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.
  5. ^ "Interim coach to be named after Williams resigns". Birmingham Post-Herald. Associated Press. October 5, 1999. Retrieved February 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Muskewitz, Al (October 5, 1999). "We want Richards". The Anniston Star. Retrieved February 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Maxwell Thurmond named interim head coach of Jacksonville State". WBRC 6. November 10, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  8. ^ "Rodriguez officially departs Jax State, Rod Smith named interim coach". AL.com. December 12, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2025.