List of Nevada Wolf Pack head football coaches

Chris Ault won the most games during his tenure with the Wolf Pack.

The Nevada Wolf Pack college football team represents the University of Nevada, Reno as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MWC), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 28 head coaches, and 1 interim head coach, since it began play during the 1896 season. Since December 2023, Jeff Choate has served as Nevada's head coach.[1]

Six coaches have led Nevada in postseason bowl games or playoffs: Joe Sheeketski, Chris Ault, Jeff Tisdel, Brian Polian, Jay Norvell, and Vai Taua. Four coaches also won conference championships: Brick Mitchell captured two and Jim Aiken one as a member of the Far Western Conference; Ault captured four as a member of the Big Sky Conference, three as a member of the Big West Conference, and two as a member of the Western Athletic Conference; and Tisdel captured two as a member of the Big West.

Ault is the leader in seasons coached, with 28 years as head coach and games coached (343), won (234). F. F. Ellis has the highest winning percentage at 0.800. Ken Wilson has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.167. Of the 28 different head coaches who have led the Wolf Pack, Buck Shaw and Ault 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 Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC CC NC Awards
1 Frank Taylor 1896 3 1 2 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 William H. Harrelson 1897 1 0 1 0 .000 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 F. F. Ellis 1898 5 4 1 0 0.800 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 A. King Dickson 1899 5 3 2 0 0.600 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 James Hopper 1900 7 4 2 1 0.643 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
6 Allen Steckle 1901–1903 17 6 9 2 0.412 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 Bruce Shorts 1904 6 3 3 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
8 Jack Glascock 1915–1917 18 4 14 0 0.222 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
9 Ray Courtright 1919–1923 46 26 13 7 0.641 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
10 Charles F. Erb 1924 8 3 4 1 0.438 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
11 Buck Shaw† 1925–1928 33 10 20 3 0.348 7 9 1 0.441 — — — — 0 0 —
12 George Philbrook 1929–1931 26 6 15 5 0.327 6 4 1 0.591 — — — — 0 0 —
13 Brick Mitchell 1932–1935 33 10 20 3 0.348 7 6 2 0.533 — — — — 2 0 —
14 Doug Dashiell 1936–1938 22 8 13 1 0.386 4 7 0 0.364 — — — — 0 0 —
15 Jim Aiken 1939–1946 68 38 26 4 0.588 3 1 0 0.750 — — — — 1 0 —
16 Joe Sheeketski 1947–1950 42 24 18 0 0.571 — — — — 1 1 0 — — 0 —
17 Jake Lawlor 1952–1954 16 6 10 0 0.375 2 3 0 0.400 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
18 Gordon McEachron 1955–1958 30 6 23 1 0.217 4 15 1 0.225 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
19 Dick Trachok 1959–1968 91 40 48 3 0.456 22 28 3 0.443 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
20 Jerry Scattini 1969–1975 74 37 36 1 0.507 — — — — 0 0 0 — — 0 —
21 Chris Ault† 1976–1992
1994–1995
2004–2012 		343 234 108 1 0.684 133 53 0 0.715 11 15 0 — 9 0 —
22 Jeff Horton 1993 11 7 4 0 0.636 5 2 0 0.714 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
23 Jeff Tisdel 1996–1999 45 23 22 — 0.511 13 8 — 0.619 1 0 — — 2 0 —
24 Chris Tormey 2000–2003 47 16 31 — 0.340 12 20 — 0.375 0 0 — — 0 0 —
25 Brian Polian 2013–2016 50 23 27 — 0.460 14 18 — 0.438 1 1 — 0 0 0 —
26 Jay Norvell 2017–2021 59 33 26 — 0.559 23 17 — 0.575 2 1 — 0 0 0 —
Int Vai Taua 2021 1 0 1 — .000 0 0 — – 0 1 — 0 0 0 —
27 Ken Wilson 2022–2023 24 4 20 — 0.167 2 14 — 0.125 0 0 — 0 0 0 —
28 Jeff Choate 2024–present 0 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 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.

References

  1. ^ "Nevada hires Texas co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate as head coach". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 4, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  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.