List of Oregon State Beavers head football coaches

Jonathan Smith in a suit at a press conference.
Jonathan Smith served as head coach of the Beavers from 2018–2023.

The Oregon State Beavers college football team represents Oregon State University in the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). The Beavers compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 30 head coaches and two interim head coaches since it began play during the 1893 season. Since November 2023, Trent Bray has served as head coach at Oregon State.[1]

Five coaches have led Oregon State in postseason bowl games: Lon Stiner, Tommy Prothro, Dennis Erickson, Mike Riley, and Jonathan Smith. Three of those coaches also won conference championships: Stiner captured one and Prothro two as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference; Prothro captured one as a member of the Athletic Association of Western Universities; and Erickson captured one as a member of the Pacific-10.

Stiner and Riley are tied as leader in seasons coached with 14 years as head coach of the program. Riley has the most all-time wins with 93 and Will Bloss has the highest winning percentage at 0.909. Cory Hall has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000. Of the 29 different head coaches who have led the Beavers, Prothro and Erickson 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
[A 6] 		Season(s)
[A 7] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1
5 		Will Bloss 1893
1897 		11 10 1 0 0.909 — — — — — — — — — —
2 Guy Kennedy 1894 3 2 1 0 0.667 — — — — — — — — — —
3 Paul Downing 1895 3 0 2 1 0.167 — — — — — — — — — —
4 Tommy Code 1896 3 1 2 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — — —
6 Hiland Orlando Stickney 1899 5 3 2 0 0.600 — — — — — — — — — —
7 Fred Herbold 1902 6 4 1 1 0.750 — — — — — — — — — —
8 Thomas L. McFadden 1903 7 2 4 1 0.357 — — — — — — — — — —
9 Allen Steckle 1904–1905 15 10 5 0 0.667 — — — — — — — — — —
10 Fred Norcross 1906–1908 21 14 4 3 0.738 — — — — — — — — — —
11 Sol Metzger 1909 7 4 2 1 0.643 — — — — — — — — — —
12 George Schildmiller 1910 6 3 2 1 0.583 — — — — — — — — — —
13 Sam Dolan 1911–1912 14 8 6 0 0.571 — — — — — — — — — —
14 E. J. Stewart 1913–1915 21 15 5 1 0.738 — — — — — — — — — —
15 Joseph Pipal 1916–1917 16 8 7 1 0.531 1 4 1 0.250 — — — 0 — —
16 Homer Woodson Hargiss 1918–1919 15 6 8 1 0.433 1 5 0 0.167 — — — 0 — —
17 R. B. Rutherford 1920–1923 33 13 14 6 0.485 4 10 3 0.324 — — — 0 — —
18 Paul J. Schissler 1924–1932 80 48 30 2 0.613 17 27 1 0.389 — — — 0 — —
19 Lon Stiner 1933–1942
1945–1948 		140 74 49 17 0.589 49 42 13 0.534 3 0 0 1 — —
20 Kip Taylor 1949–1954 56 20 36 0 0.357 15 30 0 0.333 0 0 0 0 — —
21 Tommy Prothro† 1955–1964 102 63 37 2 0.627 25 9 1 0.729 1 2 0 3 — —
22 Dee Andros 1965–1975 116 51 64 1 0.444 30 37 1 0.449 0 0 0 0 — —
23 Craig Fertig 1976–1979 45 10 34 1 0.233 5 26 0 0.161 0 0 0 0 — —
24 Joe Avezzano 1980–1984 55 6 47 2 0.127 2 35 2 0.077 0 0 0 0 — —
25 Dave Kragthorpe 1985–1990 67 17 48 2 0.269 10 33 2 0.244 0 0 0 0 — Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1989)[5]
26 Jerry Pettibone 1991–1996 66 13 52 1 0.205 6 41 1 0.135 0 0 0 0 — —
27
29 		Mike Riley 1997–1998
2003–2014 		173 93 80 — 0.538 58 63 — 0.479 6 2 — 0 — Pac-10 Coach of the Year (2008)[5]
28 Dennis Erickson† 1999–2002 48 31 17 — 0.646 18 14 — 0.563 1 2 — 1 — Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year (2000)[6]
Pac-10 Coach of the Year (2000)[5]
30 Gary Andersen 2015–2017 30 7 23 — 0.233 3 18 — 0.143 0 0 — 0 — —
Int. Cory Hall 2017 6 0 6 — .000 0 6 — .000 0 0 — 0 — —
31 Jonathan Smith 2018–2023 69 34 35 — 0.493 23 29 — 0.442 1 1 — 0 — Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2022)[7]
Int. Kefense Hynson 2023 1 0 1 — .000 0 0 — – 0 1 — 0 — —
32 Trent Bray 2024–present 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 FBS football season.
  6. ^ Oregon State did not have a head coach for their 1898 season.
  7. ^ Oregon State did not field teams for the 1900, 1901, and 1943–1945 seasons.

References

  1. ^ "Oregon St. promotes DC Trent Bray to replace Jonathan Smith". ESPN.com. November 23, 2023. Retrieved March 12, 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.
  5. ^ a b c "2015 Pac-12 Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  6. ^ 2012 Pac-12 Conference Football Media Guide. Pac-12 Communications Department. 2012. p. 119.
  7. ^ "2022 Pac-12 Football Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva, and All-Conference honors announced".