List of Samford Bulldogs head football coaches

Bobby Bowden in 2007, in the Florida House of Representatives in a suit and tie.
Bobby Bowden served as the 26th head coach of the Sanford Bulldogs from 1959 to 1962.

The Samford Bulldogs college football team represents Samford University[A 1] as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The Bulldogs competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 36 head coaches, since it began play during the 1902 season. Since December 2014, Chris Hatcher has served as head coach at Samford.[1]

Five coaches have led Saamford to the postseason: Bobby Bowden, Wayne Grubb, Terry Bowden, Pat Sullivan, and Hatcher. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: Eddie McLane captured one and Billy Bancroft two, as a member of the Dixie Conference; Sullivan and Hatcher each captured one as a member of Southern Conference.

Hatcher is the leader in seasons coached, with 10 years as head coach and games coached (100) and won (57). Bobby Bowden has the highest winning percentage at 0.838. Maxwell James and Bub Walker 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 Bulldogs, Bobby Bowden and Sullivan have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 2]
No. Order of coaches[A 3] 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 4] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 5]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 6]
No. Name Season(s)
[A 7] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Houston Gwin 1902–1903 7 4 3 0 0.571 — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 Walter T. O'Hara 1903 2 1 1 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 Davis F. Stakely 1905 4 1 2 1 0.375 — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 John Counselman
[A 8] 		1906–1908 20 9 10 1 0.475 — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 William A. Blount 1908 4 2 2 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
6 John B. Longwell 1909
1911
1916–1917 		31 14 14 3 0.500 3 11 2 0.250 — — — 0 0 —
7 James C. Donnelly 1910 9 1 8 0 0.111 0 5 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
8 B. L. Noojin 1912–1914 25 10 13 2 0.440 0 4 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
9 Eugene Caton 1915 8 3 4 1 0.438 0 3 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
10 C. W. Streit
[A 9] 		1917 2 1 1 0 0.500 0 0 0 – — — — 0 0 —
11 Maxwell James 1918 2 0 2 0 .000 0 1 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
12 Chester C. Dillon 1919
1927–1928 		32 16 11 5 0.578 5 8 2 0.400 — — — 0 0 —
13 Robert C. Marshall 1920–1921 18 6 11 1 0.361 3 7 0 0.300 — — — 0 0 —
14 Harris G. Cope 1922–1923 20 5 10 5 0.375 1 5 1 0.214 — — — 0 0 —
15 Jenks Gillem 1924–1926 27 13 12 2 0.519 7 8 1 0.469 — — — 0 0 —
16 Eddie McLane 1929–1933 53 28 19 6 0.585 16 11 4 0.581 — — — 1 0 —
17 Clyde Propst 1934 9 3 4 2 0.444 2 2 1 0.500 — — — 0 0 —
18 Billy Bancroft 1935–1939 44 22 18 4 0.545 15 6 3 0.688 — — — 2 0 —
19 William C. White 1940–1941
1954 		28 10 17 1 0.375 6 1 1 0.813 — — — 0 0 —
20 Euil Snider 1943 4 2 2 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
21 Bub Walker 1944–1945 10 0 10 0 .000 — — — — — — — — 0 —
22 Ted McCrary 1948 8 4 4 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
23 Earl Gartman 1949–1953 43 14 28 1 0.337 — — — — — — — — 0 —
24 Howard Foote 1955–1956 18 3 13 2 0.222 — — — — — — — — 0 —
25 Virgil Ledbetter 1957–1958 17 6 10 1 0.382 — — — — — — — — 0 —
26 Bobby Bowden† 1959–1962 37 31 6 0 0.838 — — — — 1 1 0 — 0 —
27 Bubba Scott 1963–1965 28 13 13 2 0.500 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
28 John Lee Armstrong 1966–1968 31 20 9 2 0.677 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
29 Wayne Grubb 1969–1973 48 25 20 3 0.552 — — — — 1 0 0 — 0 —
30 Kim Alsop 1984–1986 27 6 21 0 0.222 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
31 Terry Bowden 1987–1992 69 45 23 1 0.659 — — — — 1 2 0 — 0 —
32 Chan Gailey 1993 11 5 6 0 0.455 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
33 Pete Hurt 1994–2001 82 42 39 1 0.518 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
34 Bill Gray 2001–2006 60 27 33 — 0.450 31 32 — 0.492 0 0 0 0 0 OVC Coach of the Year (2003)
35 Pat Sullivan† 2007–2014 90 47 43 — 0.522 31 32 — 0.492 0 1 0 1 0 SoCon Co-Coach of the Year (2012)
36 Chris Hatcher 2015–present 100 57 43 — 0.570 43 29 — 0.597 1 3 0 1 0 —

Notes

  1. ^ Samford University previously competed as Howard College from 1841 to 1965.
  2. ^ 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]
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  5. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  6. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.
  7. ^ Samford did not field teams in 1904, 1942, 1946–1947, and from 1974–1983.
  8. ^ Counselman resigned after the first two games of the 1908 season. Winton M. Blount served as head coach for the final four games. Howard finished the season with an overall record of 2–4.
  9. ^ John B. Longwell coached only the first five games of the 1917 season. Streit coached the final two games of the season.

References

  1. ^ "Samford hires Chris Hatcher as football coach". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 11, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 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.