List of Indiana Hoosiers head football coaches

The Indiana Hoosiers football team represents Indiana University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 30 different head coaches since it began play during the 1887 season.[1] Over 139 seasons, the Hoosiers have compiled an overall record of 509 wins, 712 losses, and 45 ties (.420 all-time winning percentage).

Six different head coaches have led the Hoosiers to postseason bowl games: John Pont, Lee Corso, Bill Mallory, Bill Lynch, Kevin Wilson and Tom Allen. Indiana has a 3–8 record over 11 bowl games in which they have competed. The Hoosiers have been guided to the Big Ten Conference title twice: in 1945 by Bo McMillin and in 1967 by Pont. The 1967 season culminated in the Hoosiers' first and only Rose Bowl appearance, a 14–3 loss to USC.

McMillin spent the most seasons (14) as the Indiana head coach, but Bill Mallory has led the Hoosiers for the most games (149). Mallory took the program to six different bowl games, far more than any other coach in school history. The highest winning percentage by any coach is by Madison G. Gonterman, who led the Hoosiers to a 12–3–1 record (.781) over two seasons in 1896–97. The lowest winning percentage for any coach in the modern era is by Bob Hicks, who went 1–8 (.111) in 1957, his only season at the helm.

In 2007, head coach Terry Hoeppner died of brain cancer.[2] Offensive coordinator Bill Lynch took over as head coach and led the 2007 Hoosiers to a 7–6 season, which included a last-second win over rival Purdue in the Bucket Game and a trip to the Insight Bowl. The bowl berth was the first for the Hoosiers in 14 years.[3]

Kevin Wilson would take over the Hoosiers football program in December 2011. With an overall record of 26–47, Wilson would bring the Hoosiers to their first bowl game since 2007, at the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl. This would be Wilson's only bowl game, as Wilson resigned on December 1, 2016, amidst "philosophical differences" with Athletic Director Fred Glass and allegations of player mistreatment.[4][5]

Tom Allen succeeded Wilson. Indiana was the first head coaching job for Allen, who was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in December 2016.[6] Allen's first game as head coach of the Hoosiers was on December 28, 2016, in the Foster Farms Bowl. Allen coached the Hoosiers in three bowl games total, including during the 2020 season when Indiana finished 12th in the AP poll. Allen was fired after the 2023 season, which concluded three straight losing seasons with a combined 3–24 Big Ten Conference record. Curt Cignetti was named the 30th head coach at Indiana in November 2023.[7]

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[A 5], postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 6]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DCs CCs NCs National Awards
1 Arthur B. Woodford 1887–1888 2 0 1 1 0.250 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 Evans Woollen 1889 2 0 2 0 .000 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 Billy Herod 1891 6 1 5 0 0.167 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
0 No Coach 1892–1893 10 3 6 1 0.350 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 Gustave Ferbert
&
Joseph R. Hudelson 		1894 5 0 4 1 0.100 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 Winchester Osgood
&
Robert Wrenn 		1895 8 4 3 1 0.563 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
6 Madison G. Gonterman 1896–1897 16 11 4 1 0.719 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 James H. Horne 1898–1904 59 33 21 5 0.602 3 13 1 0.206 — — — — 0 0 —
8 James M. Sheldon 1905–1913 64 35 26 3 0.570 7 25 2 0.235 — — — — 0 0 —
9 Clarence Childs 1914–1915 14 6 7 1 0.464 2 7 0 0.222 — — — — 0 0 —
10 Ewald O. Stiehm 1916–1921 39 20 18 1 0.526 5 10 1 0.344 — — — — 0 0 —
11 James P. Herron 1922 7 1 4 2 0.286 0 2 1 0.167 — — — — 0 0 —
12 Bill Ingram† 1923–1925 23 10 12 1 0.457 3 8 1 0.292 — — — — 0 0 —
13 Harlan Page 1926–1930 41 14 24 3 0.378 5 16 2 0.261 — — — — 0 0 —
14 Earl C. Hayes 1931–1933 24 6 14 4 0.333 2 11 4 0.235 — — — — 0 0 —
15 Bo McMillin† 1934–1947 122 63 48 11 0.561 34 34 6 0.500 — — — — 1 0 —
16 Clyde B. Smith 1948–1951 36 9 26 1 0.264 4 19 0 0.174 — — — — 0 0 —
17 Bernie Crimmins 1952–1956 45 13 32 0 0.289 6 24 0 0.200 — — — — 0 0 —
18 Bob Hicks 1957 9 1 8 0 0.111 0 6 0 .000 — — — — 0 0 —
19 Phil Dickens 1958–1964 63 20 41 2 0.333 8 34 2 0.205 — — — — 0 0 —
20 John Pont 1965–1972 83 31 51 1 0.380 21 36 1 0.371 0 1 0 — 1 0 —
21 Lee Corso 1973–1982 111 41 68 2 0.378 27 53 2 0.341 1 0 0 — 0 0 —
22 Sam Wyche 1983 11 3 8 0 0.273 2 7 0 0.222 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
23 Bill Mallory 1984–1996 149 69 77 3 0.473 39 65 1 0.376 2 4 0 — 0 0 —
24 Cam Cameron 1997–2001 55 18 37 — 0.327 12 28 — 0.300 0 0 — — 0 0 —
25 Gerry DiNardo 2002–2004 35 8 27 — 0.229 3 21 — 0.125 0 0 — — 0 0 —
26 Terry Hoeppner 2005–2006 23 9 14 — 0.391 4 12 — 0.250 0 0 — — 0 0 —
27 Bill Lynch 2007–2010 49 19 30 — 0.388 6 26 — 0.188 0 1 — — 0 0 —
28 Kevin Wilson 2011–2016 73 26 47 — 0.356 12 37 — 0.245 0 1 — 0 0 0 —
29 Tom Allen 2016–2023 82 33 49 — 0.402 18 43 — 0.295 0 3 — 0 0 0 AFCA Coach of the Year Award (2020)
30 Curt Cignetti 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.[8]
  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.[9]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[10]
  5. ^ Indiana has been a member of Big Ten Conference since the 1899 season.
  6. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.

References

  1. ^ "Indiana Football 2012 Record Book" (PDF). Grfx.cstv.com. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  2. ^ "Hoeppner's death is a loss for all of football". ESPN. 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  3. ^ "2007 Insight Bowl Preview, College Football Bowl Games". Collegefootballpoll.com. 1991-12-31. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  4. ^ Gregg Doyel and Zach Osterman (December 1, 2016). "Sources:IU to dismiss football coach Wilson". www.indystar.com. Indianapolis Star. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  5. ^ "Chris Widlic (@Chris_Widlic) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  6. ^ Doyel, Gregg; Osterman, Zach (December 1, 2016). "IU, Kevin Wilson part ways; Tom Allen named new head coach". indystar.com. Indianapolis Star. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  7. ^ IU Athletics (November 30, 2023). "Cignetti Named 30th Head Football Coach at Indiana University". www.iuathletics.com. Indiana University. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
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