List of Mississippi State Bulldogs head football coaches

The Mississippi State Bulldogs college football team represents Mississippi State University in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Bulldogs compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 32 head coaches since it began play during the 1895 season.^[1] Since December 2008, Dan Mullen has served as the Bulldogs' head coach.^[2]

The team has played more than 1,050 games over 111 seasons.^[1] In that time, eight coaches have led the Bulldogs in postseason bowl games: Ralph Sasse, Allyn McKeen, Paul E. Davis, Bob Tyler, Emory Bellard, Jackie Sherrill, Sylvester Croom and Dan Mullen.^[3] McKeen led the Bulldogs to their lone conference championship as a member of the SEC in 1941.^[1]

Sherrill is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 75 victories during his 13 years with the program.^[1] McKeen has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .764.^[1] W.M. Matthews and J.B. Hildebrand have the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .000.^[1] Of the 32 different head coaches who have led the Bulldogs, Bernie Bierman,^[4] McKeen^[5] and Darrell Royal^[6] have been inducted as head coaches into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list

General		Overall		Conference		Postseason[A 1]
#	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]}

#	Name	Term [A 6]	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	DC [A 7]	CC	NC	Awards
1	Matthews, W. M.W. M. Matthews	1895	2	0	2	0	.000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	—
2	Hildebrand, J. B.J. B. Hildebrand	1896	4	0	4	0	.000	0	2	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
3	Harvey, L. B.L. B. Harvey	1901	5	2	2	1	.500	1	2	0	.333	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
4	Gwinn, L.L. Gwinn	1902	6	1	4	1	.250	0	4	1	.100	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
5	Martin, Daniel S.Daniel S. Martin	1903–1906	24	10	11	3	.479	5	9	3	.382	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
6	Furman, FredFred Furman	1907–1908	16	9	7	0	.563	5	6	0	.455	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
7	Chadwick, W. D.W. D. Chadwick	1909–1913	43	29	12	2	.698	19	12	2	.606	1	—	—	—	0	0	—
8	Hayes, Earle C.Earle C. Hayes	1914–1916	25	15	8	2	.640	10	8	0	.556	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
9	Robinson, Stanley L.Stanley L. Robinson	1917–1919	21	16	5	0	.762	11	3	0	.786	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
10	Holtkamp, FredFred Holtkamp	1920–1921	17	9	7	1	.559	7	5	1	.577	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
11	Noble, DudyDudy Noble	1922	9	3	4	2	.444	2	3	0	.400	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
12	Abell, EarlEarl Abell	1923–1924	18	10	6	2	.611	5	3	2	.545	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
13	Bierman, BernieBernie Bierman	1925–1926	17	8	8	1	.500	3	7	0	.300	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
14	Hancock, John W.John W. Hancock	1927–1929	24	8	12	4	.412	3	9	1	.269	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
15	Cagle, ChrisChris Cagle	1930	9	2	7	0	.222	2	1	0	.666	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
16	Dauber, Ray G.Ray G. Dauber	1931–1932	16	5	11	0	.313	0	9	0	.000	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
17	McKechnie, RossRoss McKechnie	1933–1934	20	7	12	1	.375	1	10	1	.125	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
18	Sasse, RalphRalph Sasse	1935–1937	32	20	10	2	.656	8	7	0	.533	0	1	0	—	0	0	—
19	Nelson, SpikeSpike Nelson	1938	10	4	6	0	.400	1	4	0	.200	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
20	McKeen, AllynAllyn McKeen	1939–1942 1944–1948	87	65	19	3	.764	29	16	2	.638	1	0	0	—	1	0	—
21	Morton, ArthurArthur Morton	1949–1951	27	8	18	1	.315	5	15	0	.250	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
22	Warmath, MurrayMurray Warmath	1952–1953	19	10	6	3	.605	6	5	3	.536	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
23	Royal, DarrellDarrell Royal	1954–1955	20	12	8	0	.600	7	7	0	.500	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
24	Walker, WadeWade Walker	1956–1961	56	22	32	2	.411	8	30	2	.225	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
25	Davis, Paul E.Paul E. Davis	1962–1966	50	20	28	2	.420	10	22	2	.324	1	0	0	—	0	0	AP SEC Coach of the Year (1963)[11]
26	Shira, CharlesCharles Shira	1967–1972	63	16	45	2	.270	5	32	2	.154	0	0	0	—	0	0	AP SEC Coach of the Year (1970)[11]
27	Tyler, BobBob Tyler [A 8]	1973–1978	67	21	44	2	.328	7	30	0	.189	1	0	0	—	0	0	—
28	Bellard, EmoryEmory Bellard	1979–1985	79	37	42	0	.468	15	27	0	.357	1	1	0	—	0	0	—
29	Felker, RockeyRockey Felker	1986–1990	55	21	34	0	.382	5	28	0	.151	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
30	Sherrill, JackieJackie Sherrill	1991–2003	152	75	75	2	.500	43	59	1	.422	2	4	0	1	0	0	—
31	Croom, SylvesterSylvester Croom	2004–2008	59	21	38	—	.356	10	30	—	.250	1	0	—	0	0	0	AP SEC Coach of the Year (2007)[11] SEC Coach of the Year (2007)[11]
32	Mullen, DanDan Mullen	2009–present	90	55	35	—	.611	26	30	—	.464	4	2	—	0	0	0	AP SEC Coach of the Year (2014)

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.^[7]
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.^[8]
4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.^[9]
5. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2012 college football season.
6. Mississippi State did not field teams between the 1897–1900 seasons and again for the 1943 season due to World War II.^[1]
7. Divisional champions have advanced to the SEC Championship Game since the institution of divisional play beginning in the 1992 season. Since that time, Mississippi State has competed as a member of the West Division of the SEC.^[10]
8. Tyler's record on-the-field in 1975 was six wins and four losses and one tie (6–4–1, 1–4–1 SEC), nine wins and two losses (9–2, 4–2 SEC) in 1976 and five wins and six losses (5–6, 2–4 SEC) in 1977. In May 1978, the NCAA ruled that Mississippi State must forfeit 19 victories due to playing an ineligible player. As a result of this penalty, the official NCAA record for these years are 2–9, 0–11 and 0–11 respectively.^[12][13]

References

General

• "Mississippi State Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
• 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide (PDF). Starkville, Mississippi: Mississippi State Athletic Media Relations Office. 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011.

Specific

1. 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, pp. 86–92
2. Forde, Pat (December 11, 2008). "Mississippi State hires Florida coordinator as coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
3. 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, p. 143
4. "Hall of Famers: Bernie Bierman". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
5. "Hall of Famers: Allyn McKeen". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
6. "Hall of Famers: Darrell Royal". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
7. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
8. Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today (McLean, Virginia). Archived from the original on November 24, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
9. Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times (New York City). Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
10. Harwell, Hoyt (November 30, 1990). "SEC sets division lineups". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 1C. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
11. 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, p. 116
12. "Bulldogs forced to forfeit 19 football games". The Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. May 24, 1978. p. 19. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
13. 2011 Mississippi State Football Media Guide, p. 90