List of Ohio State Buckeyes head football coaches

Urban Meyer, current head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes

The Ohio State Buckeyes college football team represents the Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 24 coaches since it began play during the 1890 season.^[1] The Buckeyes have played over 1,200 games over 125 seasons. In those seasons, eight head coaches have led the Buckeyes to postseason bowl games: John Wilce, Wes Fesler, Woody Hayes, Earle Bruce, John Cooper, Jim Tressel, Luke Fickell, and Urban Meyer. Twelve coaches have won conference championships with the Buckeyes: Albert Herrnstein, John Richards, Wilce, Francis Schmidt, Paul Brown, Carroll Widdoes, Fesler, Hayes, Bruce, Cooper, Tressel, and Meyer. Brown, Hayes, Tressel, and Meyer have also won national championships with the Buckeyes.

Hayes is the all-time leader in games coached and years coached with the Buckeyes, while also leading all coaches in victories (205). Meyer currently holds the highest winning percentage of all Buckeye coaches (.927), with a current record of 38–3 in three seasons. David Edwards holds the lowest winning percentage of any Buckeye head coach (.167), going 1–7–1 in the only season that he coached. Of the 24 Buckeye head coaches, Howard Jones, Wilce, Schmidt, Fesler, Hayes, Bruce, Cooper, and Tressel have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The current head coach of the Buckeyes is Urban Meyer who was hired in November 2011.^[2]

Key

General # Number of coaches[A 1] CCs Conference championships[A 2] NCs National championships † Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

Overall GC Games coached OW Wins OL Losses OT Ties[A 3] O% Winning percentage[A 4]

Conference CW Wins CL Losses CT Ties C% Winning percentage

Postseason[A 5] PW Wins PL Losses PT Ties

Coaches

#	Name	Term	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	CCs	NCs	National awards
1	Lilley, AlexanderAlexander Lilley	1890–1891	8	3	5	0	.375	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	Ryder, FrederickFrederick Ryder	1892–1895, 1898	46	22	22	1	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	Hickey, CharlesCharles Hickey[A 6]	1896	11	5	5	1	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	Edwards, DavidDavid Edwards	1897	9	1	7	1	.167	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	Eckstorm, JohnJohn Eckstorm	1899–1901	29	22	4	3	.810	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	Hale, PerryPerry Hale	1902–1903	21	14	5	2	.714	5	2	0	.714	—	—	—	—	—
7	Sweetland, EdwinEdwin Sweetland	1904–1905	23	14	7	2	.652	4	1	1	.750	—	—	—	—	—
8	Herrnstein, AlbertAlbert Herrnstein	1906–1909	39	28	10	1	.731	17	6	1	.729	—	—	1	—	—
9	Jones, HowardHoward Jones[8]†	1910	10	6	1	3	.750	5	1	2	.750	—	—	—	—	—
10	Vaughan, HarryHarry Vaughan	1911	10	5	3	2	.600	4	1	2	.714	—	—	—	—	—
11	Richards, JohnJohn Richards	1912	9	6	3	0	.667	5	0	0	1.000	—	—	1	—	—
12	Wilce, JohnJohn Wilce[9]†	1913–1928	120	78	33	9	.688	37	30	4	.549	0	1	3	—	—
13	Willaman, SamSam Willaman	1929–1933	41	26	10	5	.695	14	8	4	.615	—	—	—	—	—
14	Schmidt, FrancisFrancis Schmidt[10]†	1934–1940	56	39	16	1	.705	30	9	1	.763	—	—	2	—	—
15	Brown, PaulPaul Brown	1941–1943	27	18	8	1	.685	9	6	1	.594	—	—	1	1 – 1942	—
16	Widdoes, CarrollCarroll Widdoes	1944–1945	18	16	2	0	.889	11	2	0	.846	—	—	1	—	AFCA Coach of the Year (1944)[11]
17	Bixler, PaulPaul Bixler	1946	9	4	3	2	.556	2	3	1	.417	—	—	—	—	—
18	Fesler, WesWes Fesler[12]†	1947–1950	37	21	13	3	.608	13	10	2	.560	1	0	1	—	—
19	Hayes, WoodyWoody Hayes[13]†	1951–1978	276	205	61	10	.761	152	37	7	.793	5	6	13	5 – 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970	AFCA Coach of the Year (1957)[11] Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1957, 1968, 1975)[14] Walter Camp Coach of the Year (1968)[15]
20	Bruce, EarleEarle Bruce[16]†	1979–1987	108	81	26	1	.755	57	17	0	.770	5	3	4	—	AFCA Coach of the Year (1979)[11] Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1979)[14]
21	Cooper, JohnJohn Cooper[17]†	1988–2000	158	111	43	4	.715	70	30	4	.692	3	8	3	—	—
22	Tressel, JimJim Tressel[18][A 7]†	2001–2010	128	94	22	—	.810	59	14	—	.808	5	4	6	1 – 2002	AFCA Coach of the Year (2002)[11] Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (2002)[14] Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (2002)[20]
23	Fickell, LukeLuke Fickell[A 8]	2011	13	6	7	—	.462	3	5	—	.375	0	1	—	—	—
24	Meyer, UrbanUrban Meyer	2012–present	54	50	4	—	.926	32	2	—	.941	3	2	1	1 – 2014	—

Notes

1. A running total of the number of coaches of the Buckeyes. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is counted only once.
2. Ohio State did not join a conference until 1902.^[3]
3. Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.^[4]
4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.^[5]
5. The Big Ten Conference began a conference championship game during the 2011 season and the results are included in the calculation of postseason wins and losses.^[6]
6. Charles Hickey was hired part-way through the 1896 season and student coached the team in several games.^[7]
7. Ohio State finished the 2010 season with an overall record of 12–1 and a conference record of 7–1. Ohio State voluntarily vacated all victories during the season, as well as the conference championship and Sugar Bowl victory, as a result of NCAA infractions.^[19]
8. Luke Fickell was named interim head coach in May 2011, following the resignation of Jim Tressel.^[21]

References

General

• "Ohio State Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
• "Ohio State Records - Coaching Records" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved June 11, 2012.

Specific

1. "Ohio State Buckeyes Coaching Records" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
2. "Ohio State football: Meyer signs contract". Colubus Dispatch. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
3. "Ohio State Records - Head Coaching Records" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
4. Whiteside, Kelly (2006-08-25). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
5. Finder, Chuck (1987-09-06). "Big Plays Help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-10-22. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
7. "History of Ohio State Football" (PDF). Ohio State Buckeyes. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
8. "Hall of Famers: Howard Jones". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
9. "Hall of Famers: John Wilce". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
10. "Hall of Famers: Francis Schmidt". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
11. "AFCA Coach of the Year Award - Past Winners". American Football Coaches Association. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
12. "Hall of Famers: Wes Fesler". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
13. "Hall of Famers: Woody Hayes". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
14. "Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award Winners". SR/College Football. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
15. "Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award Winners". SR/College Football. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
16. "Hall of Famers: Earle Bruce". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
17. "Hall of Famers: John Cooper". National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
18. "Hall of Famers: Jim Tressel". USA Today. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
19. "Ohio State vacates all 2010 victories". ESPN. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
20. "Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award Winners". SR/College Football. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
21. "Luke Fickell Named Interim Ohio State Football Coach". 10TV.com. Retrieved 2012-06-11.