The Clemson Tigers football program is a college football team that represents Clemson University in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Tigers compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team has had 25 head coaches since it began play in the 1896 season. Since October 2008, Dabo Swinney has served as Clemson's head coach.

The team has played in 1,050 games over 116 seasons. In that time, eight coaches have led Clemson to postseason bowl games: Jess Neely, Frank Howard, Charley Pell, Danny Ford, Ken Hatfield, Tommy West, Tommy Bowden, and Swinney. Five coaches have won conference championships with the Tigers: John Heisman won two as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association; Howard won two as a member of the Southern Conference; and Howard, Pell, Ford, Hatfield, and Swinney won a combined 14 as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In 1981, Ford led the Tigers to the national championship. Swinney has guided the Tigers to six ACC championships and four national title appearances, winning the 2016 and 2018 championships, while losing the 2015 and 2019 championships.

Howard is the all-time leader in games coached (295), seasons coached (30), and second in total wins (165). Heisman has the highest winning percentage, with .833 in his four years at Clemson. Of coaches with more than one season, Hootie Ingram has the lowest winning percentage (.364 in 3 seasons). Of the 25 head coaches who have led the Tigers, Heisman, Jess Neely, Ford, and Howard have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches; Josh Cody was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list

General		Overall		Conference		Postseason
No.	Order of coaches	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	C%	Conference winning percentage
†	Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame	O%	Overall winning percentage

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards

No.	Name	Term(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	DCs	CCs	NCs	Awards
1	Walter Riggs	1896, 1899	9	6	3	0	.667	3	2	0	.600	—	—	—	0	0	—
2	William M. Williams	1897	4	2	2	0	.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	—
3	John Penton	1898	4	3	1	0	.750	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	—
4	John Heisman	1900–1903	24	19	3	2	.833	16	0	2	.944	—	—	—	3	0	—
5	Shack Shealy	1904	7	3	3	1	.500	3	3	1	.500	—	—	—	0	0	—
6	Eddie Cochems	1905	6	3	2	1	.583	3	2	1	.583	—	—	—	0	0	—
7	Bob Williams	1906, 1909, 1913–1915, 1926	46	21	19	6	.522	10	10	5	.500	0	0	—	0	0	—
8	Frank Shaughnessy	1907	8	4	4	0	.500	1	3	0	.250	—	—	—	0	0	—
9	John N. Stone	1908	7	1	6	0	.143	0	4	0	.000	—	—	—	0	0	—
10	Frank Dobson	1910–1912	24	11	12	1	.479	7	12	1	.375	—	—	—	0	0	—
11	Wayne Hart	1916	9	3	6	0	.333	2	4	0	.333	0	0	—	0	0	—
12	Edward Donahue	1917–1920	36	21	12	3	.625	13	10	2	.560	0	0	—	0	0	—
13	E. J. Stewart	1921–1922	18	6	10	2	.389	2	9	2	.231	0	0	—	0	0	—
14	Bud Saunders	1923–1926	28	10	17	1	.375	2	9	1	.208	0	0	—	0	0	—
15	Josh Cody	1927–1930	41	29	11	1	.720	12	9	0	.571	0	0	—	0	0	—
16	Jess Neely	1931–1939	85	43	35	7	.547	18	13	2	.576	1	0	—	0	0	—
17	Frank Howard	1940–1969	295	165	118	12	.580	100	48	5	.670	3	3	—	8	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1958) ACC Coach of the Year (1966)
18	Hootie Ingram	1970–1972	33	12	21	0	.364	8	10	0	.444	0	0	—	0	0	—
19	Red Parker	1973–1976	44	17	25	2	.409	10	11	1	.477	0	0	—	0	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1974)
20	Charley Pell	1977–1978	23	18	4	1	.804	10	1	1	.875	0	1	—	1	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1977) ACC Coach of the Year (1978)
21	Danny Ford	1978–1989	129	96	29	4	.760	56	16	1	.774	6	2	—	5	1 – 1981	ACC Coach of the Year (1981) FWAA Coach of the Year (1981) Woody Hayes Trophy (1981) AFCA Coach of the Year (1981)
22	Ken Hatfield	1990–1993	46	32	13	1	.707	19	10	1	.650	1	1	—	1	0	—
23	Tommy West	1993–1998	59	31	28	0	.525	21	19	0	.525	1	3	—	0	0	—
24	Tommy Bowden	1999–2008	117	72	45	—	.615	43	32	—	.573	3	5	0	0	0	ACC Coach of the Year (1999) ACC Coach of the Year (2003)
25	Dabo Swinney	2008–present	213	170	43	—	0.798	103	23	—	0.817	12	8	10	8	2 — (2016) (2018)	Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year (2011) AP Coach of the Year Award (2015) Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award (2015) ACC Coach of the Year Award (2015)