List Of Colorado Buffaloes Head Football Coaches
McCartney is the all-time leader in games coached, with 153, and total wins, with 93. Folsom had the longest tenure as head coach, remaining in the position for 15 seasons. Harry Heller and Willis Keinholtz are tied for the highest overall winning percentage. Each served a single season and won eight of his nine games for a winning percentage of .889. Of coaches who served more than one season, Folsom leads with a .765 winning percentage. Jon Embree is, in terms of overall winning percentage, the worst coach the Buffaloes have had with a .160 winning percentage. Former Colorado head coach Bill McCartney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013 and is the only CU coach to have won several national coach of the year honors, with all of them coming in 1989. Barnett won conference coach of the year honors in 2001 and 2004. Mike MacIntyre was hired on December 10, 2012.
Key
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
No. | Name | Term | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | CCs | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Harry Heller | 1894 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | .889 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | — | — | — | — |
2 | Fred Folsom | 1895–1899, 1901–1902, 1908–1915 | 103 | 77 | 23 | 2 | .765 | 37 | 13 | 1 | .735 | — | — | 10 | — |
3 | T. C. Mortimer | 1900 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | — | — | — | — |
4 | Dave Cropp | 1903–1904 | 19 | 14 | 4 | 1 | .763 | 7 | 1 | 0 | .875 | — | — | — | — |
5 | Willis Keinholtz | 1905 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | .889 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
6 | Frank Castleman | 1906–1907 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 4 | .529 | 4 | 3 | 2 | .556 | — | — | — | — |
7 | Melbourne "Bob" Evans | 1916–1917 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 1 | .500 | 5 | 7 | 0 | .417 | — | — | — | — |
8 | Enoch J. Mills | 1918–1919 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | .409 | 3 | 5 | 1 | .389 | — | — | — | — |
9 | Myron Witham | 1920–1931 | 96 | 63 | 26 | 7 | .693 | 50 | 20 | 7 | .695 | — | — | 2 | — |
10 | William Saunders | 1932–1934 | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | .667 | 13 | 7 | 0 | .650 | — | — | 1 | — |
11 | Bunny Oakes | 1935–1939 | 41 | 25 | 15 | 1 | .622 | 24 | 6 | 1 | .790 | 0 | 1 | 3 | — |
12 | Frank Potts | 1940, 1944–1945 | 25 | 16 | 8 | 1 | .660 | 9 | 2 | 1 | .792 | — | — | — | — |
13 | Jim Yeager | 1941–1943, 1946–1947 | 43 | 24 | 17 | 2 | .581 | 16 | 8 | 2 | .654 | — | — | 2 | — |
14 | Dallas Ward | 1948–1958 | 110 | 63 | 41 | 6 | .600 | 31 | 29 | 4 | .516 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
15 | Sonny Grandelius | 1959–1961 | 31 | 20 | 11 | 0 | .645 | 15 | 5 | 0 | .750 | — | — | 1 | — |
16 | Bud Davis | 1962 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | 1 | 6 | 0 | .143 | 0 | 1 | — | — |
17 | Eddie Crowder | 1963–1973 | 118 | 67 | 49 | 2 | .576 | 39 | 37 | 1 | .590 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
18 | Bill Mallory | 1974–1978 | 57 | 35 | 21 | 1 | .623 | 18 | 16 | 1 | .529 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — |
19 | Chuck Fairbanks | 1979–1981 | 33 | 7 | 26 | 0 | .212 | 5 | 16 | 0 | .238 | — | — | — | — |
20 | Bill McCartney | 1982–1994 | 153 | 93 | 55 | 5 | .624 | 58 | 29 | 4 | .659 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award (1989) |
21 | Rick Neuheisel | 1995–1998 | 47 | 33 | 14 | 0 | .702 | 19 | 12 | 0 | .613 | 3 | 0 | — | — |
22 | Gary Barnett | 1999–2005 | 88 | 49 | 39 | — | .557 | 34 | 22 | — | .607 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Big 12 AP Coach of the Year (2001, 2004) |
23 | Dan Hawkins | 2006–2010 | 49 | 16 | 33 | — | .327 | 10 | 22 | — | .313 | 0 | 1 | — | — |
24 | Jon Embree | 2011–2012 | 25 | 4 | 21 | — | .160 | 3 | 15 | — | .167 | — | — | — | — |
25 | Mike MacIntyre | 2013–2018 | 74 | 30 | 44 | — | .405 | 14 | 39 | — | .264 | — | — | — | Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2016) |
26 | Mel Tucker | 2019 | 12 | 5 | 7 | — | .417 | 3 | 6 | — | .333 | — | — | — | |
27 | Karl Dorrell | 2020–2022 | 23 | 8 | 15 | — | .348 | 6 | 9 | — | .400 | — | — | — | |
28 | Deion Sanders | 2023–present | 12 | 4 | 8 | — | .333 | 1 | 8 | — | .111 | — | — | — |