The Vanderbilt Commodores college football team represents Vanderbilt University in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Commodores compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 28 head coaches since it began play during the 1890 season.

The team has played 1,250 games over 126 seasons of Vanderbilt football. In that time, six coaches have led the Commodores to postseason bowl games: Art Guepe, Steve Sloan, George MacIntyre, Bobby Johnson, James Franklin and Derek Mason. Four other coaches won conference championships: R. G. Acton, Walter H. Watkins, James R. Henry and Dan McGugin. Between them, the coaches won eleven Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships; McGugin led the team to an additional two titles as a member of the Southern Conference.

McGugin is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 198 victories during his 30 years at Vanderbilt. E. H. Alley has the highest winning percentage with 1.000. Robbie Caldwell has the lowest winning percentage with .167. Of the 28 different head coaches who have led the Commodores, McGugin, Ray Morrison, Red Sanders, and Bill Edwards have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana.

The current head coach is Clark Lea, who was hired on December 14, 2020.

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	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	DC	CC	NC	Awards
1	Elliott Jones	1890–1892	13	8	5	0	0.615	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
2	W. J. Keller	1893	7	6	1	0	0.857	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
3	Henry Worth Thornton	1894	8	7	1	0	0.875	2	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
4	Charles L. Upton	1895	9	5	3	1	0.611	3	1	0	0.750	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
5	R. G. Acton	1896–1898	20	10	7	3	0.575	5	2	0	0.714	—	—	—	—	1	0	—
6	James L. Crane	1899–1900	18	11	6	1	0.639	6	3	1	0.650	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
7	Walter H. Watkins	1901–1902	17	14	2	1	0.853	8	1	1	0.850	—	—	—	—	1	0	—
8	James R. Henry	1903	8	6	1	1	0.813	5	1	1	0.786	—	—	—	—	1	0	—
9	Dan McGugin	1904–1917 1919–1934	272	198	55	19	0.763	104	34	13	0.732	0	0	0	—	11	0	—
10	Ray Morrison	1918 1935–1939	53	29	22	2	0.566	18	15	1	0.544	0	0	0	—	0	0	SEC Coach of the Year (1937)
11	Red Sanders	1940–1942 1946–1948	60	36	22	2	0.617	15	20	2	0.432	0	0	0	—	0	0	SEC Coach of the Year (1941)
12	E. H. Alley	1943	5	5	0	0	1.000	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
13	Doby Bartling	1944–1945	13	6	6	1	0.500	2	4	0	0.333	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
14	Bill Edwards	1949–1952	42	21	19	2	0.524	11	17	1	0.397	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
15	Art Guepe	1953–1962	100	39	54	7	0.425	19	43	6	0.324	1	0	0	—	0	0	SEC Coach of the Year (1955)
16	John Green	1963–1966	40	7	29	4	0.225	2	19	3	0.146	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
17	Bill Pace	1967–1972	63	22	38	3	0.373	5	27	1	0.167	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
18	Steve Sloan	1973–1974	23	12	9	2	0.565	3	8	1	0.292	0	0	1	—	0	0	—
19	Fred Pancoast	1975–1978	44	13	31	0	0.295	2	22	0	0.083	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
20	George MacIntyre	1979–1985	78	25	52	1	0.327	8	33	1	0.202	0	1	0	—	0	0	UPI SEC Coach of the Year (1982) SEC Coach of the Year (1982)
21	Watson Brown	1986–1990	55	10	45	0	0.182	4	29	0	0.121	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
22	Gerry DiNardo	1991–1994	44	19	25	0	0.432	9	22	0	0.290	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
23	Rod Dowhower	1995–1996	22	4	18	0	0.182	1	15	0	0.063	0	0	0	0	0	0	—
24	Woody Widenhofer	1997–2001	55	15	40	—	0.273	4	36	—	0.100	0	0	—	0	0	0	—
25	Bobby Johnson	2002–2009	95	29	66	—	0.305	12	52	—	0.188	1	0	—	0	0	0	SEC Coach of the Year (2008)
26	Robbie Caldwell	2010	12	2	10	—	0.167	1	7	—	0.125	0	0	—	0	0	0	—
27	James Franklin	2011–2013	39	24	15	—	0.615	11	13	—	0.458	2	1	—	0	0	0	—
28	Derek Mason	2014–2020	74	27	55	—	0.329	10	38	—	0.179	0	0	—	0	0	0	—
29	Clark Lea	2021–present	24	9	27	—	0.292	2	14	—	0.125	0	0	—	0	0	0	—