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List of Wisconsin Badgers head football coaches

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List of head football coaches for the Wisconsin Badgers

Barry Alvarez has been the head coach three times at Wisconsin, counting two times as "interim" head coach.

The Wisconsin Badgers college football team represents the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Big Ten Conference (Big 10), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 30 head coaches, and 3 interim head coaches, since it began play during the 1889 season. Since November 2022, Luke Fickell has served as Wisconsin's head coach. As of the end of the 2023 season, Wisconsin has an all-time record of 742 wins, 518, losses, and 53 ties (.585 all-time winning percentage).

Eight coaches have led Wisconsin in postseason bowl games: Ivy Williamson, Milt Bruhn, Dave McClain, Barry Alvarez, Bret Bielema, Gary Andersen, Paul Chryst, and Fickell. Seven of those coaches also won conference championships: Philip King captured three, and Charles P. Hutchins and William Juneau each one, as a member of the Western Conference; Williamson captured one, Bruhn two, and both Alvarez and Bielema three as a member of the Big 10.

Alvarez is the leader in seasons coached, with 16 years as head coach and games coached (195) and won (119). King has the highest winning percentage at 0.853. Alvin Kletsch has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000. Of the 33 different head coaches who have led the Badgers, King, George Little, Clarence Spears, Harry Stuhldreher, and Alvarez have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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 Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DCs CCs NCs Awards
1 Alvin Kletsch 1889 2 0 2 0 .000 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 Ted Mestre 1890 4 1 3 0 0.250 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 Herb Alward 1891 5 3 1 1 0.700 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 Billy Crawford 1892 7 4 3 0 0.571 2 2 0 0.500 — — — — 0 0 —
5 Parke H. Davis 1893 6 4 2 0 0.667 1 1 0 0.500 — — — — 0 0 —
6 Hiland Orlando Stickney 1894–1895 15 10 4 1 0.700 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 Philip King 1896–1902
1905 		78 66 11 1 0.853 17 8 1 0.673 — — — — 3 0 —
8 Arthur Hale Curtis 1903–1904 18 11 6 1 0.639 0 6 1 0.071 — — — — 0 0 —
9 Charles P. Hutchins 1906–1907 10 8 1 1 0.850 6 1 1 0.813 — — — — 1 0 —
10 Thomas A. Barry 1908–1910 16 9 4 3 0.656 5 4 2 0.545 — — — — 0 0 —
11 John R. Richards 1911
1917
1919–1922 		42 29 9 4 0.738 14 7 3 0.646 — — — — 0 0 —
12 William Juneau 1912–1915 28 18 8 2 0.679 10 7 2 0.579 — — — — 1 0 —
13 Paul Withington 1916 7 4 2 1 0.643 1 2 1 0.375 — — — — 0 0 —
14 Guy Lowman 1918 6 3 3 0 0.500 1 2 0 0.333 — — — — 0 0 —
15 John J. Ryan 1923–1924 15 5 6 4 0.467 1 5 3 0.278 — — — — 0 0 —
16 George Little 1925–1926 16 11 3 2 0.750 6 3 2 0.636 — — — — 0 0 —
17 Glenn Thistlethwaite 1927–1931 45 26 16 3 0.611 10 14 2 0.423 — — — — 0 0 —
18 Clarence Spears 1932–1935 32 13 17 2 0.438 7 13 2 0.364 — — — — 0 0 —
19 Harry Stuhldreher 1936–1948 113 45 62 6 0.425 26 45 4 0.373 — — — — 0 0 —
20 Ivy Williamson 1949–1955 64 41 19 4 0.672 29 13 4 0.674 0 1 0 — 1 0 —
21 Milt Bruhn 1956–1966 103 53 45 6 0.534 35 37 5 0.487 0 2 0 — 2 0 —
22 John Coatta 1967–1969 30 3 26 1 0.117 3 17 1 0.167 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
23 John Jardine 1970–1977 87 37 47 3 0.443 25 38 1 0.398 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
24 Dave McClain 1978–1985 91 46 42 3 0.522 32 34 3 0.486 1 2 0 — 0 0 —
Int Jim Hilles 1986 12 3 9 0 0.250 2 6 0 0.250 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
25 Don Morton 1987–1989 33 6 27 0 0.182 3 21 0 0.125 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
26 Barry Alvarez 1990–2005
2012
2014
 195 119 72 4 0.621 65 60 3 0.520 9 4 0 — 3 0 —
27 Bret Bielema 2006–2012 92 68 24 — 0.739 37 19 — 0.661 2 4 — 2 3 0 —
28 Gary Andersen 2013–2014 26 19 7 — 0.731 13 3 — 0.813 0 1 — 1 0 0 —
29 Paul Chryst 2015–2022 93 67 26 — 0.720 43 18 — 0.705 6 1 — 3 0 0 —
Int Jim Leonhard
 2022 7 4 3 — 0.571 4 3 — 0.571 0 0 — 0 0 0 —
30 Luke Fickell 2022–present 14 8 6 — 0.571 5 4 — 0.556 1 1 — 0 0 0 —

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.
  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.
  4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.
  5. Wisconsin has been a member of Big Ten Conference since the 1896 season.
  6. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  7. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Wisconsin records indicate that Frank Crawford was Wisconsin's coach in 1892, but contemporary coverage shows at Billy Crawford coached Wisconsin in 1892, while Frank coached at Baker University.
  8. Alvarez served as interim head coach for the 2013 Rose Bowl after the resignation of Bret Bielema.
  9. Alvarez served as interim head coach for the 2015 Outback Bowl after the resignation of Gary Andersen.
  10. Leonhard served as interim head coach for the final seven regular season games in 2022 after Paul Chryst was fired.

References

  1. Thamel, Pete (November 27, 2022). "Wisconsin brings in Cincinnati's Luke Fickell as coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  2. "All-Time Results". uwbadgers.com. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  3. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  4. Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  5. Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  6. "Wasn't In It With Purdue". Indianapolis Journal. Indianapolis, Indiana. October 20, 1892. p. 1. Retrieved November 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  7. "Our Foot Ball Team". The Baker Beacon. Baldwin, Kansas. December 6, 1892. p. 1. Retrieved November 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  8. "Frank "Little" Crawford". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  9. "Barry Alvarez gets Rose Bowl raise". ESPN.com. December 11, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  10. "Barry Alvarez to coach bowl game". ESPN.com. December 11, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  11. Rittenberg, Adam (December 6, 2022). "Jim Leonhard will leave Wisconsin's staff after bowl game". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
Wisconsin Badgers head football coaches

# denotes interim head coach

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