Coaches By School
Northwestern Football Coaches
Career records, seasons, ranked finishes, quality scores, and profile links for coaches connected to Northwestern.
- Indexed coaches
- 30
- Coach seasons
- 246
- Wins leader
- Pappy Waldorf
Coach record table
Sorted by career wins among coaches with at least one indexed game and one indexed season.
| Coach | Years | Record | Win % | Top-10 Finishes | Peak SRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pappy Waldorf Peak Dominator, Longevity Coach | 1929-1956 · 28 seasons | 157-89-19 | 62.8% | 6 | 26.9 |
| Charlie Bachman Program Stabilizer, Longevity Coach | 1919-1946 · 27 seasons | 132-80-22 | 61.1% | 0 | 23.9 |
| Ara Parseghian Peak Dominator, Volatile Builder | 1956-1974 · 19 seasons | 131-52-5 | 71.0% | 9 | 32.2 |
| Pat Fitzgerald Longevity Coach, Defense-First | 2006-2022 · 17 seasons | 110-101 | 52.1% | 1 | 13.1 |
| Randy Walker Volatile Builder, Longevity Coach | 1990-2005 · 16 seasons | 95-82-5 | 53.6% | 0 | 9.8 |
| Glenn Thistlethwaite Longevity Coach | 1922-1941 · 18 seasons | 88-59-13 | 59.1% | 0 | 21.7 |
| Gary Barnett Peak Dominator, Volatile Builder | 1992-2005 · 14 seasons | 84-83-1 | 50.3% | 2 | 20.7 |
| John Pont Longevity Coach, Journeyman | 1962-1977 · 16 seasons | 63-101-3 | 38.6% | 1 | 7.0 |
| Alex Agase Longevity Coach, Defense-First | 1964-1976 · 13 seasons | 50-83-2 | 37.8% | 0 | 17.7 |
| Walter McCornack Balanced | 1901-1905 · 5 seasons | 42-8-5 | 80.9% | 0 | 19.5 |
| Fred Murphy Volatile Builder, Longevity Coach | 1901-1926 · 12 seasons | 42-43-5 | 49.4% | 0 | 11.9 |
| Dick Hanley Balanced | 1927-1934 · 8 seasons | 36-26-4 | 57.6% | 0 | 26.8 |
| Robert Voigts Consistent Winner, Program Stabilizer | 1947-1954 · 8 seasons | 33-39-1 | 45.9% | 1 | 17.5 |
| Charles Hollister Balanced | 1899-1902 · 4 seasons | 27-16-4 | 61.7% | 0 | 2.2 |
| Dennis Green Volatile Builder, Offense-First | 1981-1991 · 8 seasons | 26-63 | 29.2% | 0 | 16.5 |
| David Braun Defense-First | 2023-2025 · 3 seasons | 19-19 | 50.0% | 0 | 4.4 |
| Lou Saban Longevity Coach, Journeyman | 1955-1979 · 5 seasons | 15-35-2 | 30.8% | 0 | 6.8 |
| Knowlton Ames Balanced | 1892-1892 · 2 seasons | 13-3-2 | 77.8% | 0 | - |
| Francis Peay Offense-First | 1986-1991 · 6 seasons | 13-51-2 | 21.2% | 0 | -6.8 |
| Alvin Culver Balanced | 1895-1896 · 2 seasons | 12-6-2 | 65.0% | 0 | - |
| WH Bannard Balanced | 1898-1898 · 1 seasons | 9-4-1 | 67.9% | 0 | -10.1 |
| Charles Hammett Volatile Builder | 1910-1912 · 3 seasons | 6-10-2 | 38.9% | 0 | 12.8 |
| Jesse Van Doozer Balanced | 1897-1897 · 1 seasons | 5-3 | 62.5% | 0 | -15.7 |
| Elmer McDevitt Balanced | 1920-1921 · 2 seasons | 4-10 | 28.6% | 0 | 6.3 |
| AA Ewing Balanced | 1894-1894 · 1 seasons | 4-5 | 44.4% | 0 | - |
| Paul Noyes Balanced | 1893-1893 · 1 seasons | 2-5-3 | 35.0% | 0 | - |
| Alton Johnson Balanced | 1908-1908 · 1 seasons | 2-2 | 50.0% | 0 | -12.5 |
| Bill Horr Balanced | 1909-1909 · 1 seasons | 1-3-1 | 30.0% | 0 | -16.4 |
| Rick Venturi Balanced | 1978-1980 · 3 seasons | 1-31-1 | 4.5% | 0 | -14.6 |
| Dennis Grady Balanced | 1913-1913 · 1 seasons | 1-6 | 14.3% | 0 | -20.0 |