Coaches Research Hub

College football coach records, rankings, and profiles.

Search any coach, jump to the record answer, then verify it with year-by-year rows, ranked-game splits, school impact, and comparisons.

Browse coachesCompare coaches

Answer Pages

Start with a leaderboard.

Fast answers, deeper profiles.

Career winsCollege football coaches by career winsWin percentageCollege football coaches by win percentageCareer qualityActive college football coaches rankedWin %College football coaches vs AP-ranked teamsWin %College football coaches vs AP Top 10 teamsNational titlesCollege football coaches by national titles

Current Research Window

Search coach records, career wins, win percentage, and rankings from the same filtered universe as the discovery visuals below. Start from the recommended sample, then tighten the field around identity, school, time span, or quality.

1 school filter3+ seasons

18

Coaches in view

1786 indexed coaches available

213

Coach-seasons

12392 total coach-season rows

1/1

Page position

18 coaches in the current filtered result set

Summary and Filtering

Search coach records and career stats

Coach search stays primary, then school, archetype, time span, and quality sharpen the rankings. The recommended starting point is 3+ seasons.

Reset to recommendedClear all

Recommended baseline

Keep at least 3 seasons in view to avoid tiny-sample profiles dominating the charts and leaderboards.

Coach Identity

The fastest way to narrow style and school context.

Vanderbilt

Time and Sample

Keep the result set stable before reading the charts.

Recommended: 3+ seasons.

Quality

Shortcut the list toward stronger resumes and stronger finishes.

These filters reshape the charts and the results table together, so every leaderboard and callout below reflects the same active set.

1 active filter are shaping the coach set now.

Primary Discovery

One clear lens at a time.

Start with career shape or flip to identity. Either way, the chart, the coach summary, the outlier list, and the table context all stay synchronized.

Success vs Volatility

Start with the simplest question: who paired real strength with a repeatable week-to-week shape?

18 coaches shown
Coach fieldOutlier markerSelected focus
Elite and steady
Elite but volatile
Lower ceiling but stable
Lower ceiling and unstable

Watson Brown

Volatility: 6.34 • Average SRS: -8.06

35.4% win rate • 0.0 peak SRS

Volatility
Average SRS

Hover or focus a point to isolate it. Click a coach to carry that selection into the results table.

Average SRS reads overall strength. Volatility is the spread of season-to-season SRS, so lower values mean a steadier profile.

Career shape lens

Watson Brown

This is the clearest first-pass view for peak versus stability. It is the best place to start browsing.

Offense-FirstLongevity Coach

Watson Brown coached 19 seasons, won 35.4%, and posted an average SRS of -8.1. Best season: 1987 Vanderbilt. The profile was offense-first with a swing-heavy profile. 4 stints shaped the career arc.

Volatility
6.34
Average SRS
-8.06
Career Win %
35.4%
Peak SRS
0.0
View coach profile

Active chart outliers

These callouts update with the active discovery mode and filtered coach set.

4 markers

  1. Highest peak

    James Franklin

    Single-season ceiling leader in the current filtered set.

    25.6 peak SRS

  2. Most consistent elite coach

    Red Sanders

    High average strength without the season-to-season swing.

    14.45 avg SRS • 6.65 volatility

  3. Steadiest floor

    Bill Edwards

    Lowest volatility in the view. Lower is more stable.

    2.52 volatility

  4. Elite but volatile

    Ray Morrison

    Big ceiling, but the weekly shape moved around more than the steady tier.

    13.18 volatility

Top Career Peaks

Keep the ceiling board in view, but as a support module for the active lens, not the main destination.

  1. 1. James Franklin

    2017

    25.6

  2. 2. Dan McGugin

    1905

    25.4

  3. 3. Ray Morrison

    1927

    25.4

  4. 4. Red Sanders

    1955

    24.7

  5. 5. Arthur Guepe

    1955

    17.0

Supporting Insights

Quick leaderboards, grouped on purpose.

These are shortcuts into the same table below. Performance leads the stack, while stability and longevity stay visible without competing with the main chart.

Performance

Primary leaderboard shortcuts

The fastest path into peak and results leaders.

3 boards

Highest Peak SRS

Single-season ceiling leaders.

View

  1. 1. James Franklin

    2017 Penn State (11-2)

    25.6

  2. 2. Dan McGugin

    1905 Vanderbilt (7-1)

    25.4

  3. 3. Ray Morrison

    1927 SMU (7-2)

    25.4

  4. 4. Red Sanders

    1955 UCLA (9-2)

    24.7

  5. 5. Arthur Guepe

    1955 Vanderbilt (8-3)

    17.0

Best Career Win %

Who won the most across a meaningful sample.

View

  1. 1. Dan McGugin

    1905 Vanderbilt (7-1)

    76.2%

  2. 2. Red Sanders

    1955 UCLA (9-2)

    70.9%

  3. 3. James Franklin

    2017 Penn State (11-2)

    67.7%

  4. 4. Ray Morrison

    1927 SMU (7-2)

    57.9%

  5. 5. Arthur Guepe

    1955 Vanderbilt (8-3)

    54.5%

Most Top 10 Finishes

Coaches who stacked elite endings.

View

  1. 1. James Franklin

    2017 Penn State (11-2)

    5

  2. 2. Red Sanders

    1955 UCLA (9-2)

    4

  3. 3. Dan McGugin

    1905 Vanderbilt (7-1)

    0

  4. 4. Ray Morrison

    1927 SMU (7-2)

    0

  5. 5. Arthur Guepe

    1955 Vanderbilt (8-3)

    0

Stability

Stability shortcuts

Who stays in control year after year.

1 board

Most Consistent Winning Coaches

Low SRS volatility among winning coaches with a real sample.

View

  1. 1. Red Sanders

    1955 UCLA (9-2)

    6.7

  2. 2. James Franklin

    2017 Penn State (11-2)

    7.0

  3. 3. Dan McGugin

    1905 Vanderbilt (7-1)

    7.1

Longevity

Longevity shortcuts

Long arcs, big samples, and durable careers.

1 board

Longest Careers

Big careers and long arcs.

View

  1. 1. Ray Morrison

    1927 SMU (7-2)

    33 years

  2. 2. Dan McGugin

    1905 Vanderbilt (7-1)

    31 years

  3. 3. Watson Brown

    1987 Vanderbilt (4-7)

    24 years

  4. 4. Red Sanders

    1955 UCLA (9-2)

    18 years

  5. 5. Ron Dowhower

    1979 Stanford (5-5-1)

    18 years

Results Table

Coach results table

18 filtered coaches in view. Lower rank numbers are better. Lower volatility means more stable. Lower SP Def numbers are better on the identity chart.

Compare selected (0)
18 filtered coachesSuccess vs Volatility activeSorted by Career Quality ascending
Compare
Watson Brown

75-137-1 • 1983-2006

Cincinnati, Rice +2
192137513735.4%-8.1
0.0

1987 peak

6.325.233.6—0
Offense-First

Longevity Coach

Woody Widenhofer

27-71-1 • 1985-2001

Missouri, Vanderbilt
999277127.8%-5.5
4.3

1987 peak

5.724.630.6—0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Derek Mason

33-73 • 2014-2025

Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt
9106337331.1%-8.1
9.9

2018 peak

9.923.029.9—0
Defense-First

Longevity Coach

Jack Green

7-29-4 • 1963-1966

Vanderbilt
44072922.5%-1.6
1.9

1964 peak

3.6———0
Balanced

—

Bobby Johnson

29-66 • 2002-2009

Vanderbilt
895296630.5%-2.5
4.4

2008 peak

4.723.426.5—0
Defense-First

Defense-First

Ron Dowhower

9-23-1 • 1979-1996

Stanford, Vanderbilt
33392328.8%-2.7
6.7

1979 peak

6.721.124.6—0
Defense-First

Longevity Coach

George MacIntyre

25-52-1 • 1979-1985

Vanderbilt
778255232.7%-2.1
8.7

1982 peak

7.626.330.7—0
Offense-First

Offense-First

Fred Pancoast

33-43-1 • 1972-1978

Memphis, Vanderbilt
777334343.5%-2.7
5.8

1974 peak

6.221.725.8—0
Defense-First

Defense-First

Bill Pace

22-38-3 • 1967-1972

Vanderbilt
663223837.3%1.1
5.4

1968 peak

3.318.520.3—0
Defense-First

Defense-First

Clark Lea

26-36 • 2021-2025

Vanderbilt
562263641.9%-0.0
16.0

2025 peak

10.427.830.4—0
Offense-First

Volatile Builder

Gerry DiNardo

59-77-1 • 1991-2004

Indiana, LSU +1
12137597743.4%0.1
16.2

1997 peak

9.229.028.5#120
Offense-First

Longevity Coach

Steve Sloan

68-86-3 • 1973-1986

Duke, Ole Miss +2
14157688644.3%2.6
15.9

1976 peak

7.527.026.6#130
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Bill Edwards

21-19-2 • 1949-1952

Vanderbilt
442211952.4%4.4
7.9

1951 peak

2.5———0
Balanced

—

Arthur Guepe

86-71-9 • 1946-1962

Vanderbilt, Virginia
17166867154.5%4.9
17.0

1955 peak

6.9——#130
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Ray Morrison

142-99-33 • 1916-1948

SMU, Temple +1
292741429957.9%2.7
25.4

1927 peak

13.2———0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Dan McGugin

197-55-19 • 1904-1934

Vanderbilt
302711975576.2%8.9
25.4

1905 peak

7.1———0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

James Franklin

132-63 • 2011-2025

Penn State, Vanderbilt
151951326367.7%13.6
25.6

2017 peak

7.032.516.4#55
Defense-First

Peak Dominator

Red Sanders

102-41-3 • 1940-1957

UCLA, Vanderbilt
151461024170.9%14.4
24.7

1955 peak

6.7——#24
Balanced

Peak Dominator

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