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List of Illinois Fighting Illini head football coaches

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bret Bielema is the current head coach at Illinois

The Illinois Fighting Illini college football team represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference (Big 10). The Fighting Illini compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 27 head coaches, and two interim head coaches, since it began play during the 1890 season. Since December 2020, Bret Bielema has served as head coach at Illinois.[1]

Eleven coaches have led Illinois in postseason bowl games: Ray Eliot, Pete Elliott, Mike White, John Mackovic, Lou Tepper, Ron Turner, Ron Zook, Vic Koenning, Tim Beckman, Lovie Smith, and Bielema. Seven of coaches also won conference championships: Arthur R. Hall, Robert Zuppke, Eliot, Elliott, White, Mackovic, and Turner a member of the Big 10. Zuppke won four and Eliot one national championships as head coach of the Fighting Illini.

Zuppke is the leader in seasons coached, with 29 years as head coach, games coached with 224, and games won with 131. Robert Lackey has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game at 0.833. Scott Williams has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.333. Of the 27 different head coaches who have led Illinois, Edward K. Hall, George Washington Woodruff, Zuppke, Elliott, and Bob Blackman have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key

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Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] 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[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

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List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Term GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC
[A 6]
CC NC Awards
1 Scott Williams 1890 3 1 2 0 0.333 0
2 Robert Lackey 1891 6 5 1 0 0.833 0
3 Edward K. Hall[5] 1892–1893 22 12 6 4 0.636 0
4 Louis Vail 1894 8 4 4 0 0.500 0
5 George Huff 1895–1899 40 21 16 3 0.563 2 7 1 0.250 0 0
6 Fred L. Smith 1900 12 7 3 2 0.667 1 3 2 0.333 0 0
7 Edgar Holt 1901–1902 23 18 4 1 0.804 8 4 0 0.667 0 0
8 George Washington Woodruff[6] 1903 14 8 6 1 0.571 1 5 0 0.167 0 0
9 Clyde Matthews
[A 7]
1904 12 9 2 1 0.792 3 1 1 0.700 0 0
10 Fred Lowenthal
[A 8]
1904–1905 21 14 6 1 0.690 3 4 1 0.438 0 0
11 Justa Lindgren
[A 9]
1904, 1906 17 10 5 2 0.647 4 4 1 0.500 0 0
12 Arthur R. Hall
[A 10]
1904, 1907–1912 52 36 12 4 0.731 20 10 3 0.652 1 0
13 Robert Zuppke[7] 1913–1941 224 131 81 12 0.612 76 66 8 0.533 7 4 – 1914, 1919, 1923, 1927
14 Ray Eliot 1942–1959 167 83 73 11 0.530 54 55 7 0.496 2 0 0 3 1 – 1951
15 Pete Elliott[8] 1960–1966 66 31 34 1 0.477 22 26 1 0.459 1 0 0 1 0
16 Jim Valek 1967–1970 40 8 32 0 0.200 5 23 0 0.179 0 0 0 0 0
17 Bob Blackman[9] 1971–1976 66 29 36 1 0.447 24 23 1 0.510 0 0 0 0 0
18 Gary Moeller 1977–1979 33 6 24 3 0.227 3 18 3 0.188 0 0 0 0 0
19 Mike White 1980–1987 91 47 41 3 0.533 40 26 2 0.603 0 3 0 1 0
20 John Mackovic 1988–1991 47 30 16 1 0.649 22 9 1 0.703 1 2 0 1 0
21 Lou Tepper 1991–1996 58 25 31 2 0.448 17 21 2 0.450 1 2 0 0 0
22 Ron Turner 1997–2004 92 35 57 0.380 20 44 0.313 1 1 1 0
23 Ron Zook 2005–2011 85 34 51 0.400 18 38 0.321 1 1 0 0 0
Int. Vic Koenning 2011 1 1 0 1.000 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
24 Tim Beckman 2012–2014 37 12 25 0.324 4 20 0.167 1 0 0 0 0
25 Bill Cubit 2015 12 5 7 0.417 2 6 0.250 0 0 0 0 0
26 Lovie Smith 2016–2020 56 17 39 0.304 10 33 0.233 0 1 0 0 0
Int. Rod Smith 2020 1 0 1 .000 0 1 .000 0 0 0 0 0
27 Bret Bielema 2021–present 41 22 19 0.537 13 15 0.464 0 1 0 0 0

Notes

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  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]
  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.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ Divisional champions have advanced to the Big Ten Football Championship Game since the institution of divisional play beginning in the 2011 season. Since that time, Illinois has competed as a member of the West Division.
  7. ^ Matthews shared the title of "Head Coach" with Hall, Lindgren, and Lowenthal for the 1904 season.
  8. ^ Lowenthal shared the title of "Head Coach" with Hall, Lindgren, and Matthews for the 1904 season.
  9. ^ Lindgren shared the title of "Head Coach" with Hall, Lowenthal, and Matthews for the 1904 season.
  10. ^ Hall shared the title of "Head Coach" with Lindgren, Lowenthal, and Matthews for the 1904 season.

References

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  1. ^ Rittenberg, Adam (December 19, 2020). "Bret Bielema named head coach of Illinois Fighting Illini". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Ed Hall at the College Football Hall of Fame
  6. ^ George Washington Woodruff at the College Football Hall of Fame
  7. ^ Robert Zuppke at the College Football Hall of Fame
  8. ^ Pete Elliott at the College Football Hall of Fame
  9. ^ Bob Blackman at the College Football Hall of Fame