The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in the Pac-12 Conference. The Cardinal competes as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team has had 32 head coaches since its founding in 1892. Troy Taylor is the current head coach.[1]
The Cardinal have played in 1,207 games of American football in 112 seasons.[A 1] In their first season, the team played 4 games with no head coach.[2] From 1906 to 1917, Stanford replaced football with rugby.[2] The school did not field teams in 1918 and from 1943 to 1945 due to World War I and World War II, respectively.[2]
Conference championships have been won by Pop Warner, Claude E. Thornhill, Clark Shaughnessy, Chuck Taylor, John Ralston, Bill Walsh, Tyrone Willingham, and David Shaw.[2] Shaw is the all-time leader in games coached and most victories, having won his 72nd game in a 17–14 win over Cal in the 120th Big Game on November 18, 2017.[3] James F. Lanagan is the leader in win percentage for coaches with more than one season of service.[2] Shaw was also the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2017 respectively.[4]
Of the 31 Stanford head coaches, six—Walter Camp,[5] Fielding H. Yost,[6] Andrew Kerr,[7] Warner,[8] Shaughnessy,[9] and Ralston[10]—have been inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches. Four more—George H. Brooke (who played at Swarthmore),[11] Marchmont Schwartz (who played at Notre Dame),[12] Taylor (who played at Stanford)[13] and Paul Wiggin (who also played at Stanford)[14]—are in the Hall of Fame as players.
General | Overall | Conference | Postseason[A 2] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Order of coaches[A 3] | 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 4] | C% | Conference winning percentage | ||
† | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage[A 5] |
No. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | DC [A 7] |
CC [A 8] |
NC | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Walter Camp† | 1892, 1894–1895 | 17 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0.735 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
2 | C. D. "Pop" Bliss | 1893 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0.944 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
3 | Harry P. Cross | 1896 1898 |
13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0.615 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
4 | George H. Brooke† | 1897 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.800 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
5 | Burr Chamberlain | 1899 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0.333 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
6 | Fielding H. Yost† | 1900 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0.750 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
7 | Charles Fickert | 1901 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0.571 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 0 | — |
8 | Carl L. Clemans | 1902 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0.857 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
9 | James F. Lanagan [A 9] | 1903–1905 | 29 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 0.862 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
10 | Bob Evans | 1919 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
11 | Walter D. Powell | 1920 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
12 | Eugene Van Gent | 1921 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.625 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
13 | Andrew Kerr† | 1922–1923 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0.611 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0.375 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
14 | Pop Warner† | 1924–1932 | 96 | 71 | 17 | 8 | 0.781 | 31 | 9 | 5 | 0.744 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 | 1 – 1926 | — |
15 | Claude E. Thornhill | 1933–1939 | 67 | 35 | 25 | 7 | 0.575 | 25 | 18 | 4 | 0.574 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | — |
16 | Clark Shaughnessy† | 1940–1941 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0.842 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0.786 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 – 1940 | AFCA Coach of the Year (1940)[18] |
17 | Marchmont Schwartz† | 1942 1946–1950 |
60 | 28 | 28 | 4 | 0.500 | 17 | 25 | 3 | 0.411 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
18 | Chuck Taylor† | 1951–1957 | 71 | 40 | 29 | 2 | 0.577 | 25 | 20 | 2 | 0.553 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | AFCA Coach of the Year (1951)[18] |
19 | Jack Curtice | 1958–1962 | 50 | 14 | 36 | 0 | 0.280 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 0.208 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
20 | John Ralston† | 1963–1971 | 94 | 55 | 36 | 3 | 0.601 | 30 | 25 | 2 | 0.544 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year (1970)[19] |
21 | Jack Christiansen | 1972–1976 | 55 | 30 | 22 | 3 | 0.573 | 22 | 12 | 1 | 0.643 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
22 | Bill Walsh | 1977–1978 1992–1994 |
59 | 34 | 24 | 1 | 0.585 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0.500 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | Pac-8 Coach of the Year (1977)[20] |
23 | Rod Dowhower | 1979 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0.500 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
24 | Paul Wiggin† | 1980–1983 | 44 | 16 | 28 | 0 | 0.364 | 11 | 23 | 0 | 0.324 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
25 | Jack Elway | 1984–1988 | 56 | 25 | 29 | 2 | 0.464 | 16 | 22 | 2 | 0.425 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
26 | Dennis Green | 1989–1991 | 34 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 0.471 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 0.542 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
27 | Tyrone Willingham | 1995–2001 | 81 | 44 | 36 | 1 | 0.549 | 32 | 24 | 0 | 0.571 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1999)[20] |
28 | Buddy Teevens | 2002–2004 | 33 | 10 | 23 | — | 0.303 | 5 | 19 | — | 0.208 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
29 | Walt Harris | 2005–2006 | 23 | 6 | 17 | — | 0.261 | 5 | 12 | — | 0.294 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
30 | Jim Harbaugh | 2007–2010 | 50 | 29 | 21 | — | 0.580 | 21 | 15 | — | 0.583 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
31 | David Shaw | 2011–2022 | 150 | 96 | 54 | — | 0.640 | 65 | 40 | — | 0.619 | 5 | 3 | — | 4 | 3 | 0 | Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017)[20] |
32 | Troy Taylor | 2023–present | 12 | 3 | 9 | — | 0.250 | 2 | 7 | — | 0.222 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
General
Specific
Venues |
|
---|---|
Bowls & rivalries |
|
Culture and lore | |
People | |
Seasons |
|
National championship seasons in bold |