List of Memphis Tigers head football coaches

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Former head coach Mike Norvell, who led the Tigers from 2016 to 2019.

The Memphis Tigers football team represents the University of Memphis in college football. The team competes in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team has had 25 head coaches since it began in 1912.[1] Since the end of the 2019 regular season, Ryan Silverfield has served as head coach of the Tigers.[2]

As of the conclusion of the 2020 season, the team has played 1,066 games over 109 seasons. In that time, six head coaches and one interim coach have led the Tigers in postseason play. The first was Ralph Hatley in 1956, who led Memphis to a 32–12 victory over Middle Tennessee in the Burley Bowl,[3] a game not sanctioned by the NCAA. The second was Billy J. Murphy, who, in his final year at the helm in Memphis, took the Tigers to the Pasadena Bowl, where they defeated San Jose State.[4] After Murphy, the Tigers did not make another postseason appearance until Tommy West's third season, where Memphis started a streak of six bowl games in seven years, starting with the 2003 New Orleans Bowl and ending with the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl.[5][6] The final two of Justin Fuente's four seasons produced postseason appearances for the Tigers, the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl and the 2015 Birmingham Bowl.[7][8] Darrell Dickey coached the latter of the two in an interim capacity following Fuente's departure for Virginia Tech.[9] Mike Norvell, to date, has more postseason appearances with Memphis than any other coach, with six: three conference championships and three bowl games. The team's first-ever New Year's Six bowl appearance came under Ryan Silverfield, who took over from Norvell for the 2019 Cotton Bowl Classic after Norvell departed for Florida State.[10][11]

Allyn McKeen, who led the Tigers for two years from 1937 to 1938, is the only former Memphis coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[12] In his second and final season at Memphis, McKeen led the Tigers to an undefeated record, their first in eleven years.[13]

Key[edit]

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[edit]

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC CC NC Awards
1 Clyde H. Wilson[1] 1912–1915 22 9 12 1 0.432
2 Tom Shea[1] 1916 6 2 3 1 0.417
3 V. M. Campbell[1] 1917, 1919 12 6 6 0 0.500
4 John Childerson[1] 1918 6 2 4 0 0.333
5 Elmer George[1] 1920 5 0 5 0 0.000
6 Rollin Wilson[1] 1921 10 4 5 1 0.450
7 Lester Barnard[1] 1922–1923 19 11 5 3 0.694
8 Zach Curlin[1] 1924–1936 117 43 60 14 0.427 18 12 4 0.588 2
9 Allyn McKeen[1] † 1937–1938 19 13 6 0 0.684 6 6 0 0.500 1 College Football Hall of Fame (1991)[12]
10 Cecil C. Humphreys[1] 1939–1941 30 14 16 0 0.467 10 8 0 0.556
11 Lefty Jamerson[1] 1942 9 2 7 0 0.222 1 2 0 0.333
12 Ralph Hatley[1] 1947–1957 107 59 43 5 0.575 1 0 0
13 Billy J. Murphy[17] † 1958–1971 136 91 44 1 0.673 15 3 0 0.833 1 0 0 3
14 Fred Pancoast[1] 1972–1974 33 20 12 1 0.621 2 2 0 0.500
15 Richard Williamson[1] 1975–1980 66 31 35 0 0.470
16 Rex Dockery[1] 1981–1983 33 8 24 1 0.258
17 Rey Dempsey[1] 1984–1985 22 7 12 3 0.386
18 Charlie Bailey[1] 1986–1988 33 12 20 1 0.379
19 Chuck Stobart[1] 1989–1994 66 29 36 1 0.447
20 Rip Scherer[1] 1995–2000 66 22 44 0 0.333 11 19 0.367
21 Tommy West[18] 2001–2009 110 49 61 0.445 32 39 0.451 2 3
22 Larry Porter[1] 2010–2011 24 3 21 0.125 1 15 0.063
23 Justin Fuente[1] 2012–2015 50 26 24 0.520 17 15 0.531 1 0 1 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (2014)[19]
Int Darrell Dickey[20] 2015 1 0 1 0.000 0 1
24 Mike Norvell[1] 2016–2019 53 38 15 0.717 24 8 0.750 1 5 3 1
25 Ryan Silverfield[1][21] 2019–present 50 31 19 0.620 17 15 .531} 3 1

Notes[edit]

  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.[14]
  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.[15]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[16]
  5. ^ The statistics displayed in the table are correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "2020 Football Media Guide" (PDF). University of Memphis. pp. 3, 240–241, 262–271. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  2. ^ Barnes, Evan; Giannotto, Mark. "Ryan Silverfield hired as Memphis head coach". The Florida Times-Union. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  3. ^ "Big Parade, Grid Game to Climax Festivities". Johnson City Press. November 22, 1956. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ "Sun, Pasadena Bowls on Tap". The News & Observer. December 18, 1971. p. 14. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ "New Orleans Bowl kicks off holiday bowl stretch". The Daily Advertiser. December 16, 2003. p. 21. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ "Guide to Florida's bowl season". Florida Today. December 16, 2008. p. 15. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ "Memphis and BYU had a massive brawl at the end of the Miami Beach Bowl". USA Today. December 22, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  8. ^ "Johnson lifts Auburn past Memphis 31-10 in Birmingham Bowl". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  9. ^ "Mizzou stays in-house, picks Odom as new coach". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 4, 2015. pp. C005. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ "Tigers fall short in record-setting Cotton Bowl Classic". University of Memphis Athletics. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  11. ^ "FSU hires Memphis' Norvell as new head coach". ESPN.com. December 8, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Allyn McKeen (1991) - Hall of Fame". National Football Foundation. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  13. ^ "Memphis Teachers to play in Prune Bowl". Johnson City Chronicle. November 27, 1938. p. 15. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  15. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on November 24, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  16. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  17. ^ "Billy Murphy Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  18. ^ "Tommy West Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  19. ^ "American Athletic Conference Announces 2014 Postseason Football Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  20. ^ "Darrell Dickey Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  21. ^ "Ryan Silverfield Coaching Record". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
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