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List of Virginia Cavaliers head football coaches

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tony Elliott in a t-shirt and hat.
Tony Elliott is the current head coach of the Cavaliers.

The Virginia Cavaliers college football team represents the University of Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Cavaliers compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 42 head coaches since it began play during the 1887 season. Since December 2021, Tony Elliott has served as head coach at Virginia.[1]

Four coaches have led Virginia in postseason bowl games: George Welsh, Al Groh, Mike London, and Bronco Mendenhall. Three of those coaches also won conference championships: Joseph M. Wood and Harry Varner each captured one as a member of the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association; and Welsh captured two as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Welsh is the leader in overall wins and seasons coached with 134 wins during his 19 years as head coach. Merritt Cooke Jr. has the highest winning percentage at 0.938. Dick Voris has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.033. Of the 42 different head coaches who have led the Cavaliers, George Sanford, Greasy Neale, Earl Abell, Frank Murray, and Welsh has 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[A 6] Season(s)[A 7] GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 William C. Spicer 1892 6 3 2 1 0.583
2 Johnny Poe 1893–1894 21 16 5 0 0.762
3 Harry Arista Mackey 1895 11 9 2 0 0.818
4 Martin V. Bergen 1896–1897 20 13 4 3 0.725
5 Joseph Massie 1898 12 6 6 0 0.500
6 Archie Hoxton 1899–1900 19 11 5 3 0.658
7 Westley Abbott 1901 10 8 2 0 0.800
8 John de Saulles 1902 10 8 1 1 0.850
9 Gresham Poe 1903 10 7 2 1 0.750
10 George Sanford 1904 9 6 3 0 0.667
11 William C. "King" Cole 1905–1906 20 12 6 2 0.650
12 Hammond Johnson 1907 10 6 3 1 0.611
13 Merritt Cooke Jr. 1908 8 7 0 1 0.938
14 John Neff 1909 8 7 1 0 0.875
15 Charles B. Crawford 1910 8 6 2 0 0.750
16 Kemper Yancey 1911 10 8 2 0 0.800 2 1 0 0.667 0
17 John S. Elliott 1912 9 6 3 0 0.667 1 1 0 0.500 0
18
23
W. Rice Warren 1913
1920–1921
26 17 7 2 0.692 9 3 0 0.750 0
19 Joseph M. Wood 1914 9 8 1 0 0.889 3 0 0 1.000 1
20 Harry Varner 1915 9 8 1 0 0.889 2 0 0 1.000 1
21 Peyton Evans 1916 9 4 5 0 0.444 3 1 0 0.750 0
22 Harris Coleman 1919 9 2 5 2 0.333 1 1 1 0.500 0
24 Thomas J. Campbell 1922 9 4 4 1 0.500 1 1 1 0.500 0
25 Greasy Neale 1923–1928 55 28 22 5 0.555 16 18 3 0.473 0
26 Earl Abell 1929–1930 19 8 9 2 0.474 3 8 2 0.308 0
27 Fred Dawson 1931–1933 29 8 17 4 0.345 3 11 2 0.250 0
28 Gus Tebell 1934–1936 28 6 18 4 0.286 1 7 2 0.200 0
29 Frank Murray 1937–1945 80 41 34 5 0.544
30 Art Guepe 1946–1952 66 47 17 2 0.727
31 Ned McDonald 1953–1955 28 5 23 0 0.179 0 6 0 .000 0
32 Ben Martin 1956–1957 20 6 13 1 0.325 3 8 0 0.273 0
33 Dick Voris 1958–1960 30 1 29 0 0.033 1 16 0 0.059 0
34 Bill Elias 1961–1964 40 16 23 1 0.413 4 18 1 0.196 0
35 George Blackburn 1965–1970 61 28 33 0 0.459 12 23 0 0.343 0
36 Don Lawrence 1971–1973 33 11 22 0 0.333 6 11 0 0.353 0
37 Sonny Randle 1974–1975 22 5 17 0 0.227 1 9 0 0.100 0
38 Dick Bestwick 1976–1981 66 16 49 1 0.250 5 28 0 0.152 0
39 George Welsh 1982–2000 223 134 86 3 0.608 85 51 3 0.622 4 8 0 2
40 Al Groh 2001–2009 113 59 54 0.522 36 36 0.500 3 2 0
41 Mike London 2010–2015 73 27 46 0.370 14 34 0.292 0 1 0
42 Bronco Mendenhall 2016–2021 74 36 38 0.486 22 27 0.449 1 2 0
43 Tony Elliott 2022–present 22 6 16 0.273 3 12 0.200 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. ^ Virginia did not have a head coach from the 18871891 seasons.
  7. ^ Virginia did not field a team from the 19171918 seasons.

References

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  1. ^ "Virginia Cavaliers hire Clemson Tigers OC Tony Elliott as head football coach". ESPN.com. December 10, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  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.