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List of Boston College Eagles head football coaches

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Head shot of Frank Leahy in a suit.
Frank Leahy has the highest all time winning percentage as head coach at Boston College.

The Boston College Eagles college football team represents Boston College in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Eagles compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 40 head coaches, and two interim head coaches, since it began play during the 1893 season. Since February 2024, Bill O'Brien has served as head coach at Boston College.[1]

Ten coaches have led Boston College in postseason bowl games: Frank Leahy, Denny Myers, Jack Bicknell, Tom Coughlin, Dan Henning, Tom O'Brien, Jeff Jagodzinski, Frank Spaziani, Steve Addazio, and Rich Gunnell. O'Brien also won one conference championship as a member of the Big East Conference.

Joe Yukica, Bicknell, and O'Brien are the leaders in seasons coached 10 years each as head coach. O'Brien has the most all-time wins with 75 and Leahy has the highest winning percentage at 0.909. Arthur White and Joseph Courtney has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000. Of the 40 different head coaches who have led the Eagles, Frank Cavanaugh, Gil Dobie, Leahy, and Mike Holovak 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

[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)[A 6] GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Joseph Drum 1893 6 3 3 0 0.500
2 William Nagle 1894 7 1 6 0 0.143
3 Joseph Lawless 1895 8 2 4 2 0.375
4 Frank Carney 1896 7 5 2 0 0.714
5 John Dunlop 1897–1899
1901
34 16 16 2 0.500
6 Arthur White 1902 8 0 8 0 .000
7 Joe Kenney
Joe Reilly
[A 7]
1908 8 2 4 2 0.375
8 Thomas H. Maguire 1909 8 3 4 1 0.438
9 Hub Hart 1910 6 0 4 2 0.167
10 Joseph Courtney 1911 7 0 7 0 .000
11 William Joy 1912–1913 15 6 7 2 0.467
12 Stephen Mahoney 1914–1915 16 8 8 0 0.500
13 Charles Brickley 1916–1917 16 12 4 0 0.750
18 Frank Morrissey 1918 7 5 2 0 0.714
19 Frank Cavanaugh 1919–1926 67 48 14 5 0.754
20 D. Leo Daley 1927 8 4 4 0 0.500
21 Joe McKenney 1928–1934 65 44 18 3 0.700
22 Dinny McNamara 1935 4 3 1 0 0.750
Int. Harry Downes
[A 8]
1935 5 3 2 0 0.600
23 Gil Dobie 1936–1938 27 16 6 5 0.685
24 Frank Leahy 1939–1940 22 20 2 0 0.909 1 1 0
25
27
Denny Myers 1941–1942
1946–1950
66 35 27 4 0.561 0 1 0
26 Moody Sarno 1943–1945 19 11 7 1 0.605 0 0 0
28 Mike Holovak 1951–1959 81 49 29 3 0.625 0 0 0
29 Ernie Hefferle 1960–1961 20 7 12 1 0.375 0 0 0
30 Jim Miller 1962–1967 58 34 24 0 0.586 0 0 0
31 Joe Yukica 1968–1977 105 68 37 0 0.648 0 0 0
32 Ed Chlebek 1978–1980 33 12 21 0 0.364 0 0 0
33 Jack Bicknell 1981–1990 115 59 55 1 0.517 2 2 0
34 Tom Coughlin 1991–1993 35 21 13 1 0.614 9 7 1 0.559 1 1 0 0
35 Dan Henning 1994–1996 35 21 13 1 0.614 9 11 1 0.452 1 0 0 0
36 Tom O'Brien 1997–2006 120 75 45 0.625 37 34 0.521 7 1 1
37 Jeff Jagodzinski 2007–2008 28 20 8 0.714 11 5 0.688 1 1 0
38 Frank Spaziani
[A 9]
2006
2009–2012
51 22 29 0.431 13 19 0.406 1 2 0
39 Steve Addazio 2013–2019 88 44 44 0.500 22 34 0.393 1 3 0
Int. Rich Gunnell
[A 10]
2019 1 0 1 .000 0 0 0 1 0
40 Jeff Hafley 2020–2023 48 22 26 0.458 12 22 0.353 1 0 0
41 Bill O'Brien 2024–Present 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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.[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. ^ Boston College did not field teams for the 1900 or 19031907 seasons.
  7. ^ Joe Kenney and Joe Reilly served as co-head coaches for the 1908 season.
  8. ^ Downes served as interim head coach after the resignation of Dinny McNamara for the final five games of the 1935 season.[5]
  9. ^ Spaziani served as interim head coach after the resignation of Tom O'Brien for the 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl.[6]
  10. ^ Gunnell served as interim head coach after Steve Addazio was fired for the 2020 Birmingham Bowl.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Boston College Names Bill O'Brien Head Football Coach". BCEeagles.com. February 9, 2024. Retrieved February 9, 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. ^ "Coach M'Namara to quit; Downes is expected to replace ailing Boston College mentor" (PDF). The New York Times. Associated Press. October 30, 1935. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  6. ^ "Spaziani replaces Jagodzinski". ESPN.com. Associated Press. January 13, 2009. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  7. ^ "Boston College turns to Rich Gunnell as interim coach". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 2, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2023.