List of Ohio State Buckeyes head football coaches

The Ohio State Buckeyes college football team represents the Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 25 coaches since it began play during the 1890 season. The Buckeyes have played over 1,200 games over 125 seasons. In those seasons, nine head coaches have led the Buckeyes to postseason bowl games: John Wilce, Wes Fesler, Woody Hayes, Earle Bruce, John Cooper, Jim Tressel, Luke Fickell, Urban Meyer, and Ryan Day. 13 coaches have won conference championships with the Buckeyes: Albert Herrnstein, John Richards, Wilce, Francis Schmidt, Paul Brown, Carroll Widdoes, Fesler, Hayes, Bruce, Cooper, Tressel, Meyer, and Day. Five coaches led the Buckeyes to national championships: Brown, Hayes, Tressel, Meyer, and Day. Hayes is the all-time leader in games coached and years coached with the Buckeyes, while also leading all coaches in victories (205). Meyer currently holds the highest winning percentage of all Buckeye coaches (.902), with a record of 83–9 through seven seasons. David Edwards holds the lowest winning percentage of any Buckeye head coach (.167), going 1–7–1 in the only season that he coached. Of the 24 Buckeye head coaches, Howard Jones, Wilce, Schmidt, Fesler, Hayes, Bruce, Cooper, Tressel, and Meyer have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The previous head coach of the Buckeyes was Urban Meyer who was hired in November 2011 and then announced December 4, 2018, he would retire following the Rose Bowl. Ryan Day then became the new coach of the Buckeyes.

Key

+General # Number of coaches DCs Divisional championships CCs Conference championships NCs National championships † Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

+ Overall GC Games coached OW Wins OL Losses OT Ties O% Winning percentage

+ ConferenceCWWins CL Losses CT Ties C% Winning percentage

+ Postseason PW Wins PL Losses PT Ties

Coaches # Name Term GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL CCs DCs NCs National awards 1 1890–1891 8 3 5 — — — — — — —— — — 2 1892–1895, 1898 46 22 22 1 — — — — — — —— — — 3 1896 11 5 5 1 — — — — — — —— — — 4 1897 9 1 7 1 — — — — — — —— — — 5 1899–1901 29 22 4 3 — — — — — — —— — — 6 1902–1903 21 14 5 2 5 2 0 — — —— — — 7 1904–1905 23 14 7 2 4 1 1 — — —— — — 8 1906–1909 39 28 10 1 17 6 1 — — 1— — — 9 † 1910 10 6 1 3 5 1 2 — — —— — — 10 1911 10 5 3 2 4 1 2 — — —— — — 11 1912 9 6 3 0 5 0 0 — — 1— — — 12 † 1913–1928 120 78 33 9 37 30 4 0 1 3— — — 13 1929–1933 41 26 10 5 14 8 4 — — —— — — 14 † 1934–1940 56 39 16 1 30 9 1 — — 2— — — 15 1941–1943 27 18 8 1 9 6 1 — — 1— 1 – 1942 — 16 1944–1945 18 16 2 0 11 2 0 — — 1— — 17 1946 9 4 3 2 2 3 1 — — —— — — 18 † 1947–1950 37 21 13 3 13 10 2 1 0 1— — — 19 † 1951–1978 276 205 61 10 152 37 7 5 6 13— 5 – 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970 20 † 1979–1987 108 81 26 1 57 17 0 5 3 4— — Woody Hayes Trophy (1979) 21 † 1988–2000 158 111 43 4 70 30 4 3 8 3— — — 22 2001–2010 128 94 22 — 59 14 — 5 4 6— 1 – 2002 Woody Hayes Trophy (2002) Int 2011 13 6 7 — 3 5 — 0 1 —— — — 23 2012–201892839 —.902544 —.9315237 1 – 2014Woody Hayes Trophy (2012)24 2019–present948212 — 545 —44231 — 2024—

See also List of Sports Coaches From Youngstown, Ohio

Notes

References