List of Richmond Spiders head football coaches

Mike London led the Spiders to their lone national championship as head coach in 2008.

The Richmond Spiders college football team represents the University of Richmond in the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference (CAAFC), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 36 head coaches and one interim head coach since it began play during the 1881 season. Since December 2016, Russ Huesman has served as head coach at Richmond.[1]

Seven coaches have led Richmond in postseason playoff or bowl games: Frank Jones, Dal Shealy, Jim Reid, Dave Clawson, Mike London, Danny Rocco, and Huesman. Eleven coaches have won conference championships: Fred Vail won one and Frank Dobson won three as a member of the Eastern Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association; Dobson won two and Glenn Thistlethwaite won one as a member of the Virginia Conference; Jones won three and Jim Tait won one as a member of the Southern Conference; Shealy won one as a member of the Yankee Conference; Reid won two and Clawson won one as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference; Clawson and London each won one and Rocco won two as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association; and Huesman won one as a member of the CAAFC. London also won an NCAA Division I Football Championship in 2008.

Dobson is the leader in seasons coached, with 20 years as head coach and in games coached (175) and won (79). M. C. Taylor has the highest winning percentage of those who have coaced more than one game at 1.000. C. T. Taylor has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000.

Key

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

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 DC CC NC Awards
1 M. C. Taylor 1881 2 2 0 0 1.000 0
2 C. M. Hazen 1882
1885–1886
1888
8 4 4 0 0.500 0
3 H. R. Hundley 1887 2 1 1 0 0.500 0
4 Frank Johnson 1889 3 1 2 0 0.333 0
5 C. T. Taylor 1890 3 0 3 0 .000 0
6 Dana Rucker 1891
1893–1895
19 3 13 3 0.237 0
7 Penwick Shelton 1892 5 2 3 0 0.400 0
8 Bill Wertenbaker 1897 8 3 5 0 0.375 0
9 Oscar Lee Owens 1898 7 3 3 1 0.500 0
10 Julien Hill 1899 4 2 2 0 0.500 0
11 Ed Kenna 1900 7 3 4 0 0.429 0
12 Garnett Nelson 1901 8 1 7 0 0.125 0
13 Graham Hobson 1902 6 3 3 0 0.500 0
14 Fred Vail 1903 10 6 3 1 0.650 3 0 0 1.000 1 0
15 Harry Wall 1904 6 1 5 0 0.167 0 2 0 .000 0 0
16 E. A. Dunlap 1905–1909
1912
57 19 33 5 0.377 11 12 2 0.480 0 0
17 E. V. Long 1910 8 1 6 1 0.188 0 3 0 .000 0 0
18 Sam Honaker 1911 8 0 6 2 0.125 0 3 0 .000 0 0
19 Frank Dobson 1913–1917
1919–1933
175 79 78 18 0.503 17 12 7 0.569 5 0
20 Robert C. Marshall 1918 5 3 1 1 0.700 1 0 0 1.000 0 0
21 Glenn Thistlethwaite 1934–1941 76 41 26 9 0.599 15 19 3 0.446 1 0
22 John Fenlon 1942
1946–1947
30 12 15 3 0.450 5 12 2 0.316 0 0
23 Malcolm Pitt 1943–1944 15 8 7 0 0.533 1 5 0 0.167 0 0
24 George Hope 1945 8 2 6 0 0.250 0 4 0 .000 0 0
25 Karl Esleeck 1948–1950 30 10 18 2 0.367 6 17 1 0.271 0 0
26 Ed Merrick 1951–1965 146 53 87 6 0.384 33 52 5 0.394 0 0
27 Frank Jones 1966–1973 82 44 38 0 0.537 36 13 0 0.735 1 1 0 3 0
28 Jim Tait 1974–1979 65 21 44 0 0.323 8 4 0 0.667 0 0 0 1 0
29 Dal Shealy 1980–1988 100 43 57 0 0.430 11 11 0 0.500 1 2 0 1 0
30 Jim Marshall 1989–1994 66 19 47 0 0.288 12 36 0 0.250 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 Jim Reid 1995–2003 102 48 53 1 0.475 35 40 0 0.467 1 2 0 2 2 0 Yankee Coach of Year (1995)
A-10 Coach of Year (1998, 2000)
32 Dave Clawson 2004–2007 49 29 20 0.592 18 14 0.563 3 2 2 2 0 I-AA.org National Coach of the Year (2005)
33 Mike London 2008–2009 29 24 5 0.828 13 3 0.813 5 1 1 1 1 – 2008 AFCA FCS Coach of the Year (2008)
BCA National Coach of the Year (2008)
34 Latrell Scott 2010 11 6 5 0.545 4 4 0.500 0 0 0 0
Int Wayne Lineburg
[A 7]
2011 11 3 8 0.273 0 8 .000 0 0 0 0
35 Danny Rocco 2012–2016 65 43 22 0.662 26 14 0.650 5 3 2 0 CAA Coach of the Year (2015)
36 Russ Huesman 2017–present 75 42 33 0.560 29 22 0.569 2 2 2 0

Notes

  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 FCS football season.
  6. ^ Richmond did not field a team for their 1883, 1884, and 1896 seasons.
  7. ^ After Latrell Scott resigned just priar to the start of the season, Lineburg served as interim head coach for the 2011 season.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Richmond hires Chattanooga's Huesman as new football coach". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 14, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 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. ^ "Spiders' Latrell Scott out; interim named". ESPN.com. Associated Press. August 23, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2024.