List of West Alabama Tigers head football coaches

The West Alabama Tigers college football team represents the University of West Alabama[A 1] in the Gulf South Conference (GSC). The Tigers compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division II. The program has had 20 head coaches since it began play during the 1938 season.[1] Since December 2013, Brett Gilliland has served as West Alabama's head coach.[2]

The team has played nearly 700 games over 71 seasons of West Alabama football.[1] In that time, five coaches have led the Tigers to postseason appearances: Morris Higginbotham, Mickey Andrews, Jim King, Bobby Wallace and Hall.[1] Hall led the Tigers to their first outright Gulf South championship in 2012.[3] Andrews won West Alabama's lone national championship in 1971 as a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.[4]

Gilliland is the leader in seasons coached with eight years with the program and the leader in games won with 52 and Andrews has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .750.[1] Robert Cire has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .100.[1] Will Hall led the Tigers to both of their GSC championships.[5] Of the 22 cehead coaches who have led the Tigers, Vaughn Mancha has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[6]

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 2]
No. Order of coaches[A 3] 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 4] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 5]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 6]
No. Name Term
[A 7] 		G W L T PCT CW CL CT PCT PW PL PT CCs NCs Awards
1 Paul Tubb 1938–1941 27 13 12 2 0.519 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
2 Fred McCollum 1946 6 4 2 0 0.667 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
3 C. A. Douglas 1947–1948 17 3 13 1 0.206 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
4 George Darrow 1949[A 8] 2 1 1 0 0.500 1 0 0 1.000 — — — 0 0 —
5 Vaughn Mancha† 1949–1951[A 8] 28 17 19 2 0.643 — — — — — — — 1 0 —
6 Bob Williams 1952 10 4 6 0 0.400 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
7 T. Ray Richeson 1953–1956 36 4 31 1 0.125 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
8 Robert Cire 1957–1959 25 2 22 1 0.100 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
9 Jim Garner 1957–1959 64 22 39 3 0.367 — — — — — — — 0 0 —
10 Morris Higginbotham 1967–1969 30 19 9 2 0.667 — — — — 0 1 0 0 0 —
11 Mickey Andrews 1970–1972 32 23 7 2 0.750 — — — — 2 1 0 0 1 – 1971 (NAIA) —
12 Jim King 1973–1976 44 29 14 1 0.670 20 11 1 0.641 1 1 0 0 0 —
13 Jack Crowe 1977–1978 20 5 15 0 0.250 2 13 0 0.133 0 0 0 0 0 —
14 Frank North 1979–1984 60 31 29 0 0.517 17 24 0 0.415 0 0 0 0 0 —
15 Sam McCorkle 1985–1990
2004–2005 		88 24 62 2 0.284 13 51 2 0.212 0 0 0 0 0 —
16 Lloyd Sisco 1991–1993 30 13 16 1 0.450 5 13 1 0.289 0 0 0 0 0 —
17 Todd Stroud 1994–1996 31 6 25 0 0.194 1 21 0 0.045 0 0 0 0 0 —
18 Bobby Johns 1997–2000 42 11 31 — 0.262 6 28 — 0.176 0 0 — 0 0 —
19 Randy Pippin 2001–2003 33 8 25 — 0.242 4 23 — 0.148 0 0 — 0 0 —
20 Bobby Wallace 2006–2010 56 26 30 — 0.464 15 25 — 0.375 1 1 — 0 0 —
21 Will Hall 2011–2013 36 25 11 — 0.694 11 3 — 0.786 1 2 — 2 0 —
22 Brett Gilliland 2014–present 103 62 41 — 0.602 37 31 — 0.544 1 2 — 1 0 —

Notes

  1. ^ Since 1939, what is now known as the University of West Alabama has also been known as: Livingston State Teachers College (1939–1957), Livingston State College (1957–1967) and Livingston University (1967–1995).
  2. ^ 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.[7]
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[8]
  5. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[9]
  6. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 college football season.
  7. ^ West Alabama did not field a team between 1942 and 1945 due to World War II.[10]
  8. ^ a b George Darrow served as head coach for Livingston State for the first two games of the 1949 season before he died of a heart attack on September 25.[11] Vaughn Mancha succeed him as head coach.[12]

References

General

  • West Alabama Coaching Records Archived 2012-11-15 at the Wayback Machine. College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  • 2011 UWA Football Record Book. West Alabama Sports Information. Livingston, Alabama: Issuu. 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2012.

Specific

  1. ^ a b c d e 2011 UWA Football Record Book, pp. 18–21
  2. ^ "West Alabama names record-setting quarterback Brett Gilliand as coach". NCAA.com. West Alabama Athletics. December 10, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  3. ^ "West Alabama wins first outright Gulf South Conference Championship". AL.com. November 8, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  4. ^ Carroll, Andrew (October 8, 2011). "Former coaches, players recall Livingston's 1971 NAIA championship". The Tuscaloosa News. TuscaloosaNews.com. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  5. ^ Champlin, Drew (November 21, 2013). "West Alabama's Will Hall to be named head coach at West Georgia". AL.com. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  6. ^ "Vaughn "Cisco" Mancha". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 2011 UWA Football Record Book, p. 18
  11. ^ "Florence Holds Livingston To 14-13 Victory". The Birmingham News. Birmingham, Alabama. October 23, 1949. p. C6. Retrieved March 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  12. ^ "Livingston Coach Dies Of Heart Attack". The Choctaw Advocate. Butler, Alabama. October 6, 1949. p. 1. Retrieved March 15, 2024 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.