List of Kentucky Wildcats head football coaches

B&W image of man standing wearing a hat, white shirt and non-bowtie.
Jerry Claiborne is one of two Kentucky coaches to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

The Kentucky Wildcats college football team represents the University of Kentucky in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Wildcats compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 37 head coaches since it began play during the 1881 season.[1] On December 1, 2025, Will Stein was hired as Kentucky's 38th head coach.[2]

Through the 2025 season, Kentucky has played 1,358 games over 135 seasons.[3] Both the inaugural 1881 squad and the revived 1891 squad have unknown coaches according to university records in winning two games and losing three.[1] Since 1892, eight coaches have led the Wildcats in postseason bowl games: Bear Bryant, Fran Curci, Jerry Claiborne, Bill Curry, Hal Mumme, Rich Brooks, Joker Phillips[4] and Mark Stoops.

Two of those coaches also won conference championships: Bryant and Curci won a combined three as a member of the SEC.[5]

Stoops is the leader in both seasons coached, with 13, and all-time wins, with 72. Fran Curci was the previous leader with 9 seasons coached.[5] Bryant was the previous leader in games won, with 60 victories during his eight seasons with the program.[5] Jack Wright has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .875.[5] Bernie Shively has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .200.[5] Of the 36 different head coaches who have led the Wildcats, Bryant[6] and Jerry Claiborne[7] have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana.

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 Term Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DC
[A 6] 		CC NC Awards
1 A. M. Miller 1892 1 7 2 4 1 0.357 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 John A. Thompson 1893 1 8 5 2 1 0.687 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 W. P. Finney 1894 1 7 5 2 0 0.714 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 Charles B. Mason 1895 1 9 4 5 0 0.444 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 Dudley Short 1896 1 9 3 6 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
6 Lyman Eaton 1897 1 6 2 4 0 0.333 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 W. R. Bass 1898–1899 2 16 12 2 2 0.813 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
8 William H. Kiler 1900–1901 2 19 6 12 1 0.342 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
9 E. W. McLeod 1902 1 9 3 5 1 0.389 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
10 Jack Wright 1903 1 8 7 1 0 0.875 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
11 Fred Schacht 1904–1905 2 20 15 4 1 0.775 — — — — — — — — — 0 —
12 J. White Guyn 1906–1908 3 25 17 7 1 0.700 1 4 1 0.250 — — — — 0 0 —
13 Edwin Sweetland 1909–1910
1912 		2, 1 28 23 5 0 0.821 4 0 0 1.000 — — — — 0 0 —
14 Prentiss Douglass 1911 1 10 7 3 0 0.700 1 1 0 0.500 — — — — 0 0 —
15 Alpha Brumage 1913–1914 2 16 11 5 0 0.688 1 2 0 0.333 — — — — 0 0 —
16 John J. Tigert 1915–1916 2 15 10 2 3 0.767 3 2 3 0.563 — — — — 0 0 —
17 Stanley A. Boles 1917 1 9 3 5 1 0.389 1 5 0 0.167 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
18 Andrew Gill 1918–1919 2 11 5 5 1 0.500 4 2 1 0.643 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
19 William Juneau 1920–1922 3 25 13 10 2 0.560 3 8 2 0.308 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
20 Jack Winn 1923 1 9 4 3 2 0.556 0 2 2 0.250 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
21 Fred J. Murphy 1924–1926 3 27 12 14 1 0.463 7 9 1 0.441 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
22 Harry Gamage 1927–1933 7 62 32 25 5 0.556 21 23 4 0.479 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
23 Chet A. Wynne 1934–1937 4 39 20 19 0 0.513 5 14 0 0.236 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
24 A. D. Kirwan 1938–1944 7 56 24 28 4 0.464 4 22 3 0.190 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
25 Bernie Shively 1945 1 10 2 8 0 0.200 0 5 0 .000 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
26 Bear Bryant† 1946–1953 8 88 60 23 5 0.710 25 19 4 0.563 3 1 0 — 1 1 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1950)[12]
27 Blanton Collier 1954–1961 8 80 41 36 3 0.531 21 34 3 0.388 0 0 0 — 0 0 SEC Coach of the Year (1954)[12]
28 Charlie Bradshaw 1962–1968 7 70 25 41 4 0.386 11 25 2 0.316 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
29 John Ray 1969–1972 4 43 10 33 0 0.233 4 24 0 0.143 0 0 0 — 0 0 —
30 Fran Curci 1973–1981 9 100 47 51 2 0.480 25 30 0 0.455 1 0 0 — 2 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1977)[12]
31 Jerry Claiborne† 1982–1989 8 90 41 46 3 0.472 13 37 0 0.260 1 1 0 — 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (1983)[12]
32 Bill Curry 1990–1996 7 78 26 52 0 0.333 14 40 0 0.259 0 1 0 0 0 0 —
33 Hal Mumme 1997–2000 4 46 20 26 — 0.435 10 22 — 0.313 0 2 0 0 0 0 —
34 Guy Morriss 2001–2002 2 23 9 14 — 0.391 4 12 — 0.250 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
35 Rich Brooks 2003–2009 7 86 39 47 — 0.453 16 39 — 0.291 3 1 0 0 0 0 —
36 Joker Phillips 2010–2012 3 37 13 24 — 0.351 4 20 — 0.167 0 1 0 0 0 0 —
37 Mark Stoops[13] 2013–2025 13 152 72 80 — 0.474 38 68 — 0.358 4 3 0 0 0 0 AP SEC Coach of the Year (2018)[12]
38 Will Stein 2026–present 1 0 0 0 — – 0 0 — – 0 0 0 0 0 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.[8]
  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.[9]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[10]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ Divisional champions have advanced to the SEC Championship Game since the institution of divisional play beginning in the 1992 season. Since that time, Kentucky has competed as a member of the East Division of the SEC.[11]

References

General

  • "Kentucky Coaching Records". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  • Kentucky Football Media Guide (PDF). Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky Athletics Department. 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

Specific

  1. ^ a b Kentucky Football Media Guide, p. 177
  2. ^ Uggetti, Paolo (December 1, 2025). "Kentucky hires Oregon OC Will Stein as next head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 21, 2026.
  3. ^ "NCAA Statistics – Year By Year History (Kentucky)". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
  4. ^ Kentucky Football Media Guide, p. 141
  5. ^ a b c d e Kentucky Football Media Guide, pp. 190–196
  6. ^ "Paul "Bear" Bryant". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  7. ^ "Jerry Claiborne". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Harwell, Hoyt (November 30, 1990). "SEC sets division lineups". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 1C. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  12. ^ a b c d e Kentucky Football Media Guide, p. 146
  13. ^ "Mark Stoops hired by Kentucky". ESPN. November 27, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.