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List of Houston Cougars head football coaches

This List of Houston Cougars head football coaches includes those coaches who have led the Houston Cougars football team that represents the University of Houston in the sport of American football. The Houston Cougars currently compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and have been members of the Big 12 Conference since the 2023 season. Eighteen men have served as the Cougars' head coach, including two who served as interim head coaches, since the Cougars began play in the fall of 1946.[1] Willie Fritz was named head coach on December 3, 2023.

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

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Note: Through 2024 season.

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records and championships[A 5]
No. Name Term GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT DCs
[A 6] 		CCs NCs
1 Jewell Wallace 1946–1947 21 7 14 0 0.333 1 10 0 0.091 — — — — 0 0
2 Clyde Lee 1948–1954 71 37 32 2 0.535 13 10 0 0.565 1 0 0 — 1 0
3 Bill Meek 1955–1956 20 13 6 1 0.675 6 2 0 0.750 — — — — 1 0
4 Hal Lahar 1957–1961 49 24 23 2 0.510 8 3 0 0.727 — — — — 2 0
5 Bill Yeoman† 1962–1986 276 160 108 8 0.594 51 35 2 0.591 6 4 1 — 4 0
6 Jack Pardee† 1987–1989 34 22 11 1 0.662 13 8 1 0.614 0 1 0 — 0 0
7 John Jenkins 1990–1992 33 18 15 0 0.545 12 11 0 0.522 — — — — 0 0
8 Kim Helton 1993–1999 78 24 53 1 0.314 15 28 1 0.352 0 1 — — 1 0
9 Dana Dimel 2000–2002 34 8 26 — 0.235 5 17 — 0.227 — — — — 0 0
10 Art Briles 2003–2007 62 34 28 — 0.548 24 16 — 0.600 0 3 — 2 1 0
Int. Chris Thurmond[A 7] 2007 1 0 1 — .000 — — — — 0 1 — 0 0 0
11 Kevin Sumlin 2008–2011 52 35 17 — 0.673 24 8 — 0.750 1 1 — 2 0 0
12 Tony Levine[A 8] 2011–2014 38 21 17 — 0.553 14 10 — 0.583 1 1 — 0 0 0
Int. David Gibbs 2014 1 1 0 — 1.000 — — — — 1 0 — 0 0 0
13 Tom Herman[7] 2015–2016 26 22 4 — 0.846 12 4 — 0.750 1 0 — 1 1 0
14 Major Applewhite[A 9] 2016–2018 26 15 11 — 0.577 10 6 — 0.625 0 3 — 1 0 0
15 Dana Holgorsen 2019–2023 59 31 28 — 0.525 20 19 — 0.513 2 1 — 0 0 0
16 Willie Fritz 2024–present 12 4 8 — 0.333 3 6 — 0.333 0 0 — 0 0 0
Totals 893 476 402 15 0.541 13 16 1 6 11 0

Remark: Not included in the above listing is Todd Orlando, who was designated interim head coach for a brief period in 2016 but did not coach any games.

See also

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Notes

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  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 updated through December 2018.
  6. ^ Conference USA reorganized itself into two divisions in 2005. Under the C-USA format, the two divisional champions advance to the Conference USA Championship Game to determine the conference champion.
  7. ^ Chris Thurmond served as interim head coach for the 2007 Texas Bowl after Art Briles resigned his position to take the head coach position with the Baylor Bears.[5]
  8. ^ Tony Levine served as interim head coach for the 2012 TicketCity Bowl after Kevin Sumlin resigned his position to take the head coach position with the Texas A&M Aggies.[6]
  9. ^ Major Applewhite served as head coach for the 2016 Las Vegas Bowl after Tom Herman resigned his position to take the head coach position with the Texas Longhorns.

References

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  1. ^ 2008 Houston Cougars Football Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Houston Tx. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  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. ^ "Thurmond named interim coach after Briles bolts for Baylor". ESPN.com. Associated Press. November 28, 2007. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  6. ^ Kahn, Sam Jr. (December 10, 2011). "Sumlin leaves post as UH head coach". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  7. ^ "Report: Houston to name Buckeyes QB whisperer Tom Herman head coach". December 15, 2014.
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