The California Golden Bears college football team represents the University of California, Berkeley in the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). The Golden Bears compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 34 head coaches since it began play during the 1886 season. As of 2017, Justin Wilcox is the head football coach of California Golden Bears.[1]

Jeff Tedford (2002–12) is the leader in seasons coached (11), games won (82), and bowl appearances (8). Pappy Waldorf (1948–56) led the team to three Rose Bowl games from 1948 to 1950. Andy Smith (1916–25) has the highest win percentage (.799) of any coach (minimum 3 seasons).

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
[A 6] 		Season(s)
[A 7] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Oscar S. Howard 1886 9 6 2 1 0.722 — — — — — — — — — —
2 Lee McClung 1892 4 2 1 1 0.625 — — — — — — — — — —
3 Pudge Heffelfinger 1893 7 5 1 1 0.786 — — — — — — — — — —
4 Charles O. Gill 1894 3 0 1 2 0.333 — — — — — — — — — —
5 Frank Butterworth 1895–1896 15 9 3 3 0.700 — — — — — — — — — —
6 Charles P. Nott 1897 5 0 3 2 0.200 — — — — — — — — — —
7 Garrett Cochran† 1898–1899 19 15 1 3 0.868 — — — — — — — — — —
8 Addison Kelly 1900 7 4 2 1 0.643 — — — — — — — — — —
9 Frank W. Simpson 1901 10 9 0 1 0.950 — — — — — — — — — —
10 James Whipple 1902–1903 17 14 1 2 0.882 — — — — — — — — — —
11 James Hopper 1904 8 6 1 1 0.813 — — — — — — — — — —
12 J. W. Knibbs 1905 7 4 1 2 0.714 — — — — — — — — — —
13 Jimmie Schaeffer 1915 13 8 5 0 0.615 — — — — — — — — — —
14 Andy Smith† 1916–1925 97 74 16 7 0.799 26 8 2 0.750 1 0 1 5 4
1920
1921
1922
1923 		—
15 Nibs Price 1926–1930 47 27 17 3 0.606 10 13 2 0.440 0 1 0 0 — —
16 Bill Ingram† 1931–1934 45 27 14 4 0.644 11 7 3 0.595 0 0 0 0 — —
17 Stub Allison 1935–1944 102 58 42 2 0.578 34 27 2 0.556 1 0 0 3 1
1937 		—
18 Buck Shaw 1945 10 4 5 1 0.450 2 4 1 0.357 0 0 0 0 — —
19 Frank Wickhorst 1946 9 2 7 0 0.222 1 6 0 0.143 0 0 0 0 — —
20 Pappy Waldorf† 1947–1956 103 67 32 4 0.670 40 21 4 0.646 0 3 0 3 — —
21 Pete Elliott† 1957–1959 31 10 21 0 0.323 8 10 0 0.444 0 1 0 1 — —
22 Marv Levy 1960–1963 40 8 29 3 0.238 3 13 0 0.188 0 0 0 0 — —
23 Ray Willsey 1964–1971 83 40 42 1 0.488 18 25 1 0.420 0 0 0 0 — —
24 Mike White 1972–1977 66 35 30 1 0.538 21 19 1 0.524 0 0 0 1 — —
25 Roger Theder 1978–1981 45 17 28 0 0.378 13 19 0 0.406 0 1 0 0 — —
26 Joe Kapp 1982–1986 55 20 34 1 0.373 12 30 1 0.291 0 0 0 0 — —
27 Bruce Snyder 1987–1991 57 29 24 4 0.544 15 19 4 0.447 2 0 0 0 — —
28 Keith Gilbertson 1992–1995 46 20 26 0 0.435 11 21 0 0.344 1 0 0 0 — —
29 Steve Mariucci 1996 12 6 6 — 0.500 3 5 — 0.375 0 1 — 0 — —
30 Tom Holmoe
[A 8] 		1997–2001 51 12 39 — 0.235 6 31 — 0.162 0 0 — 0 — —
31 Jeff Tedford 2002–2012 139 82 57 — 0.590 50 45 — 0.526 5 3 — 1 — —
32 Sonny Dykes 2013–2016 49 19 30 — 0.388 10 26 — 0.278 1 0 — 0 — —
33 Justin Wilcox 2017–present 72 36 42 — 0.462 21 37 — 0.362 1 1 — 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 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ California did not have a head coach for their 1882–1884, 1887–1888, and 1890–1892 seasons.
  7. ^ From 1906 to 1914, rugby was played instead of football and Oscar Taylor served as head coach, from 1906 to 1908. Jimmie Schaeffer, coached rugby from 1909 to 1914 and football in 1915. California also did not field teams for their 1889 season
  8. ^ Under Holmoe, Cal finished 4–7 (3–5 in conference) in 1999, but later vacated the wins due to use of ineligible players.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Justin Wilcox Named California Head Football Coach". Cal Athletics. January 14, 2017.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived from the original on August 22, 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 November 24, 2009. 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 October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  5. ^ "Forfeits and Vacated Games". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
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