The NC State Wolfpack college football team represents North Carolina State University (NC State) in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Wolfpack compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 36 head coaches since it began play during the 1892 season. Since December 2012, Dave Doeren has served as head coach at NC State.[1]

Ten coaches have led NC State in postseason bowl games: Beattie Feathers, Earle Edwards, Lou Holtz, Bo Rein, Dick Sheridan, Mike O'Cain, Chuck Amato, Tom O'Brien, Dana Bible, and Doeren. Five of those coaches also won conference championships: Edward L. Greene captured one as a member of the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association; Gus Tebell captured one as a member of the Southern Conference; and Edwards captured five, Holtz one, and Rein one as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Edwards is the leader in seasons coached with 17 years as head coach and games won with 77. Mickey Whitehurst has the highest winning percentage at 0.893. John Van Liew and Horace Hendrickson have the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.200. Of the 36 different head coaches who have led the Wolfpack, Willie Heston, Buck Shaw, John "Clipper" Smith, Hunk Anderson, Holtz, and Sheridan have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1
3 		Perrin Busbee 1892
1896–1897 		5 3 2 0 0.600 — — — — — — — — — —
2 Bart Gatling 1893–1895 9 4 4 1 0.500 — — — — — — — — — —
4 W. C. Riddick 1898–1899 6 1 3 2 0.300 — — — — — — — — — —
5 John McKee 1900–1901 12 2 6 4 0.333 — — — — — — — — — —
6 Art Devlin 1902–1903 17 7 8 2 0.471 — — — — — — — — — —
7 Willis Kienholz 1904 6 3 1 2 0.667 — — — — — — — — — —
8 George S. Whitney 1905 6 4 1 1 0.750 — — — — — — — — — —
9 Willie Heston† 1906 8 3 1 4 0.625 — — — — — — — — — —
10 Mickey Whitehurst 1907–1908 14 12 1 1 0.893 — — — — — — — — — —
11 Edward L. Greene 1909–1913 35 25 8 2 0.743 2 2 0 0.500 — — — 1 — —
12 Jack Hegarty 1914–1915 13 5 6 2 0.462 0 4 1 0.100 — — — 0 — —
13 Britain Patterson 1916 7 2 5 0 0.286 0 4 0 .000 — — — 0 — —
14
17 		Harry Hartsell 1917
1921–1923 		38 16 18 4 0.474 4 11 4 0.316 — — — 0 — —
15 Tal Stafford 1918 4 1 3 0 0.250 0 1 0 .000 — — — 0 — —
16 Bill Fetzer 1919–1920 19 14 5 0 0.737 7 3 0 0.700 — — — 0 — —
18 Buck Shaw† 1924 10 2 6 2 0.300 1 4 1 0.250 — — — 0 — —
19 Gus Tebell 1925–1929 48 21 25 2 0.458 5 16 2 0.261 — — — 1 — —
20 John Van Liew 1930 10 2 8 0 0.200 1 5 0 0.167 — — — 0 — —
21 John "Clipper" Smith† 1931–1933 27 10 12 5 0.463 5 9 1 0.367 — — — 0 — —
22 Hunk Anderson† 1934–1936 29 11 17 1 0.397 5 9 1 0.367 — — — 0 — —
23 Williams Newton 1937–1943 69 24 39 6 0.391 19 24 6 0.449 — — — 0 — —
24 Beattie Feathers 1944–1951 78 37 38 3 0.494 24 28 3 0.464 0 1 0 0 — —
25 Horace Hendrickson 1952–1953 20 4 16 0 0.200 2 7 0 0.222 0 0 0 0 — —
26 Earle Edwards 1954–1970 173 77 88 8 0.468 55 45 5 0.548 1 1 0 5 — —
27 Al Michaels 1971 11 3 8 0 0.273 2 5 0 0.286 0 0 0 0 — —
28 Lou Holtz† 1972–1975 48 33 12 3 0.719 16 5 2 0.739 2 1 1 1 — —
29 Bo Rein 1976–1979 46 27 18 1 0.598 15 8 0 0.652 2 0 0 1 — —
30 Monte Kiffin 1980–1982 33 16 17 0 0.485 8 10 0 0.444 0 0 0 0 — —
31 Tom Reed 1983–1985 33 9 24 0 0.273 4 17 0 0.190 0 0 0 0 — —
32 Dick Sheridan† 1986–1992 84 52 29 3 0.637 31 18 1 0.630 2 4 0 0 — —
33 Mike O'Cain 1993–1999 81 41 40 0 0.506 26 30 0 0.464 1 2 0 0 — —
34 Chuck Amato 2000–2006 86 49 37 — 0.570 25 31 — 0.446 4 1 — 0 — —
35 Tom O'Brien 2007–2012 75 40 35 — 0.533 22 26 — 0.458 2 1 — 0 — —
Int. Dana Bible
[A 6] 		2012 1 0 1 — .000 0 0 — – 0 1 — 0 — —
36 Dave Doeren 2013–present 126 78 54 — 0.591 38 44 — 0.463 3 4 — 0 — —

[6]

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 FCS football season.
  6. ^ Bible served as interim head coach of the Wolfpack for the 2012 Music City Bowl after Tom O'Brien was fired at the conclusion of the 2012 regular season.[5]

References

  1. ^ Adelson, Andrea (December 1, 2012). "NC State hires Dave Doeren". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  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. ^ Adelson, Andrea (November 25, 2012). "NC State fires Tom O'Brien". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  6. ^ "North Carolina State Wolfpack School History". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
Categories