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The Penn State Nittany Lions football program is a college football team that represents Penn State University, a part of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team has had 16 head coaches serving 17 different terms since its first recorded football game in 1887.

Key

General Overall Conference Postseason
No Order of Coaches 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 C% Conference Winning Percentage
+ Elected to College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall Winning Percentage

Coaches

# Name Term GC GW GL GT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CCs DCs NCs National Awards
0 No Coach 1887-1891 21 12 8 1 .595 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
1 George W. Hoskins 1892-1895 25 17 4 4 .760 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
2 Samuel B. Newton 1896-1898 26 12 14 0 .462 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
3 Sam Boyle 1899 11 4 6 1 .409 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
4 Pop Golden 1900-1902 29 16 12 1 .569 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
5 Daniel A. Reed 1903 8 5 3 0 .625 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
6 Tom Fennell 1904-1908 51 33 17 1 .657 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
7 Bill Hollenbeck+ 1909, 1911-1914 41 28 9 4 .732 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 2
8 Jack Hollenbeck 1910 8 5 2 1 .688 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
9 Dick Harlow+ 1915-1917 28 20 8 0 .714 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
10 Hugo Bezdek+ 1918-1929 106 65 30 11 .665 ---- ---- ---- ---- 0 1 0 ---- ---- 0
11 Bob Higgins+ 1930-1948 159 91 57 11 .607 ---- ---- ---- ---- 0 0 1 ---- ---- 0
12 Joe Bedenk 1949 9 5 4 0 .556 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 0
13 Rip Engle+ 1950-1965 156 104 48 4 .679 ---- ---- 3 1 0 ---- ---- 0 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1969)
14 Joe Paterno+ 1966-2011 548 409 136 3 .749 95 64 0 .597 24 12 1 3 0 2 Sports Illustrated Man of the Year (1986)

AFCA Coach of the Year (1968, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2005)

Walter Camp Coach of the Year (1972, 1994, 2005)

Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1978, 1982, 1986)

Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (1986)

George Munger Award (1990, 1994, 2005)

Amos Alonso Stagg Award (2002)

Home Depot Coach of the Year (2005)

Sporting News Coach of the Year (2005)

Big Ten Coach of the Year (1994, 2005, 2008)

– Tom Bradley (Int) 2011 4 1 3 0 .250 1 2 0 0.333 0 1 0 0 1 0
15 Bill O'Brien 2012-2014 24 15 9 0 .625 10 6 0 .625 0 0 0 0 0 0 Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (2012)

Big Ten Coach of the Year (2012 - Media & Coaches)

Maxwell Coach of the Year (2012)

AT&T-ESPN Coach of the Year (2012)

16 James Franklin 2014-Present 126 88 38 0 .698 56 32 0 .636 4 4 0 1 1 0 Woody Hayes Coach of the Year (2016)

Dave McClain Coach of the Year (2016)

Sporting News Coach of the Year (2016)

Big Ten Coach of the Year (2016 - Media)

References

Categories