A color photograph of Don Nehlen in a white suit
Don Nehlen both coached in and won the most games as head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The West Virginia Mountaineers college football team represents West Virginia University in the Big 12 Conference (Big 12). The Mountaineers competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 35 head coaches since it began play during the 1891 season. Since January 2019, Neal Brown has served as West Virginia's head coach.[1]

Through the end of the 2022 season, the Mountaineers have competed in 1,336 games and compiled an overall record of 771 wins, 520 losses, and 46 ties. In that time, 12 coaches have led the Mountaineers in postseason bowl games: Clarence Spears, Marshall Glenn, Dudley DeGroot, Art Lewis, Gene Corum, Jim Carlen, Bobby Bowden, Don Nehlen, Rich Rodriguez, Bill Stewart, Dana Holgorsen, and Brown. Seven of those coaches also won conference championships: Lewis captured five, Corum two, and Carlen one as a member of the Southern Conference; Rodriguez captured four and Nehlen, Stewart, and Holgorsen each captured one as a member of the Big East Conference.

Nehlen is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 149 victories during his 21 years with the program. Harry E. Trout has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .857. Thomas Trenchard has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .333. Of the 35 different head coaches who have led the Mountaineers, Spears, Ira Rodgers, Greasy Neale, Bowden, and Nehlen 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)
[A 6] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Frederick Lincoln Emory 1891 1 0 1 0 .000 — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 F. William Rane 1893–1894 7 4 3 0 0.571 — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 Harry McCrory 1895 6 5 1 0 0.833 — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 Thomas Trenchard 1896 12 3 7 2 0.333 — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 George Krebs 1897 10 5 4 1 0.550 — — — — — — — — 0 —
6 Harry Anderson 1898 7 6 1 0 0.857 — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 & 9 Lewis Yeager 1899
1901 		10 5 5 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
8 John Ethan Hill 1900 7 4 3 0 0.571 — — — — — — — — 0 —
10 Harold J. Davall 1902 11 7 4 0 0.636 — — — — — — — — 0 —
11 Harry E. Trout 1903 8 7 1 0 0.875 — — — — — — — — 0 —
12 Anthony Chez 1904 9 6 3 0 0.667 — — — — — — — — 0 —
13 Carl Forkum 1905–1906 19 13 6 0 0.684 — — — — — — — — 0 —
14 Clarence W. Russell 1907 10 6 4 0 0.600 — — — — — — — — 0 —
15 Charles Augustus Lueder 1908–1911 33 17 13 3 0.561 — — — — — — — — 0 —
16 William P. Edmunds 1912 9 6 3 0 0.667 — — — — — — — — 0 —
17 Edwin Sweetland 1913 9 3 4 2 0.444 — — — — — — — — 0 —
18 Sol Metzger 1914–1915 17 10 6 1 0.618 — — — — — — — — 0 —
19 Mont McIntire 1916–1917
1919–1920 		39 24 11 4 0.667 — — — — — — — — 0 —
20 Clarence Spears† 1921–1924 39 30 6 3 0.808 — — — — 1 0 0 — 0 —
21 & 26 Ira Rodgers† 1925–1930
1943–1945 		80 41 31 8 0.563 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
22 Greasy Neale† 1931–1933 31 12 16 3 0.435 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
23 Charles Tallman 1934–1936 29 15 12 2 0.552 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
24 Marshall Glenn 1937–1939 29 14 12 3 0.534 — — — — 1 0 0 — 0 —
25 & 27 Bill Kern 1940–1942
1946–1947 		48 24 23 1 0.510 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
28 Dudley DeGroot 1948–1949 23 13 9 1 0.587 — — — — 1 0 0 — 0 —
29 Art Lewis 1950–1959 98 58 38 2 0.602 33 9 0 0.786 0 1 0 5 0 —
30 Gene Corum 1960–1965 61 29 30 2 0.492 18 4 1 0.804 0 1 0 2 0 —
31 Jim Carlen 1966–1969 41 25 13 3 0.646 6 0 1 0.929 1 0 0 1 0 —
32 Bobby Bowden† 1970–1975 68 42 26 0 0.618 — — — — 1 1 0 — 0 —
33 Frank Cignetti Sr. 1976–1979 44 17 27 0 0.386 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
34 Don Nehlen† 1980–2000 246 149 93 4 0.614 39 29 1 0.572 4 9 0 1 0 Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award (1988)
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1988)
AFCA Coach of the Year (1988)
35 Rich Rodriguez 2001–2007 86 60 26 — 0.698 34 14 — 0.708 2 3 — 4 0 —
36 Bill Stewart 2008–2010 40 28 12 — 0.700 15 6 — 0.714 2 2 — 1 0 —
37 Dana Holgorsen 2011–2018 102 61 41 — 0.598 38 32 — 0.543 2 5 — 1 0 —
38 Neal Brown 2019–present 60 31 29 — 0.517 20 24 — 0.455 2 1 — 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.[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 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ West Virginia did not field teams for the 1892 and 1918 seasons.

References

  1. ^ Schlabach, Mark (January 4, 2019). "Mountaineers hire Neal Brown to be new coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 8, 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.
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