Dubuque Spartans football

The Dubuque Spartans football team represents the University of Dubuque in college football at the NCAA Division III level. The Spartans are members of the American Rivers Conference (ARC), fielding its team in the ARC since 1929 when it was the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC). The Spartans play their home games at Chalmers Field in Dubuque, Iowa.^[2]

Dubuque Spartans football
First season	1909; 116 years ago (1909)
Athletic director	Dan Runkle
Head coach	Ryan Maiuri 2nd season, 5–5 (.500)
Stadium	Chalmers Field (capacity: 4,000)
Field surface	FieldTurf
Location	Dubuque, Iowa
NCAA division	Division III
Conference	ARC
Past conferences	HCC Independent
All-time record	387–498–29 (.439)
Playoff appearances	4
Conference titles	11
Colors	Blue and white[1]
Mascot	Spartan
Website	udspartans.com

Their head coach is Ryan Maiuri, who took over the position December 28,2023.^[3]

Conference affiliations

• Hawkeye College Conference (1914–1917)
• Independent (1918–1924)
• Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (1929–2017; rebranded)
• American Rivers Conference (2018–present)^[4]

Championships

Conference championships

Dubuque claims 11 conference titles, the most recent of which came in 2015.

Year	Conference	Overall Record	Conference Record	Coach
1915	Hawkeye College Conference	7–0	N/A	John Chalmers
1916		5–1	N/A
1917		5–0–1	N/A
1940	Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	7–1	7–0	Kenneth E. Mercer
1942		8–0	8–0
1948†		7–1	5–0
1978†		7–2	5–2	Don Birmingham
1979		9–1	7–0
1980		8–2–1	6–1
2011		9–2	7–1	Stan Zweifel
2015		8–3	7–0

† Co-champions

Postseason games

NCAA Division III playoff games

The Spartans have appeared in the Division III playoffs four times with an overall record of 0–4.

Season	Coach	Playoff	Opponent	Result
1979	Don Birmingham	Quarterfinals	Ithaca	L 0–37
1980		Quarterfinals	Minnesota Morris	L 35–41
2011	Stan Zweifel	First round	North Central (IL)	L 13–59
2015		First round	Saint John's (MN)	L 7–51

List of head coaches

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

No.	Name	Season(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	DC	CC	NC	Awards
1	Benson[8]	1909	7	4	2	1	0.643	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2	John Saathoff[8]	1912–1913	9	4	5	0	0.444	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
3	John Chalmers[9]	1914–1924	67	41	21	5	0.649	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
4	Clarence Peterson[8]	1929–1930	13	3	9	1	0.269	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
5	Austin Griffen[8]	1931–1933	20	2	18	0	0.100	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
6	John McCaffrie[10]	1934–1936	21	6	13	2	0.333	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
7	Paul Fitzke[11]	1937–1938	90	8	5	3	0.594	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
8	Kenneth Mercer[12]	1939–1942, 1945–1961	166	95	65	6	0.590	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
9	Owen Evans[8]	1962–1968	62	24	33	5	0.427	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
10	Maury Waugh[13]	1969–1974	56	16	21	2	0.436	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
11	Larry Pohlman[14]	1975–1976	20	4	14	2	0.250	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
12	Don Birmingham[15]	1977–1983	69	42	26	1	0.616	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
13	Myron Smith[8]	1984–1986	31	5	26	0	0.161	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
14	Don Turner[16]	1987–1989	31	13	18	0	0.419	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
15	Mike Messer[17]	1990–1993	34	4	30	0	0.118	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
16	Don Caves (interim)	1993	8	2	6	0	0.250	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
17	Jim Collins[18]	1994–1996	30	4	26	0	0.133	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
18	Mike Murray[19]	1997–2000	49	4	45	0	0.082	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
19	Vince Brautigam[20]	2001–2008	80	22	58	0	0.275	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
20	Stan Zweifel[21]	2009–2023	141	85	56	0	0.603	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
20	Ryan Maiuri	2024-Present				0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Year-by-year results

National champions

Conference champions

Bowl game berth

Playoff berth

Season	Year	Head coach	Association	Division	Conference	Record							Postseason	Final ranking
						Overall			Conference
						Win	Loss	Tie	Finish	Win	Loss	Tie
Dubuque Spartans
1909	1909	Benson	IAAUS	—	—	4	2	1					—	—
No team from 1910–1911
1912	1912	John Saathoff	NCAA	—	—	2	2	0					—	—
1913	1913					2	3	0					—	—
1914	1914	John Chalmers			HCC	1	1	0					—	—
1915	1915					7	0	0					Conference champions	—
1916	1916					5	1	0					Conference champions	—
1917	1917					5	0	1					Conference champions	—
1918	1918				Independent	2	1	1					—	—
1919	1919					6	1	0					—	—
1920	1920					4	1	1					—	—
1921	1921					4	2	1					—	—
1922	1922					3	4	0					—	—
1923	1923					3	4	1					—	—
1924	1924					1	6	0					—	—
No team from 1925–1928
1929	1929	Clarence Peterson	NCAA	—	IIAC	1	4	1		0	2	0	—	—
1930	1930					2	5	0		0	5	0	—	—
1931	1931	Austin Griffen				0	7	0		0	4	0	—	—
1932	1932					1	5	0		0	3	0	—	—
1933	1933					1	6	0		0	3	0	—	—
1934	1934	John McCaffrie				2	3	1		0	2	1	—	—
1935	1935					3	4	0		2	2	0	—	—
1936	1936					1	6	1		0	6	0	—	—
1937	1937	Paul Fitzke				3	4	1	3rd	3	1	1	—	—
1938	1938					5	1	2	4th	4	1	0	—	—
1939	1939	Kenneth E. Mercer				4	4	0	4th	4	2	0	—	—
1940	1940					7	1	0	1st	7	0	0	Conference champions	—
1941	1941					6	1	1	3rd	6	1	1	—	—
1942	1942					8	0	0	1st	8	0	0	Conference champions	—
No team from 1943–1944
1945	1945	Kenneth E. Mercer	NCAA	—	IIAC	4	2	0	T-4th	2	2	0	—	—
1946	1946					5	4	0	5th	4	3	0	—	—
1947	1947					5	2	0	5th	4	1	0	—	—
1948	1948					7	1	0	T-1st	5	0	0	Conference champions	—
1949	1949					6	2	0	2nd	4	1	0	—	—
1950	1950					3	5	0	T-4th	1	4	0	—	—
1951	1951					3	4	0	T-2nd	3	2	0	—	—
1952	1952					4	4	0	2nd	3	1	0	—	—
1953	1953					4	3	0	3rd	2	2	0	—	—
1954	1954					4	3	1	3rd	4	1	1	—	—
1955	1955					2	5	0	6th	2	4	0	—	—
1956	1956			College Division		3	3	2	T-5th	3	3	2	—	—
1957	1957					1	5	2	8th	1	5	2	—	—
1958	1958					5	4	0	T-4th	4	4	0	—	—
1959	1959					5	4	0	5th	4	4	0	—	—
1960	1960					4	4	0	5th	4	4	0	—	—
1961	1961					5	4	0	5th	4	4	0	—	—
1962	1962	Owen Evans				2	7	0	8th	2	7	0	—	—
1963	1963					3	4	1	5th	3	4	1	—	—
1964	1964					3	5	1	T-5th	3	5	0	—	—
1965	1965					6	2	1	3rd	5	2	0	—	—
1966	1966					5	4	0	5th	3	4	0	—	—
1967	1967					1	6	2	7th	1	4	2	—	—
1968	1968					4	5	0	5th	3	4	0	—	—
1969	1969	Maury Waugh				1	7	0	8th	0	7	0	—	—
1970	1970					2	7	0	6th	2	5	0	—	—
1971	1971					1	7	1	7th	0	6	1	—	—
1972	1972					5	4	1	4th	3	3	1	—	—
1973	1973			Division III		5	4	1	4th	3	3	1	—	—
1974	1974					2	8	0	7th	1	6	0	—	—
1975	1975	Larry Pohlman				3	5	2		3	4	0	—	—
1976	1976					1	9	0		1	6	0	—	—
1977	1977	Don Birmingham				4	6	0	T-6th	2	5	0	—	—
1978	1978					7	2	0	T-1st	5	2	0	Conference champions	—
1979	1979					9	1	0	1st	7	0	0	Playoff berth	—
1980	1980					8	2	1	1st	6	1	0	Playoff berth	—
1981	1981					4	6	0	4th	4	3	0	—	—
1982	1982					6	3	0	4th	4	3	0	—	—
1983	1983					4	6	0	T-4th	3	4	0	—	—
1984	1984	Myron Smith				3	7	0		2	5	0	—	—
1985	1985					0	10	0		0		0	—	—
1986	1986					2	9	0		2	6	0	—	—
1987	1987	Don Turner				6	5	0	T-4th	4	4	0	—	—
1988	1988					3	7	0	T-6th	3	5	0	—	—
1989	1989					4	6	0	T-6th	3	5	0	—	—
1990	1990	Mike Messer				2	7	0					—	—
1991	1991					1	8	0					—	—
1992	1992					1	9	0					—	—
1993	1993	Mike Messer (games 1–2) / Don Caves (remainder)				2	8	0					—	—
1994	1994	Jim Collins				1	9	0	8th	1	7	0	—	—
1995	1995					2	8	0	T-6th	2	6	0	—	—
1996	1996					1	9	0	9th	0	8	0	—	—
1997	1997	Mike Murray				3	7	0					—	—
1998	1998					0	10	0					—	—
1999	1999					1	9	0					—	—
2000	2000					0	10	0					—	—
2001	2001	Vince Brautigam				2	8	0	10th	1	8	0	—	—
2002	2002					1	9	0	10th	0	9	0	—	—
2003	2003					0	10	0	10th	0	8	0	—	—
2004	2004					2	8	0	T-8th	1	7	0	—	—
2005	2005					2	8	0	T-8th	1	7	0	—	—
2006	2006					6	4	0	T-3rd	5	3	0	—	—
2007	2007					7	3	0	T-3rd	5	3	0	—	—
2008	2008					2	8	0	8th	1	7	0	—	—
2009	2009	Stan Zweifel	5		5	0	T-5th	4	4	0	—	—
2010	2010		4		6	0	6th	3	5	0	—	—
2011	2011		9		2	0	1st	7	1	0	Playoff berth	—
2012	2012		5		5	0	T-2nd	4	3	0	—	—
2013	2013		5		5	0	T-3rd	4	3	0	—	—
2014	2014		4		6	0	5th	3	4	0	—	—
2015	2015		8		3	0	1st	7	0	0	Playoff berth	—
2016	2016		8		2	0	T-2nd	6	3	0	—	—
2017	2017		6		4	0	T-4th	4	4	0	—	—
2018	2018		A-R-C		7	3	0	T-2nd	6	2	0	—	—
2019	2019				7	3	0	3rd	6	2	0	—	—
2020–21	2020–21				1	0	0	T-2nd	1	0	0
2021	2021				6	4	0	4th	5	3	0	—	—
2022	2022				6	4	0	T-2nd	6	2	0	—	—
2023	2023				5	5	0	4th	5	3	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.^[5]
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.^[6]
4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.^[7]