List of Colorado Buffaloes head football coaches

The Colorado Buffaloes football program represents the University of Colorado Boulder in the Big 12 Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The team has had 25 head coaches since it started playing organized football in 1890. The university adopted the nickname Buffaloes in 1934 after previously being known as the Silver and Gold, Silver Helmets, Yellow Jackets, Hornets, Arapahoes, Big Horns, Grizzlies and Frontiersmen.^[1] Colorado played without a head coach during their first four years. The team first joined a conference in 1893 when they became a member of the Colorado Football Association. They joined the Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference in 1909, immediately followed by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in 1910. Before the 1938 season, Colorado joined the Mountain States (Skyline) Conference. They joined the Big Seven Conference in 1948, which was renamed the Big Eight Conference in 1958 when Oklahoma State joined/rejoined the Conference.^[2] The Buffaloes became a charter member of the Big 12 in 1996 when the Big Eight disbanded.^[3] The Buffaloes have played in 1,139 games during their 120 seasons. In those seasons, nine coaches have led Colorado to postseason bowl games: Bunny Oakes, Dallas Ward, Bud Davis, Eddie Crowder, Bill Mallory, Bill McCartney, Rick Neuheisel, Gary Barnett, and Dan Hawkins. Nine coaches have won conference championships with the Buffaloes: Fred Folsom, Myron Witham, William Saunders, Oakes, Jim Yeager, Sonny Grandelius, Mallory, McCartney, and Barnett.

McCartney is the all-time leader in games coached, with 153, and total wins, with 93. Folsom had the longest tenure as head coach, remaining in the position for 15 seasons. Harry Heller and Willis Keinholtz are tied for the highest overall winning percentage. Each served a single season and won eight of his nine games for a winning percentage of .889. Of coaches who served more than one season, Folsom leads with a .765 winning percentage. Jon Embree is, in terms of overall winning percentage, the worst coach the Buffaloes have had with a .160 winning percentage. Former Colorado head coach Bill McCartney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013 and is the only CU coach to have won several national coach of the year honors, with all of them coming in 1989. Barnett won conference coach of the year honors in 2001 and 2004. Mike MacIntyre was hired on December 10, 2012.^[4]

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

No.	Name	Term	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	CCs	Awards
1	Harry Heller	1894	9	8	1	0	.889	5	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	—
2	Fred Folsom	1895–1899, 1901–1902, 1908–1915[A 5]	103	77	23	2	.765	37	13	1	.735	—	—	10	—
3	T. C. Mortimer	1900	10	6	4	0	.600	1	2	0	.333	—	—	—	—
4	Dave Cropp	1903–1904	19	14	4	1	.763	7	1	0	.875	—	—	—	—
5	Willis Keinholtz	1905	9	8	1	0	.889	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	Frank Castleman	1906–1907	17	7	6	4	.529	4	3	2	.556	—	—	—	—
7	Melbourne "Bob" Evans	1916–1917	15	7	7	1	.500	5	7	0	.417	—	—	—	—
8	Enoch J. Mills	1918–1919	11	4	6	1	.409	3	5	1	.389	—	—	—	—
9	Myron Witham	1920–1931	96	63	26	7	.693	50	20	7	.695	—	—	2	—
10	William Saunders	1932–1934	24	15	7	2	.667	13	7	0	.650	—	—	1	—
11	Bunny Oakes	1935–1939	41	25	15	1	.622	24	6	1	.790	0	1	3	—
12	Frank Potts	1940, 1944–1945	25	16	8	1	.660	9	2	1	.792	—	—	—	—
13	Jim Yeager	1941–1943, 1946–1947	43	24	17	2	.581	16	8	2	.654	—	—	2	—
14	Dallas Ward	1948–1958	110	63	41	6	.600	31	29	4	.516	1	0	—	—
15	Sonny Grandelius	1959–1961	31	20	11	0	.645	15	5	0	.750	—	—	1	—
16	Bud Davis	1962	10	2	8	0	.200	1	6	0	.143	0	1	—	—
17	Eddie Crowder	1963–1973	118	67	49	2	.576	39	37	1	.590	3	2	—	—
18	Bill Mallory	1974–1978	57	35	21	1	.623	18	16	1	.529	0	2	1	—
19	Chuck Fairbanks	1979–1981	33	7	26	0	.212	5	16	0	.238	—	—	—	—
20	Bill McCartney†	1982–1994	153	93	55	5	.624	58	29	4	.659	3	6	3	Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award (1989)[9] AFCA Coach of the Year (1989)[10] Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (1989)[11]
21	Rick Neuheisel	1995–1998	47	33	14	0	.702	19	12	0	.613	3	0	—	—
22	Gary Barnett	1999–2005	88	49	39	—	.557	34	22	—	.607	2	2	1	Big 12 AP Coach of the Year (2001, 2004)[12][13]
23	Dan Hawkins	2006–2010	49	16	33	—	.327	10	22	—	.313	0	1	—	—
24	Jon Embree	2011–2012	25	4	21	—	.160	3	15	—	.167	—	—	—	—
25	Mike MacIntyre	2013–2018	74	30	44	—	.405	14	39	—	.264	0	1	—	Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2016)[14] Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2016)[15]
26	Mel Tucker	2019	12	5	7	—	.417	3	6	—	.333	—	—	—
27	Karl Dorrell	2020–2022	23	8	15	—	.348	6	9	—	.400	0	1	—
28	Deion Sanders	2023–present	25	13	12	—	.520	8	10	—	.444	0	1	—

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]
5. Folsom became Colorado's head coach before the second game of the 1895 season. The team had no head coach in the season opener, a 42–0 victory over Denver Manual High School.^[8]