List of San Diego State Aztecs head football coaches

The San Diego State Aztecs football team represents San Diego State University in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) College Division in the years 1921–1968. In 1969, the team moved to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I.

The program has had 19 head coaches in its 97 seasons of existence. Don Coryell is the coach with the highest winning percentage (.840) and most wins (104) of any San Diego State coaches. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.^[1] From a perspective of Bowl appearances, the former coach Rocky Long has been the most successful and has led the Aztecs to a Bowl game in each of his nine years as head coach.

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	DC	CC	NC	Awards
1	Charles E. Peterson	1921–1929	78	43	31	4	0.577	16	17	1	0.485	—	—	—	—	3	0	—
2	Walter Herreid	1930–1934	46	20	21	5	0.489	13	12	4	0.517	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
3	Leo Calland	1935–1941	60	34	22	4	0.600	14	10	3	0.574	—	—	—	—	2	0	—
4	John Eubank	1942	7	0	6	1	0.071	0	0	0	–	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
5	Bob Breitbard	1945	7	2	5	0	0.286	0	0	0	–	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
6	Gander Terry	1946	10	6	4	0	0.600	2	2	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
7	Bill Schutte	1947–1955	88	48	36	4	0.568	20	14	3	0.581	1	1	0	—	2	0	—
8	Paul Governali	1956–1960	42	11	27	4	0.310	4	15	0	0.211	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
9	Don Coryell†	1961–1972	125	104	19	2	0.840	44	10	1	0.809	3	0	0	—	7	3 – 1966 1967 1968	—
10	Claude Gilbert	1973–1980	89	61	26	2	0.697	20	12	1	0.621	0	0	0	—	2	0	—
11	Doug Scovil	1981–1985	59	24	32	3	0.432	15	21	3	0.423	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
12	Denny Stolz	1986–1988	35	16	19	0	0.457	14	10	0	0.583	0	1	0	—	1	0	—
13	Al Luginbill	1989–1993	59	31	25	3	0.551	25	11	2	0.684	0	1	0	—	0	0	—
14	Ted Tollner	1994–2001	91	43	48	0	0.473	32	29	0	0.525	0	1	0	1	0	0	—
15	Tom Craft	2002–2005	48	19	29	—	0.396	13	16	—	0.448	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
16	Chuck Long	2006–2008	36	9	27	—	0.250	7	17	—	0.292	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
17	Brady Hoke	2009–2010 2020–2023	72	40	32	—	0.556	25	21	—	0.543	2	1	—	1	0	0	—
18	Rocky Long	2011–2019	119	81	38	—	0.681	51	20	—	0.718	4	5	—	4	3	0	—
19	Sean Lewis	2024–present	12	3	9	—	0.250	2	5	—	0.286	0	0	—	0	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 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
6. San Diego State did not field teams during the 1943–1944 seasons.