TheBYU Cougarscollege football team representsBrigham Young University (BYU) in theBig 12 Conference (Big 12). The Cougars competes as part of theNCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 14 head coaches since it began play during the1922 season. Since December 2015,Kalani Sitake has served as head coach at BYU.[1]
Five coaches have led BYU in postseasonbowl games:Tommy Hudspeth,LaVell Edwards,Gary Crowton,Bronco Mendenhall, andKalani Sitake. Four of those coaches also wonconference championships: Hudspeth captured one and Edwards 18 as a member of theWestern Athletic Conference; and Edwards and Crowton captured one and Mendenhall two as a member of theMountain West Conference.
Edwards is the leader in seasons coached, games won, and winning percentage, with 257 victories (0.716 winning percentage) during his 29 years with the program.Hal Mitchell has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.267. Of the 14 different head coaches who have led the Cougars, Edwards has been inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame.
| 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 theCollege Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overallwinning percentage[A 4] | ||||
| No. | Name | Season(s) [A 6] | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | CC | NC | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alvin Twitchell | 1922–1924 | 19 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 0.289 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 0.206 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2 | Charles J. Hart | 1925–1927 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 0.350 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 0.361 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 3 | G. Ott Romney | 1928–1936 | 81 | 44 | 31 | 6 | 0.580 | 31 | 26 | 2 | 0.542 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 4 & 6 | Eddie Kimball | 1937–1941 1946–1948 | 74 | 34 | 32 | 8 | 0.514 | 20 | 20 | 7 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 5 | Floyd Millet | 1942 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.286 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 7 | Chick Atkinson | 1949–1955 | 70 | 18 | 49 | 3 | 0.279 | 8 | 33 | 3 | 0.216 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 8 | Hal Kopp | 1956–1958 | 30 | 13 | 14 | 3 | 0.483 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 0.571 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 9 | Tally Stevens | 1959–1960 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 0.286 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0.286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 10 | Hal Mitchell | 1961–1963 | 30 | 8 | 22 | 0 | 0.267 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0.286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 11 | Tommy Hudspeth | 1964–1971 | 82 | 39 | 42 | 1 | 0.482 | 19 | 27 | 0 | 0.413 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 12 | LaVell Edwards† | 1972–2000 | 361 | 257 | 101 | 3 | 0.716 | 175 | 42 | 2 | 0.804 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 1 | Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1979) AFCA Coach of the Year (1984) Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1984) Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (2003) |
| 13 | Gary Crowton | 2001–2004 | 49 | 26 | 23 | — | 0.531 | 16 | 12 | — | 0.571 | 0 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — |
| 14 | Bronco Mendenhall | 2005–2015 | 142 | 99 | 43 | — | 0.697 | 39 | 9 | — | 0.813 | 6 | 5 | — | 2 | 0 | — |
| 15 | Kalani Sitake | 2016–present | 115 | 72 | 43 | — | 0.626 | 9 | 9 | — | 0.500 | 5 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — |