List of East Tennessee State Buccaneers head football coaches

The East Tennessee State Buccaneers college football team represents the East Tennessee State University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The Buccaneers competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 21 head coaches since it began play during the 1920 season. Since December 2024, Will Healy has served as head coach at East Tennessee State.^[1]

Since 1920, three coaches have led the Buccaneers in postseason bowl games: Star Wood, Hal Littleford, and John Robert Bell. Mike Cavan and Sanders have led East Tennessee State to appearances in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Three of coaches have also won conference championships: Gene McMurray captured one as a member of the Smoky Mountain Conference; Bell captured one as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference; and Sanders two as a member of the Southern Conference.

Wood is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 65 victories during his 13 years with the program. Sanders has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .619. Jack S. Batey has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .143.

[1]

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]}

No.	Name	Season(s) ^{[A 6]}	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	CC	Awards
1	William R. Windes	1920–1921	12	7	5	0	0.583	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	James Karl Luck	1922–1924	26	12	13	1	0.481	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	John Robinson	1925–1929	38	13	23	2	0.368	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	Jack S. Batey	1930–1931	14	1	11	2	0.143	0	5	2	0.143	—	—	—	0	—
5	Gene McMurray	1932–1941 1946	87	50	32	5	0.603	29	23	2	0.556	—	—	—	1	—
6	Loyd Roberts	1947–1951	45	23	20	2	0.533	5	4	1	0.550	—	—	—	0	—
7	Star Wood	1952–1953 1955–1965	123	65	52	6	0.553	23	26	0	0.469	3	1	0	0	—
8	Hal Littleford	1953	10	5	4	1	0.550	0	0	0	–	1	0	0	0	—
9	John Robert Bell	1966–1972	70	31	34	5	0.479	21	24	4	0.469	1	0	0	1	—
10	Roy Frazier	1973–1977	54	16	36	2	0.386	11	20	0	0.355	0	0	0	0	—
11	Jack Carlisle	1978–1982	55	21	34	0	0.382	11	20	0	0.355	0	0	0	0	—
12	Buddy Sasser	1983–1984	22	9	13	0	0.409	3	10	0	0.231	0	0	0	0	—
13	Mike Ayers	1985–1987	33	11	21	1	0.348	6	15	0	0.286	0	0	0	0	—
14	Don Riley	1988–1991	44	9	35	0	0.205	6	22	0	0.214	0	0	0	0	—
15	Mike Cavan	1992–1996	57	30	27	0	0.526	20	19	0	0.513	1	1	0	0	—
16	Paul Hamilton	1997–2003	79	38	41	—	0.481	24	32	—	0.429	0	0	—	0	—
17	Carl Torbush	2015–2017	33	11	22	—	0.333	4	12	—	0.250	0	0	—	0	—
18	Randy Sanders	2018–2021	42	26	16	—	0.619	14	11	—	0.560	1	2	—	2	—
19	George Quarles	2022–2023	22	6	16	—	0.273	3	13	—	0.188	0	0	—	0	—
20	Tre Lamb	2024	12	7	5	—	0.583	5	3	—	0.625	0	0	—	0	—
21	Will Healy	2025–present	12	7	5	—	0.583	5	3	—	0.625	0	0	—	0	—

v t e East Tennessee State Buccaneers football
Venues	Memorial Center (1977–2003) Kermit Tipton Stadium (2015–2016) William B. Greene Jr. Stadium (2017–present)
Bowls & rivalries	1969 Grantland Rice Bowl
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004–2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

List of East Tennessee State Buccaneers head football coaches

Coaches

Notes

References

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