List of Saginaw Valley State Cardinals head football coaches

The Saginaw Valley State Cardinals football program is a college football team that represents Saginaw Valley State University in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a part of NCAA Division II. The team has had eight head coaches since its first recorded football game in 1975. The current coach is Michael Engle who took the position prior to the 2026 season.^[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	Term	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	CCs	Awards	Ref.
1	Frank "Muddy" Waters	1975–1979	53	25	26	2	.491	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	Jim Larkin	1980–1982	31	9	22	0	.290	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	George Ihler	1983–1993	114	61	52	1	.539	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	Jerry Kill	1994–1998	52	38	14	0	.731	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	Randy Awrey	1999–2007	103	73	30	0	.709	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	Jim Collins	2008–2018	121	65	56	0	.537	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	^[5]
7	Ryan Brady	2019–2025	66	39	27	0	.591	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	^[6]
8	Michael Engle	2026–present	–	–	–	–	–	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	^[1]

v t e Saginaw Valley State Cardinals football
Venues	Harvey Randall Wickes Memorial Stadium
Bowls & rivalries	Grand Valley State: Battle of the Valleys
Culture & lore	Coop the Cardinal "Cardinal Fight"
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	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 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2024 2025 2026

Coaches