List of Syracuse Orange head football coaches
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The Syracuse Orange college football team represents the Syracuse University in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Orange compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 31 head coaches since it began play during the 1887 season. Fran Brown the current head coach was hired in December of 2023.[1]
Eight coaches have led Syracuse in postseason bowl games: Ben Schwartzwalder, Frank Maloney, Dick MacPherson, Paul Pasqualoni, Doug Marrone, Scott Shafer, Dino Babers, and Fran Brown. Two of those coaches also won conference championships: Pasqualoni captured four and Marrone one as a member of the Big East Conference.
Schwartzwalder is the leader in overall wins and seasons coached with 153 wins during his 25 years as head coach. Pete Reynolds has the highest winning percentage at 0.800. Jordan C. Wells has the lowest winning percentage at 0.056. Of the 30 different head coaches who have led the Orange, Frank "Buck" O'Neill, Howard Jones, Tad Jones, Bill Hollenback, Vic Hanson, Biggie Munn, Schwartzwalder, and MacPherson has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Key
| 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[A 6] | Season(s)[A 7] | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | CC | NC | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Winston | 1890 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0.636 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | William Galbraith | 1891 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0.400 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Jordan C. Wells | 1892 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0.056 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | George H. Bond | 1894 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0.545 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | George O. Redington | 1895–1896 | 20 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 0.650 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Frank E. Wade | 1897–1899 | 28 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 0.643 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Edwin Sweetland | 1900–1902 | 27 | 20 | 5 | 2 | 0.778 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Jason B. Parrish | 1903 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0.556 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Ancil D. Brown | 1903 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0.556 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Charles P. Hutchins | 1904–1905 | 10 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0.700 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11 15 17 |
Frank "Buck" O'Neill† | 1906–1907 1913–1915 1917–1919 |
77 | 52 | 19 | 6 | 0.714 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12 | Howard Jones† | 1908 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0.650 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Tad Jones† | 1909–1910 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 0.500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | C. DeForest Cummings | 1911–1912 | 19 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0.526 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Bill Hollenback† | 1916 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0.556 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 18 | Chick Meehan | 1920–1924 | 47 | 35 | 8 | 4 | 0.787 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Pete Reynolds | 1925–1926 | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 0.800 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | Lew Andreas | 1927–1929 | 28 | 15 | 10 | 3 | 0.589 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 21 | Vic Hanson† | 1930–1936 | 59 | 33 | 21 | 5 | 0.602 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 22 | Ossie Solem | 1937–1942 1944–1945 |
63 | 30 | 27 | 6 | 0.524 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 23 | Biggie Munn† | 1946 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.444 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | Reaves Baysinger | 1947–1948 | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0.222 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 25 | Ben Schwartzwalder† | 1949–1973 | 247 | 153 | 91 | 3 | 0.626 | — | — | — | — | 2 | 5 | 0 | — | 1 | AFCA COY (1959) FWAA COY (1959) |
| 26 | Frank Maloney | 1974–1980 | 78 | 32 | 46 | 0 | 0.410 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — |
| 27 | Dick MacPherson† | 1981–1990 | 116 | 66 | 46 | 4 | 0.586 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | AFCA COY (1987) Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (1987) Bobby Dodd COY (1987) FWAA COY (1987) Sporting News COY (1987) Walter Camp COY (1987) |
| 28 | Paul Pasqualoni | 1991–2004 | 167 | 107 | 59 | 1 | 0.644 | 73 | 34 | 0 | 0.682 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — |
| 29 | Greg Robinson [A 8] |
2005–2008 | 42 | 5 | 37 | — | 0.119 | 2 | 25 | — | 0.074 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 30 | Doug Marrone | 2009–2012 | 50 | 25 | 25 | — | 0.500 | 11 | 17 | — | 0.393 | 2 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — |
| 31 | Scott Shafer | 2013–2015 | 37 | 14 | 23 | — | 0.378 | 7 | 17 | — | 0.292 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 32 | Dino Babers | 2016–2023 | 96 | 41 | 55 | — | 0.427 | 20 | 45 | — | 0.308 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 33 | Fran Brown | 2024–present | 25 | 13 | 12 | — | 0.520 | 6 | 10 | — | 0.375 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
Notes
- 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.
- Statistics correct as of the end of the 2025 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
- Syracuse did not have a head coach for the 1889 and 1893 seasons.[5]
- Syracuse did not field a team for the 1943 season.