List of Toledo Rockets head football coaches

Head shot of Gary Pinkel wearing a visor talking in a microphone. — Gary Pinkel has won the 2nd most games as head coach of the Rockets.

The Toledo Rockets college football team represents the University of Toledo in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The Rockets compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 28 head coaches and one interim head coach since it began play during the 1917 season. Since December 2025, Mike Jacobs has served as head coach at Toledo.^[1]

Twelve coaches have led Toledo in postseason bowl games: Bill Orwig, Skip Stahley, Frank Lauterbur, Jack Murphy, Chuck Stobart, Dan Simrell, Gary Pinkel, Tom Amstutz, Tim Beckman, Matt Campbell, Jason Candle, and Robert Weiner. Ten of those coaches also won conference championships: Pat Dwyer captured one and Boni Petcoff two as a member of the Northwest Ohio League; Murphy, Stobart, Simrell, Nick Saban, and Pinkel each captured one; Amstutz and Candle two; and Lauterbur three as a member of the Mid-American Conference.

Pinkel is the leader in seasons coached with 10 years as head coach and games won with 73. Nick Saban has the highest winning percentage at 0.818. John Brandeberry has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000. Of the 27 different head coaches who have led the Rockets only Pinkel has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

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	CC	NC	Awards
1	John Brandeberry	1917	3	0	3	0	.000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	James Baxter	1918	2	1	1	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	Watt Hobt	1919–1920	9	2	7	0	0.222	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	Joseph Dwyer	1921–1922	15	5	7	3	0.433	0	0	0	–	—	—	—	0	—	—
5	Pat Dwyer	1923–1925	27	12	15	0	0.444	4	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	1	—	—
6	Boni Petcoff	1926–1929	29	13	15	1	0.466	8	5	1	0.607	—	—	—	2	—	—
7	Jim Nicholson	1930 1932–1935	40	20	16	4	0.550	14	7	2	0.652	—	—	—	0	—	—
8	Clarence Spears	1936–1942	66	38	26	2	0.591	7	2	2	0.727	—	—	—	0	—	—
9	Bill Orwig	1946–1947	21	15	4	2	0.762	7	1	0	0.875	2	0	0	0	—	—
10	Skip Stahley	1948–1949	21	11	10	0	0.524	—	—	—	—	1	1	0	—	—	—
11	Bob Snyder	1950	9	4	5	0	0.444	—	—	—	—	0	0	0	—	—	—
12	Don Greenwood	1951	7	4	3	0	0.571	—	—	—	—	0	0	0	—	—	—
13	Claire Dunn	1951–1953	21	9	12	0	0.429	3	7	0	0.300	0	0	0	0	—	—
14	Forrest England	1954–1955	18	9	7	2	0.556	5	6	0	0.455	0	0	0	0	—	—
15	Jack Morton	1956	9	1	7	1	0.167	1	5	0	0.167	0	0	0	0	—	—
16	Harry Larche	1957–1959	27	11	15	1	0.426	4	12	0	0.250	0	0	0	0	—	—
17	Clive Rush	1960–1962	28	8	20	0	0.426	3	15	0	0.167	0	0	0	0	—	—
18	Frank Lauterbur	1963–1970	82	48	32	2	0.598	24	22	1	0.521	2	0	0	2	—	—
19	Jack Murphy	1971–1976	67	35	32	0	0.522	17	19	0	0.472	1	0	0	1	—	—
20	Chuck Stobart	1977–1981	56	25	30	1	0.455	22	22	1	0.500	1	0	0	1	—	—
21	Dan Simrell	1982–1989	89	49	38	2	0.562	40	26	2	0.603	0	1	0	1	—	—
22	Nick Saban	1990	11	9	2	0	0.818	7	1	0	0.875	0	0	0	1	—	—
23	Gary Pinkel^†	1991–2000	113	73	37	3	0.659	53	23	3	0.690	1	0	0	1	—	—
24	Tom Amstutz	2001–2008	99	58	41	—	0.586	39	24	—	0.619	2	2	—	2	—	—
25	Tim Beckman	2009–2011	37	21	16	—	0.568	17	7	—	0.708	1	0	—	0	—	—
26	Matt Campbell	2011–2015	50	35	15	—	0.700	24	8	—	0.750	2	1	—	0	—	—
27	Jason Candle^[5]	2015–2025	125	81	44	—	0.648	53	25	—	0.679	3	5	—	2	—	—
Int	Robert Weiner	2025	1	0	1	—	.000	0	0	—	–	0	1	—	0	—	—
28	Mike Jacobs	2026–present	0	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	0	—	—

v t e Toledo Rockets football
Venues	Glass Bowl (1937–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Bowling Green
Culture & lore	Rocket Marching Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1945 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 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

List of Toledo Rockets head football coaches

Coaches

Notes

References

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