List of Virginia Cavaliers head football coaches

The Virginia Cavaliers college football team represents the University of Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Cavaliers compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 42 head coaches since it began play during the 1887 season. Since December 2021, Tony Elliott has served as head coach at Virginia.^[1]

Four coaches have led Virginia in postseason bowl games: George Welsh, Al Groh, Mike London, and Bronco Mendenhall. Three of those coaches also won conference championships: Joseph M. Wood and Harry Varner each captured one as a member of the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association; and Welsh captured two as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Welsh is the leader in overall wins and seasons coached with 134 wins during his 19 years as head coach. Merritt Cooke Jr. has the highest winning percentage at 0.938. Dick Voris has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.033. Of the 42 different head coaches who have led the Cavaliers, George Sanford, Greasy Neale, Earl Abell, Frank Murray, and Welsh 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^{[A 6]}	Season(s)^{[A 7]}	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	CC	NC	Awards
1	William C. Spicer	1892	6	3	2	1	0.583	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	Johnny Poe	1893–1894	21	16	5	0	0.762	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
3	Harry Arista Mackey	1895	11	9	2	0	0.818	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	Martin V. Bergen	1896–1897	20	13	4	3	0.725	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
5	Joseph Massie	1898	12	6	6	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
6	Archie Hoxton	1899–1900	19	11	5	3	0.658	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
7	Westley Abbott	1901	10	8	2	0	0.800	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
8	John de Saulles	1902	10	8	1	1	0.850	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
9	Gresham Poe	1903	10	7	2	1	0.750	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
10	George Sanford^†	1904	9	6	3	0	0.667	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
11	William C. "King" Cole	1905–1906	20	12	6	2	0.650	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
12	Hammond Johnson	1907	10	6	3	1	0.611	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
13	Merritt Cooke Jr.	1908	8	7	0	1	0.938	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
14	John Neff	1909	8	7	1	0	0.875	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
15	Charles B. Crawford	1910	8	6	2	0	0.750	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
16	Kemper Yancey	1911	10	8	2	0	0.800	2	1	0	0.667	—	—	—	0	—	—
17	John S. Elliott	1912	9	6	3	0	0.667	1	1	0	0.500	—	—	—	0	—	—
18 23	W. Rice Warren	1913 1920–1921	26	17	7	2	0.692	9	3	0	0.750	—	—	—	0	—	—
19	Joseph M. Wood	1914	9	8	1	0	0.889	3	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	1	—	—
20	Harry Varner	1915	9	8	1	0	0.889	2	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	1	—	—
21	Peyton Evans	1916	9	4	5	0	0.444	3	1	0	0.750	—	—	—	0	—	—
22	Harris Coleman	1919	9	2	5	2	0.333	1	1	1	0.500	—	—	—	0	—	—
24	Thomas J. Campbell	1922	9	4	4	1	0.500	1	1	1	0.500	—	—	—	0	—	—
25	Greasy Neale^†	1923–1928	55	28	22	5	0.555	16	18	3	0.473	—	—	—	0	—	—
26	Earl Abell^†	1929–1930	19	8	9	2	0.474	3	8	2	0.308	—	—	—	0	—	—
27	Fred Dawson	1931–1933	29	8	17	4	0.345	3	11	2	0.250	—	—	—	0	—	—
28	Gus Tebell	1934–1936	28	6	18	4	0.286	1	7	2	0.200	—	—	—	0	—	—
29	Frank Murray^†	1937–1945	80	41	34	5	0.544	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
30	Art Guepe	1946–1952	66	47	17	2	0.727	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
31	Ned McDonald	1953–1955	28	5	23	0	0.179	0	6	0	.000	—	—	—	0	—	—
32	Ben Martin	1956–1957	20	6	13	1	0.325	3	8	0	0.273	—	—	—	0	—	—
33	Dick Voris	1958–1960	30	1	29	0	0.033	1	16	0	0.059	—	—	—	0	—	—
34	Bill Elias	1961–1964	40	16	23	1	0.413	4	18	1	0.196	—	—	—	0	—	—
35	George Blackburn	1965–1970	61	28	33	0	0.459	13	23	0	0.361	—	—	—	0	—	—
36	Don Lawrence	1971–1973	33	11	22	0	0.333	6	11	0	0.353	—	—	—	0	—	—
37	Sonny Randle	1974–1975	22	5	17	0	0.227	1	9	0	0.100	—	—	—	0	—	—
38	Dick Bestwick	1976–1981	66	16	49	1	0.250	5	28	0	0.152	—	—	—	0	—	—
39	George Welsh^†	1982–2000	223	134	86	3	0.608	85	51	3	0.622	4	8	0	2	—	—
40	Al Groh	2001–2009	113	59	54	—	0.522	36	36	—	0.500	3	2	—	0	—	—
41	Mike London	2010–2015	73	27	46	—	0.370	14	34	—	0.292	0	1	—	0	—	—
42	Bronco Mendenhall	2016–2021	74	36	38	—	0.486	22	27	—	0.449	1	2	—	0	—	—
43	Tony Elliott	2022–present	48	22	26	—	0.458	13	18	—	0.419	1	0	—	0	—	—

v t e Virginia Cavaliers football
Venues	Madison Hall Field (1888–1912) Lambeth Field (1913–1930) Scott Stadium (1931–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Duke Florida State: Jefferson–Eppes Trophy Maryland North Carolina: South's Oldest Rivalry Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	"The Cavalier Song" "The Good Old Song" Cavalier Marching Band 1990 Georgia Tech game 2022 shooting
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders W. A. Lambeth
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 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 1944 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 Virginia Cavaliers head football coaches

Coaches

Notes

References

Related Articles