List of Iowa State Cyclones head football coaches

File:PaulRhoads.jpg

Head coach Paul Rhoads

The Iowa State Cyclones football program is a college football team that represents Iowa State University in the Big 12 Conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The team has had 32 head coaches since organized football at the school began in 1892, and was officially sanctioned in 1894. Originally, the Iowa Agricultural College teams were known as the Cardinals. The name was changed after September 29, 1895, when under coach Glenn "Pop" Warner, the Cardinals defeated the Northwestern Wildcats, 36–0. Inspired by an extremely active tornado (then known as a "cyclone") season, the next day, the Chicago Tribune headline read: "Struck by a Cyclone." The article went on to say, "Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday." Since then the Iowa State teams have been known as the Cyclones.

Iowa State has played in 1,140 games during its 120 seasons. In those seasons, four coaches have led the Cyclones to postseason bowl games: Johnny Majors, Earle Bruce, Dan McCarney, and Paul Rhoads. One coach, Clyde Williams, has won a conference championship with the Cyclones. McCarney is the all-time leader in games coached (141), years coached (11) and wins (56), while Bert German is the all-time leader in winning percentage (.833). W. F. Finney is, in terms of winning percentage, the worst coach in the history of the Iowa State football program having never won a game.

Of the 32 coaches, Bruce is the only one that has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Majors, Bruce and McCarney have each received coach of the year honors from their respective conference. The most recent coach was Paul Rhoads, who was hired in December 2009 and fired on November 22, 2015.

Key

General

#	A running total of the number of coaches
CCs	Conference championships
†	Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

Overall games

GC	Games coached
OW	Wins
OL	Losses
OT	Ties
O%	Winning percentage

Conference games

CW	Wins
CL	Losses
CT	Ties
C%	Winning percentage

Postseason games

PW	Wins
PL	Losses
PT	Ties

Coaches

Statistics correct as of February 1, 2013 2012.

#	Name	Term	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	CCs	Awards
1	Ira C. Brownlie	1892	2	1	0	1	.750	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
2	W. F. Finney	1893	3	0	3	6999100000000000000♠0	.000	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
3	Bert German	1894	6	5	1	6999100000000000000♠0	.833	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
4	Glenn "Pop" Warner	1895–1899	26	18	8	6999100000000000000♠0	.692	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
5	Joe Meyers	1899	9	4	4	1	.500	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
6	C. E. Woodruff	1900	8	2	5	1	.313	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
7	Edgar N. Clinton	1901	10	2	6	2	.300	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
8	A. W. Ristine	1902–1906	47	36	10	1	.777	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
9	Clyde Williams	1907–1912	49	33	14	2	.694	8	5	2	.600	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	2; 1911, 1912	5000000000000000000♠—
10	Homer C. Hubbard	1913–1914	15	8	7	6999100000000000000♠0	.533	4	3	1	.563	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
11	Charles Mayser	1915–1919	34	21	11	2	.647	10	4	2	.688	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
12	Norman C. Paine	1920	8	4	4	6999100000000000000♠0	.500	3	2	6999100000000000000♠0	.600	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
13	Maury Kent	1921	8	4	4	6999100000000000000♠0	.500	3	4	6999100000000000000♠0	.429	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
14	Sam Willaman	1922–1925	32	14	15	3	.484	11	10	2	.522	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
15	C. Noel Workman	1926–1930	41	11	27	3	.305	8	17	2	.333	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
16	George F. Veenker	1931–1936	51	21	22	8	.490	7	18	4	.310	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
17	James J. Yeager	1937–1940	36	16	19	1	.458	7	12	1	.375	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
18	Ray Donels	1941–1942	12	3	8	1	.292	1	4	1	.250	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
19	Mike Michalske	1942–1946	39	18	18	3	.500	8	9	2	.474	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
20	Abe Stuber	1947–1953	65	24	38	3	.392	12	28	1	.305	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
21	Vince DiFrancesca	1954–1956	28	6	21	1	.232	2	15	1	.139	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
22	Jim Myers	1957	10	4	5	1	.450	2	4	0.10	.333	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
23	Clay Stapleton	1958–1967	99	42	53	4	.444	22	43	2	.343	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
24	Johnny Majors	1968–1972	55	24	30	1	.445	9	25	1	.271	6999100000000000000♠0	2	6999100000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠—	Big Eight Coach of the Year (1971)
25	Earle Bruce†	1973–1978	68	36	32	6999100000000000000♠0	.529	18	24	6999100000000000000♠0	.429	6999100000000000000♠0	2	6999100000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠—	Big Eight Coach of the Year (1976, 1977)
26	Donnie Duncan	1979–1982	44	18	24	2	.432	7	19	2	.286	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
27	Jim Criner	1983–1986	42	16	24	2	.405	8	16	2	.346	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
28	Chuck Banker	1986	2	1	1	6999100000000000000♠0	.500	1	1	6999100000000000000♠0	.500	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
29	Jim Walden	1987–1994	88	28	57	3	.335	16	37	3	.313	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
30	Dan McCarney	1995–2006	141	56	85	6999100000000000000♠0	.397	27	68	6999100000000000000♠0	.284	2	3	6999100000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠—	Big 12 Coach of the Year (2004)
31	Gene Chizik	2007–2008	24	5	19	6999100000000000000♠0	.208	2	14	6999100000000000000♠0	.125	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
32	Paul Rhoads	2009–2015	87	32	54	5000000000000000000♠—	.372	16	44	5000000000000000000♠—	.267	1	2	6999100000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—
32	Matt Campbell	2015-Present	-	-	-	5000000000000000000♠—	–	0	0	5000000000000000000♠—	–	0	0	6999100000000000000♠0	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—	5000000000000000000♠—

Notes

File:JohnnyMajorsPitt2009.jpg

Johnny Majors, coach of the Cyclones (1968–1972)

References

General

Specific