# List of Northwestern Wildcats head football coaches

The Northwestern Wildcats college football team represents the Northwestern University in the Big Ten Conference. The Wildcats compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 30 head coaches since it began play during the 1876 season. Since July 2023, David Braun has served as head coach at Northwestern.
Four coaches have led Northwestern in postseason bowl games: Bob Voigts, Gary Barnett, Randy Walker, and Fitzgerald. Six of those coaches also won conference championships: Walter McCornack captured one as a member of the Western Conference; and Dick Hanley and Barnett each captured two and Pappy Waldorf, Glenn Thistlethwaite, and Walker each captured one as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
Fitzgerald is the leader in overall wins and seasons coached with 110 wins during his 17 years as head coach. Walter McCornack has the highest winning percentage at 0.800. Rick Venturi has the lowest winning percentage at 0.045. Of the 30 different head coaches who have led the Orange, Charlie Bachman, Waldorf, Alex Agase, and Ara Parseghian have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

## Key

Key to symbols in coaches list :
| General | General | Overall | Overall | Conference | Conference | Postseason | Postseason |
| No. | Order of coaches | 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 | C% | Conference winning percentage | | |
| † | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage | | | | |

## Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards :
| No. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | CC | NC | Awards |
| 1 | Knowlton Ames | 1891–1892 | 17 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 0.559 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0.250 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 2 | Paul Noyes | 1893 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0.350 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 3 | A. A. Ewing | 1894 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.444 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Alvin H. Culver | 1895–1896 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 0.650 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.625 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 5 | Jesse Van Doozer | 1897 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0.625 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 6 | W. H. Bannard | 1898 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0.679 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 7 | Charles M. Hollister | 1899–1902 | 47 | 27 | 16 | 4 | 0.617 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 0.444 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 8 | Walter McCornack | 1903–1905 | 35 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 0.800 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0.375 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| 9 | Alton Johnson | 1908 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.500 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 10 | Bill Horr | 1909 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0.300 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0.250 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 11 | Charles Hammett | 1910–1912 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0.389 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 12 | Dennis Grady | 1913 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0.143 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 13 | Fred J. Murphy | 1914–1918 | 33 | 16 | 16 | 1 | 0.500 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 0.348 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 14 | Charlie Bachman$^†$ | 1919 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0.286 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.200 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 15 | Elmer McDevitt | 1920–1921 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0.286 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0.200 | — | — | — | 0 | — | — |
| 16 | Glenn Thistlethwaite | 1922–1926 | 39 | 21 | 17 | 1 | 0.551 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0.438 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| 17 | Dick Hanley | 1927–1934 | 66 | 36 | 26 | 4 | 0.576 | 22 | 19 | 2 | 0.535 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — |
| 18 | Pappy Waldorf$^†$ | 1935–1946 | 101 | 49 | 45 | 7 | 0.520 | 34 | 31 | 7 | 0.521 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| 19 | Bob Voigts | 1947–1954 | 73 | 33 | 39 | 1 | 0.459 | 18 | 32 | 0 | 0.360 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 20 | Lou Saban | 1955 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0.056 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0.071 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 21 | Ara Parseghian$^†$ | 1956–1963 | 72 | 36 | 35 | 1 | 0.507 | 22 | 31 | 1 | 0.417 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 22 | Alex Agase$^†$ | 1964–1972 | 91 | 32 | 58 | 1 | 0.357 | 26 | 40 | 1 | 0.396 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 23 | John Pont | 1973–1977 | 55 | 12 | 43 | 0 | 0.218 | 10 | 31 | 0 | 0.244 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 24 | Rick Venturi | 1978–1980 | 33 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 0.045 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 0.019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 25 | Dennis Green | 1981–1985 | 55 | 10 | 45 | 0 | 0.182 | 7 | 37 | 0 | 0.159 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 26 | Francis Peay | 1986–1991 | 66 | 13 | 51 | 2 | 0.212 | 9 | 38 | 1 | 0.198 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 27 | Gary Barnett | 1992–1998 | 81 | 35 | 45 | 1 | 0.438 | 23 | 33 | 0 | 0.411 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | — | — |
| 28 | Randy Walker | 1999–2005 | 83 | 37 | 46 | — | 0.446 | 24 | 32 | — | 0.429 | 0 | 3 | — | 1 | — | — |
| 29 | Pat Fitzgerald | 2006–2022 | 211 | 110 | 101 | — | 0.521 | 65 | 76 | — | 0.461 | 5 | 5 | — | 0 | — | Bobby Dodd COY (2020) |
| 30 | David Braun | 2023–present | 25 | 12 | 13 | — | 0.480 | 7 | 11 | — | 0.389 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |