# List of Wheaton Thunder head football coaches

The Wheaton Thunder football program is a college football team that represents Wheaton College in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, a part of the Division III (NCAA). The team has had 23 head coaches since its first recorded football game in 1900. The current coach is Jesse Scott who first took the position for the 2021 season.

## 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

Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 college football season, except the conference win/loss/tie statistics are incomplete.
| No. | Name | Term | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | PW | PL | CCs | NCs |
| – | No coach | 1900 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| X | No team | 1901–1911 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| – | No coach | 1912 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| X | No team | 1913 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | Jasper Turnbell | 1914–1915 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | .462 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Bob Robinson | 1916 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| – | No coach | 1917 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| X | No team | 1918 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Rex Gary | 1919–1920 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 | .458 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Robert S. Woodruff | 1921 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | .750 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Jack Conley | 1922–1924 | 21 | 8 | 11 | 2 | .429 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Dave Gillespie | 1925 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .125 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Ed Coray | 1926–1928 | 22 | 5 | 14 | 3 | .295 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Vic Gustafson | 1929–1934 | 46 | 14 | 27 | 5 | .359 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Wendel Smith | 1935 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | .313 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Mysterious Walker | 1936–1939 | 29 | 11 | 14 | 4 | .448 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 11, 14 | Harvey Chrouser | 1940–1941, 1946–1960 | 146 | 104 | 34 | 8 | .740 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12 | Albert Graff | 1942 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | .611 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Carl E. DeVries | 1943–1945 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 3 | .658 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | Jack Swartz | 1961–1968 | 71 | 41 | 30 | 0 | .577 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Mal Pearson | 1969–1970 | 18 | 4 | 13 | 1 | .250 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | Gary Taylor | 1971–1972 | 18 | 2 | 16 | 0 | .111 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 18 | Dewey King | 1973–1979 | 63 | 29 | 34 | 0 | .460 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Clift Schimmels | 1980 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | .222 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | Jim Rexilius | 1981 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | .222 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| 21 | J. R. Bishop | 1982–1995 | 128 | 84 | 43 | 1 | .660 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — |
| 22 | Mike Swider | 1996–2019 | 261 | 209 | 52 | 0 | .801 | 140 | 34 | 0 | 15 | 11 | 9 | — |
| 23 | Jesse Scott | 2020–present | 46 | 37 | 9 | — | .804 | 32 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — |