# List of Carthage Firebirds head football coaches

The Carthage Firebirds football program, previously known as Redmen and more recently as Red Men, with the change to "Firebirds" occurring on February 19, 2021, is a college football team that represents Carthage College in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, a part of NCAA Division III. The team has had 22 head coaches since its first recorded football game in 1895. The current coach is Matt Popino, who first took the position for the 2024 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 2024 college football season.
| No. | Name | Term | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | CCs | NCs |
| 1 | Ralph McKee | 1895–1900 | 26 | 20 | 5 | 1 | .788 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Ben Mathis | 1901 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Wilber Larrick | 1902–1904 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | .563 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Bud Hendrickson | 1905 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Carl Sundberg | 1906 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | .600 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Russell Osborne | 1907 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | J. Arthur Baird | 1908–1914 | 46 | 24 | 19 | 3 | .554 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Stewart Clark | 1915–1919 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0 | .533 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Forest Loudin | 1916–1920 | 23 | 8 | 13 | 2 | .391 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Lewis Omer | 1921–1935 | 120 | 50 | 52 | 18 | .492 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | Hub Wagner | 1936–1942 | 55 | 20 | 29 | 6 | .418 | — | — | — | | — | — | 1 | — |
| X | No team during WWII | 1943–1944 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 12 | Paul LaVinn | 1945–1946 | 13 | 2 | 10 | 1 | .192 | 0 | 4 | 0 | | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Roscoe W. Scott | 1947–1949 | 25 | 11 | 12 | 2 | .480 | 6 | 9 | 1 | | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | Loel D. Frederickson | 1950–1951 | 18 | 2 | 16 | 0 | .111 | 1 | 9 | 0 | | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | Art Keller | 1952–1982 | 272 | 178 | 87 | 7 | .667 | 105 | 53 | 3 | | — | 2 | 8 | — |
| 16 | Ken Wagner | 1983–1984 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | .333 | 5 | 11 | 0 | | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | Roger Scott | 1985–1987 | 27 | 6 | 21 | 0 | .222 | 6 | 18 | 0 | | — | — | — | — |
| 18 | Jack Synold | 1988–1991 | 36 | 12 | 24 | 0 | .333 | 10 | 22 | 0 | | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Mike Larry | 1992–1994 | 27 | 2 | 25 | 0 | .074 | 2 | 19 | 0 | | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | Tim Rucks | 1995–2012 | 175 | 95 | 79 | 1 | .546 | 55 | 67 | 1 | | 2 | 1 | 1 | — |
| 21 | Mike Yeager | 2012–2017 | 53 | 23 | 30 | 0 | .434 | 16 | 21 | 0 | .432 | — | — | — | — |
| 22 | Dustin Hass | 2018–2023 | 52 | 19 | 33 | 0 | .365 | 19 | 28 | 0 | .404 | — | — | — | — |
| 23 | Matt Popino | 2024–present | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | 2 | 7 | 0 | .222 | — | — | — | — |
table reference