# List of Stanford Cardinal head football coaches

The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cardinal competes as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The team has had 32 head coaches since its founding in 1892. Troy Taylor is the current head coach.
The Cardinal have played in 1,207 games of American football in 112 seasons. In their first season, the team played 4 games with no head coach. From 1906 to 1917, Stanford replaced football with rugby. The school did not field teams in 1918 and from 1943 to 1945 due to World War I and World War II, respectively.
Conference championships have been won by Pop Warner, Tiny Thornhill, Clark Shaughnessy, Chuck Taylor, John Ralston, Bill Walsh, Tyrone Willingham, and David Shaw. Shaw is the all-time leader in games coached and most victories, having won his 72nd game in a 17–14 win over Cal in the 120th Big Game on November 18, 2017. James F. Lanagan is the leader in win percentage for coaches with more than one season of service. Shaw was also the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2017 respectively.
Of the 32 Stanford head coaches, six—Walter Camp, Fielding H. Yost, Andrew Kerr, Warner, Shaughnessy, and Ralston—have been inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches. Four more—George H. Brooke (who played at Swarthmore), Marchmont Schwartz (who played at Notre Dame), Chuck Taylor (who played at Stanford) and Paul Wiggin (who also played at Stanford)—are in the Hall of Fame as players.

## 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 | DC | CC | NC | Awards |
| 1 | Walter Camp$^†$ | 1892, 1894–1895 | 17 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0.735 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | C. D. "Pop" Bliss | 1893 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0.944 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 3 | Harry P. Cross | 1896 1898 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0.615 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 4 | George H. Brooke$^†$ | 1897 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.800 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 5 | Burr Chamberlain | 1899 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0.333 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 6 | Fielding H. Yost$^†$ | 1900 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0.750 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 7 | Charles Fickert | 1901 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0.571 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 0 | — |
| 8 | Carl L. Clemans | 1902 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0.857 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 9 | James F. Lanagan | 1903–1905 | 29 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 0.862 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 10 | Bob Evans | 1919 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 11 | Walter D. Powell | 1920 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0.571 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 12 | Eugene Van Gent | 1921 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.625 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 13 | Andrew Kerr$^†$ | 1922–1923 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0.611 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0.375 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 14 | Pop Warner$^†$ | 1924–1932 | 96 | 71 | 17 | 8 | 0.781 | 31 | 9 | 5 | 0.744 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 | 1 – 1926 | — |
| 15 | Claude E. Thornhill | 1933–1939 | 67 | 35 | 25 | 7 | 0.575 | 25 | 18 | 4 | 0.574 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | — |
| 16 | Clark Shaughnessy$^†$ | 1940–1941 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0.842 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0.786 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 – 1940 | AFCA Coach of the Year (1940) |
| 17 | Marchmont Schwartz$^†$ | 1942 1946–1950 | 60 | 28 | 28 | 4 | 0.500 | 17 | 25 | 3 | 0.411 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 18 | Chuck Taylor$^†$ | 1951–1957 | 71 | 40 | 29 | 2 | 0.577 | 25 | 20 | 2 | 0.553 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | AFCA Coach of the Year (1951) |
| 19 | Jack Curtice | 1958–1962 | 50 | 14 | 36 | 0 | 0.280 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 0.208 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 20 | John Ralston$^†$ | 1963–1971 | 94 | 55 | 36 | 3 | 0.601 | 30 | 25 | 2 | 0.544 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year (1970) |
| 21 | Jack Christiansen | 1972–1976 | 55 | 30 | 22 | 3 | 0.573 | 22 | 12 | 1 | 0.643 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 22 | Bill Walsh | 1977–1978 1992–1994 | 59 | 34 | 24 | 1 | 0.585 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0.500 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | Pac-8 Coach of the Year (1977) |
| 23 | Rod Dowhower | 1979 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0.500 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 24 | Paul Wiggin$^†$ | 1980–1983 | 44 | 16 | 28 | 0 | 0.364 | 11 | 23 | 0 | 0.324 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 25 | Jack Elway | 1984–1988 | 56 | 25 | 29 | 2 | 0.464 | 16 | 22 | 2 | 0.425 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 26 | Dennis Green | 1989–1991 | 34 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 0.471 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 0.542 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 27 | Tyrone Willingham | 1995–2001 | 81 | 44 | 36 | 1 | 0.549 | 32 | 24 | 0 | 0.571 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | Pac-10 Coach of the Year (1999) |
| 28 | Buddy Teevens | 2002–2004 | 33 | 10 | 23 | — | 0.303 | 5 | 19 | — | 0.208 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 29 | Walt Harris | 2005–2006 | 23 | 6 | 17 | — | 0.261 | 5 | 12 | — | 0.294 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 30 | Jim Harbaugh | 2007–2010 | 50 | 29 | 21 | — | 0.580 | 21 | 15 | — | 0.583 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 31 | David Shaw | 2011–2022 | 150 | 96 | 54 | — | 0.640 | 65 | 40 | — | 0.619 | 5 | 3 | — | 4 | 3 | 0 | Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017) |
| 32 | Troy Taylor | 2023–present | 24 | 6 | 18 | — | 0.250 | 4 | 13 | — | 0.235 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |