# List of Hillsdale Chargers head football coaches

The Hillsdale Chargers football program is a college football team that represents Hillsdale College in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a part of the NCAA Division II. The team has had 29 head coaches (not counting "student coaches") since its first recorded football game in 1891. The current coach is Nate Shreffler 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

| No. | Name | Term | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | CCs | Awards |
| 0 | No coach | 1891–1895 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | .583 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | Duncan M. Martin | 1896, 1898 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Nate Duffy | 1897 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 0 | No coach | 1899–1903 | 28 | 9 | 19 | 0 | .321 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Harry McRae | 1904 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 0 | No coach | 1905 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | William Boone | 1906 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | James Whipple | 1907 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Herbert C. Reed | 1908–1910 | 21 | 7 | 9 | 5 | .452 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Claude J. Hunt | 1911–1912 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | .708 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Charles Firth | 1913 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .417 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Leroy Buchiet | 1914–1917 | 27 | 10 | 14 | 3 | .426 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Lawrence Manson | 1918 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .167 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | Samuel Taylor | 1919 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12 | William J. Rennie | 1920–1921 | 17 | 12 | 4 | 1 | .735 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Louis Ost | 1922 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | Howard B. Jefferson | 1923–1924 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | .667 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | Elroy Guckert | 1925–1926 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | .625 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Dwight Harwood | 1927–1945 | 135 | 69 | 52 | 14 | .563 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | David M. Nelson$^†$ | 1946–1947 | 17 | 14 | 1 | 2 | .882 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 18 | Gib Holgate | 1948 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | .722 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Jack Petoskey | 1949–1950 | 19 | 11 | 7 | 1 | .605 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | Irv Wisniewski | 1951 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 21 | Henry Fallon | 1952 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 22 | Charlie Bachman$^†$ | 1953 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 23 | Muddy Waters$^†$ | 1954–1973 | 190 | 138 | 47 | 5 | .739 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | Jack McAvoy | 1974–1977 | 41 | 24 | 16 | 1 | .598 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 25 | Ron Lynch | 1978–1979 | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | .364 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 26 | Dick Lowry | 1980–1996 | 188 | 134 | 52 | 2 | .718 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 27 | Dave Dye | 1997–2001 | 55 | 21 | 34 | 0 | .382 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 28 | Keith Otterbein | 2002–2023 | 229 | 127 | 102 | 0 | .555 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 29 | Nate Shreffler | 2024–present | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |