# List of Adrian Bulldogs head football coaches

The Adrian Bulldogs football program is a college football team that represents Adrian College in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, a part of the Division III (NCAA). The team has had 25 head coaches and one interim head coach since its first recorded football game in 1892. The current coach is Joe Palka 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 | Unknown | 1892–1902, 1905 | 14 | 2 | 11 | 1 | .179 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | E. E. Tarr | 1903–1904 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | .538 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Coach Huffstrater | 1906–1910 | 26 | 7 | 15 | 4 | .346 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Tom Leith | 1911–1912 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Coach Brown | 1913 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | .333 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Frank Coombs | 1914 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | W. H. Dague | 1915 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Perry Grimm | 1916–1917 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| X | No team | 1918 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Harvey E. Orwick | 1919 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | B. M. Allman | 1921–1922 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | .688 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Dale R. "Spank" Sprankle | 1923–1935 | 115 | 55 | 52 | 8 | .513 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | Frank Ballenger | 1936–1937 | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | .222 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12 | Harve A. Oliphant | 1938–1941 | 32 | 5 | 26 | 1 | .172 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| X | No team | 1942–1945 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Lyman E. Abbott | 1946–1949 | 33 | 12 | 20 | 1 | .379 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | John Darnton | 1950 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | Theodore "Ted" Boyett | 1951–1952 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 1 | .233 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Joe Fortunato | 1953–1955 | 26 | 8 | 17 | 1 | .327 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | Robert Gillis | 1956–1958 | 24 | 9 | 15 | 0 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 18 | Les Leggett | 1959–1961 | 24 | 9 | 14 | 1 | .396 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Charles Marvin | 1962–1967 | 47 | 14 | 33 | 0 | .298 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | William C. "Bill" Davis | 1968–1973 | 53 | 21 | 32 | 0 | .396 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 21 | Tom Heckert | 1974–1981 | 72 | 42 | 28 | 2 | .597 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 22 | Ron Labadie | 1982–1989 | 74 | 53 | 21 | 0 | .716 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 23 | Jim Lyall | 1990–2009 | 190 | 97 | 92 | 1 | .513 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | Jim Deere | 2010–2023 | 136 | 76 | 60 | 0 | .559 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Int. | Harry Bailey | 2023 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 25 | Joe Palka | 2024–present | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |

## Details

    The following are details on coaches that do not have articles on Wikipedia. For coaches with articles on Wikipedia, see links in the table above.

### Coach Huffstrater

An individual with the last name "Huffstrater" was the head coach for 5 seasons, from 1906 until 1910. His coaching record at Adrian was 7 wins, 15 losses and 4 ties. As of the conclusion of the 2010 season, this ranks him #12 at Adrian in total wins and #15 at the school in winning percentage (.346).

### Coach Brown

A coach with the last name "Brown" was in the position for the 1913 season. Brown's coaching record at Adrian was 2 wins and 4 losses. As of the conclusion of the 2010 season, this ranks him #21 at Adrian in total wins and #16 at the school in winning percentage (.333)."