# List of Sam Houston Bearkats head football coaches

The Sam Houston Bearkats college football team represents Sam Houston State University as a member of Conference USA (C-USA). The Bearkats competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 16 head coaches and one interim head coach since it began play during the 1912 season. Between 2014 and 2024, K. C. Keeler served as head coach at Sam Houston. Since December 2024, Phil Longo has served as head coach at Sam Houston.
Since 1912, four coaches have led Sam Houston in postseason appearances: Paul Pierce, Ron Randleman, Willie Fritz, Keeler, and Brad Cornelsen. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: J. W. Jones captured one as a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association; Pierce captured four as a member of the Lone Star Conference; Randleman captured two as a member of the Gulf Star Conference; and Randleman captured three, Fritz two, and Keeler four as a member of the Southland Conference. The Bearkats also won national championships under Pierce in 1964 (NAIA) and under Keeler in 2020–21 (FCS).
Randleman is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 131 victories during his 23 years with the program. Fritz has the highest winning percentage with .727, and Billy Tidwell has the lowest winning percentage with .274.

## 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 | Sheldon R. Warner | 1912–1913 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0.611 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 2 | Gene Berry | 1914–1917 1919 | 30 | 14 | 15 | 1 | 0.483 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 3 | Mutt Gee | 1920–1922 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 0.471 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 4 | J. W. Jones | 1923–1935 | 116 | 54 | 53 | 9 | 0.504 | 31 | 27 | 5 | 0.532 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | — |
| 5 | Henry O. Crawford | 1936–1937 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 0.368 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0.125 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 6 | Puny Wilson | 1938–1942 1946–1951 | 105 | 50 | 49 | 6 | 0.505 | 18 | 27 | 3 | 0.406 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 7 | Paul Pierce | 1952–1967 | 153 | 94 | 52 | 7 | 0.637 | 57 | 41 | 4 | 0.578 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | 4 | 1 – 1964 | — |
| 8 | Tom Page | 1968–1971 | 42 | 20 | 19 | 3 | 0.512 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 9 | Allen Boren | 1972–1973 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0.333 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 0.353 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 10 | Billy Tidwell | 1974–1977 | 42 | 11 | 30 | 1 | 0.274 | 10 | 22 | 0 | 0.313 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 11 | Melvin Brown | 1978–1981 | 41 | 12 | 29 | 0 | 0.293 | 8 | 20 | 0 | 0.286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 12 | Ron Randleman | 1982–2004 | 259 | 131 | 125 | 3 | 0.512 | 62 | 75 | 2 | 0.453 | 3 | 4 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | — |
| 13 | Todd Whitten | 2005–2009 | 53 | 25 | 28 | — | 0.472 | 16 | 17 | — | 0.485 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 14 | Willie Fritz | 2010–2013 | 55 | 40 | 15 | — | 0.727 | 21 | 7 | — | 0.750 | 7 | 3 | — | — | 2 | 0 | AFCA FCS Coach of the Year (2011) Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award (2012) |
| 15 | K. C. Keeler | 2014–2024 | 136 | 97 | 39 | — | 0.713 | 65 | 21 | — | 0.756 | 14 | 5 | — | — | 4 | 1 – 2020–21 | Eddie Robinson Award (2016) |
| Int. | Brad Cornelsen | 2024 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | — | – | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 16 | Phil Longo | 2025–present | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | – | 0 | 0 | — | – | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | — |