List of Indiana Hoosiers head football coaches

The Indiana Hoosiers football team represents Indiana University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers compete as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 29 different head coaches since it began play during the 1887 season. ^[1]

The Hoosiers have played over 1,100 games over 122 seasons. Six different head coaches have led the Hoosiers to postseason bowl games: John Pont, Lee Corso, Bill Mallory, Bill Lynch, Kevin Wilson and Tom Allen. Indiana has a 3–8 record over 11 bowl games in which they have competed. The Hoosiers have been guided to the Big Ten Conference title twice: in 1945 by Bo McMillin and in 1967 by Pont. The 1967 season culminated in the Hoosiers' first and only Rose Bowl appearance, a 14–3 loss to USC.

McMillin spent the most seasons (14) as the Indiana head coach, but Bill Mallory has led the Hoosiers for the most games (149). Mallory took the program to six different bowl games, far more than any other coach in school history. The highest winning percentage by any coach is by Madison G. Gonterman, who led the Hoosiers to a 12-3-1 record (.781) over two seasons in 1896–97. The lowest winning percentage for any coach in the modern era is by Bob Hicks, who went 1-8 (.111) in 1957, his only season at the helm.

In 2007, head coach Terry Hoeppner died of brain cancer. ^[2] Offensive coordinator Bill Lynch took over as head coach and led the 2007 Hoosiers to a 7–6 season, which included a last-second win over rival Purdue in the Bucket Game and a trip to the Insight Bowl. The bowl berth was the first for the Hoosiers in 14 years. ^[3]

Kevin Wilson would take over the Hoosiers football program in December 2011. With an overall record of 26–47, Wilson would bring the Hoosiers to their first bowl game since 2007, at the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl. This would be Wilson's only bowl game, as Wilson resigned on December 1, 2016, amidst "philosophical differences" with Athletic Director Fred Glass and allegations of player mistreatment. ^{[4] [5]}

Tom Allen succeeded Wilson. Indiana was the first head coaching job for Allen, who was promoted from Defensive Coordinator to Head Coach in December 2016. ^[6] Allen's first game as head coach of the Hoosiers was on December 28, 2016, in the Foster Farms Bowl. Allen coached the Hoosiers in three bowl games total, including during the 2020 season when Indiana finished 12th in the AP poll. Allen was fired after the 2023 season, which concluded three straight losing seasons with a combined 3-24 Big Ten Conference record.

Curt Cignetti was named the 30th head coach at Indiana in November 2023. ^[7] Cignetti left his position at James Madison University, where he had a 52-9 record. Including stops at Elon University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Cignetti had a combined 119-35 record as a head coach prior to joining Indiana.

Coaches

Head Coach	Years	Seasons	Record	Pct.	Conf. record	Pct.	Conf. titles	Bowl games	vs. Purdue
Arthur B. Woodford	1887–1888	2	0–1–1	.250
Evans Woollen	1889	1	0–1	.000
Billy Herod	1891	1	1–5	.167					0–1
None	1892–1893	2	3–6–1	.350					0–2
Gustave Ferbert & Joseph R. Hudelson	1894	1	0–4–1	.100					0–1
Winchester Osgood & Robert Wrenn	1895	1	4–3–1	.563
Madison G. Gonterman	1896–1897	2	12–3–1	.781					0–1
James H. Horne	1898–1904	7	33–21–5	.602	3–13–1	.206	0	0	3–3
James M. Sheldon	1905–1913	9	35–26–3	.570	7–25–2	.235	0	0	3–3–1
Clarence Childs	1914–1915	2	6–7–1	.464	2–7	.222	0	0	0–2
Ewald O. Stiehm	1916–1921	5	20–18–1	.526	5–10–1	.344	0	0	3–0–1
James P. Herron	1922	1	1–4–2	.286	0–2–1	.167	0	0	0–0–1
Bill Ingram	1923–1925	3	10–12–1	.457	3–8–1	.292	0	0	1–1–1
Harlan Page	1926–1930	5	14–23–3	.388	5–16–2	.261	0	0	1–4
Earl C. Hayes	1931–1933	3	8–14–4	.385	2–11–4	.235	0	0	0–3
Bo McMillin	1934–1947	14	63–48–11	.561	34–34–6	.500	1	0	9–4–1
Clyde Smith	1948–1951	4	8–27–1	.236	4–19	.174	0	0	0–4
Bernie Crimmins	1952–1956	5	13–32	.289	6–24	.200	0	0	0–5
Bob Hicks	1957	1	1–8	.111	0–6	.000	0	0	0–1
Phil Dickens	1958–1964	7	20–41–2	.333	8–27–2	.243	0	0	1–5–1
John Pont	1965–1972	8	31–51–1	.380	21–36–1	.371	1	1	2–7
Lee Corso	1973–1982	10	41–68–2	.378	28–52–2	.354	0	1	4–6
Sam Wyche	1983	1	3–8	.273	2–7	.222	0	0	0–1
Bill Mallory	1984–1996	13	69–77–3	.473	39–65–1	.376	0	6	7–6
Cam Cameron	1997–2001	5	18–37	.327	12–28	.300	0	0	1–4
Gerry DiNardo	2002–2004	3	8–27	.229	3–21	.125	0	0	0–3
Terry Hoeppner	2005–2006	2	9–14	.391	4–12	.250	0	0	0–2
Bill Lynch	2007–2010	4	19–30	.388	6–26	.188	0	1	2–2
Kevin Wilson	2011–2016	5	18–38	.321	6–30	.167	0	1	3–1
Tom Allen	2016–2023	7	33–49	.402	18–43	.295	0	3	1–5
Curt Cignetti	2023	1	0-0	–	0	–	0-0	0	0-0
Totals	1887–present	134	501–703–45	.419	218–522–24	.301	2	13	41–73–6

References

1. "Indiana Football 2012 Record Book" (PDF). Grfx.cstv.com. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
2. "Hoeppner's death is a loss for all of football". Sports.espn.go.com. 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
3. "2007 Insight Bowl Preview, College Football Bowl Games". Collegefootballpoll.com. 1991-12-31. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
4. Gregg Doyel and Zach Osterman (December 1, 2016). "Sources:IU to dismiss football coach Wilson". www.indystar.com. Indianapolis Star. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
5. "Chris Widlic (@Chris_Widlic) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
6. Doyel, Gregg; Osterman, Zach (December 1, 2016). "IU, Kevin Wilson part ways; Tom Allen named new head coach". indystar.com. Indianapolis Star. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
7. IU Athletics (November 30, 2023). "Cignetti Named 30th Head Football Coach at Indiana University". www.iuathletics.com. Indiana University. Retrieved November 30, 2023.