List of VMI Keydets head football coaches

John McKenna
John McKenna, the program's all-time winningest football coach, brought VMI four SoCon championships.

The VMI Keydets football team competes in the Southern Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Football Championship Subdivision, representing the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Since its inception in 1891, the program has had 30 head coaches.

Although the origins of VMI football date back to 1873, the first organized football team did not appear until 1891. The first head coach was Walter Taylor, the son of Walter H. Taylor, a prominent banker, lawyer, and aide-de-camp to Robert E. Lee.[1] Notable coaches include Blandy Clarkson, who spent seven seasons with the Keydets and led the team to their first undefeated season in 1920; John McKenna, the school's all-time most victorious coach who compiled a record of 62–60–8 in thirteen seasons with VMI while winning four Southern Conference championships; and Bob Thalman, the second most victorious coach who led the team to the 1974 and 1977 conference titles. The most recent Keydet head coach was Sparky Woods, who coached seven seasons for the Keydets before being let go by the school in 2014.

In over 120 years of football, VMI has an all-time record of 465–657–42 (.418). The team has not had a winning season since 1981 (they had even 6–6 seasons in 2002 and 2003), and has yet to make the FCS playoffs since the subdivision's inception in 1978.

Key

General
# A running total of the number of coaches
CCs Conference championships
NCs National Championships
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

Overall games
GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
T Ties[lower-alpha 1]
W% Winning percentage

Conference games
CW Wins
CL Losses
CT Ties
C% Winning percentage

Postseason games
PW Wins
PL Losses
PT Ties

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[2]
# Name Season(s)[lower-alpha 2] GC W L T W% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CCs NCs National awards
1 Walter Taylor 1891 4 3 0 1 .875
2 George Bryant 1895–1896 13 8 5 0 .615
3 R. N. Groner 1897 5 3 2 0 .600
4 Samuel Boyle, Jr. 1899 7 5 2 0 .714
5 Sam Walker 1900–1902 21 11 7 3 .595
6 William Roper[3] 1903–1904 11 5 6 0 .455
7 Ira Johnson 1905–1906 16 6 9 1 .406
8 Charles Roller 1907–1908 13 8 5 0 .615
9 William C. Gloth 1909–1910 14 7 6 1 .536
10 Alpha Brummage 1911–1912 16 14 2 0 .875
11 Henry Poague 1913 10 7 1 2 .800
12 Frank Gorton 1914–1916 26 14 16 1 .558
13 Earl Abell 1917 9 4 4 1 .500
14 Earl Abell
Mose Goodman
1918 4 1 3 0 .250
15 Red Fleming 1919 8 6 2 0 .750
16 Blandy Clarkson 1920–1926 67 45 20 2 .687 5 12 1 .306
17 W. C. Raftery 1927–1936 98 38 55 5 .413 18 33 3 .361
18 Allison Hubert 1937–1946 96 43 45 8 .490 29 24 7 .650
19 Arthur Morton 1947–1948 18 9 8 1 .339 7 4 1 .625
20 Tom Nugent 1949–1952 39 19 18 2 .513 15 6 1 .705 1
21 John McKenna 1953–1965 130 62 60 8 .508 44 27 5 .612 4
22 Vito Ragazzo 1966–1970 51 10 41 0 .196 5 18 0 .217
23 Bob Thalman 1971–1984 151 54 94 3 .368 25 43 2 .371 2
24 Eddie Williamson 1985–1988 44 10 33 1 .239 5 18 1 .229
25 Jim Shuck 1989–1993 55 14 40 1 .264 6 37 1 .191
26 Bill Stewart 1994–1996 33 8 25 0 .242 7 17 0 .292
27 Ted Cain[lower-alpha 3] 1997–1998 21 1 20 .048 0 16 .000
28 Cal McCombs 1999–2005 79 19 60 .241 9 35 .205
29 Jim Reid 2006–2007 22 3 19 .136 0 8 .000
30 Sparky Woods 2008–2014 79 17 62 .215 9 32 .220
31 Scott Wachenheim 2015–pres. 0 0 0 0 0

Notes

  1. Overtimes rules were added to college football in 1996, thereby eliminating ties.
  2. From 1892 to 1894, the team had no coach.
  3. Cain was fired with one game remaining in the 1998 season, leaving Donny White to coach the final game on an interim basis. VMI lost the game to The Citadel, 36–10.

References

General

Specific

  1. Miller, John A. "Lee's Famous Staff Officer Walter Taylor Jr." Emmitsburg Area Historical Society. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  2. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2014 College Football season.
  3. Bill Roper – Hall of Fame Biography
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