These 15 Coaches Have Lost More Games Than Anyone Else In College Football

College football’s history is filled with legendary coaches that made massive impacts on the sport. Some of those leaders stuck around long enough to make this unfortunate list.

There are 15 coaches that have lost at least 130 games in their careers. You’ll find a few that are also amongst the sport’s win leaders. Others, however, are remembered only for their lack of success.

This list of losers relates only to those that suffered defeat while at “major schools.”

15 College Football Coaches With The Most Losses

Each of these head coaches’ careers spanned decades. Longevity played a major role in their inclusion in the standings.

With that being said, they all experienced a few rocky seasons they’d like to have wiped clean from the slate. Without further ado, here are the 15 college football coaches that have lost more than anyone else!

15) Bill Mallory

• Years coached: 27
• Teams coached: Miami (OH), Colorado, Northern Illinois, Indiana
• Total losses: 130

Mallory had winning records at his first three stops. He dominated the MAC, going 11-0 in his final season with Miami (OH) and winning 10 games his last year at Northern Illinois.

His record began trending down after accepting the Indiana job, where he went 0-11 in Year 1. Mallory was 68-78-3 with the Hoosiers after having gone 99-52 prior.

T-13) George Welsh

• Years coached: 28
• Teams coached: Navy, Virginia
• Total losses: 132

Welsh started at Navy in 1973. He’d post a 55-46-1 overall mark with the Midshipmen before moving onto Virginia.

With the Cavs, he was a four-time ACC Coach of the Year. After going 2-9 in his first season, he ripped off 16 winning seasons over the next 17 years.

Welsh had winning records at both of his stops, though he only reached 10 wins once in his career. His 325 games coached ranks 18th in college football history, but those multi-loss seasons continued to add up.

T-13) Lou Holtz

• Years coached: 33
• Teams coached: William & Mary, NC State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, South Carolina
• Total losses: 132

Holtz is a Hall of Famer. He’s a national championship winner. He’s also experienced defeat more than most every other college football coach to roam the sidelines.

Holtz had winning records at NC State, Arkansas, and Notre Dame. He posted losing marks at his three other stops, highlighted by an 0-11 season at South Carolina.

The coach ranks eighth in games coached and 10th in wins. He also comes in at No. 13 in total losses.

12) Howard Schnellenberger

• Years coached: 24
• Teams coached: Miami, Louisville, Oklahoma, Florida Atlantic
• Total losses: 133

Schnellenberger coached at some of the highest profile stops in college football. He won a national title with the Hurricanes in 1983. He also led the Cardinals to a 10-win campaign and the Owls to nine wins in 2004.

The highs were high, but the lows were low. He left Oklahoma after one 5-5-1 season. He lost six games or more 12 times, including a career-worst 1-11 output in his final college season.

11) Jim Sweeney

• Years coached: 27
• Teams coached: Washington State, Fresno State
• Total losses: 134

Sweeney is the winningest coach in Fresno State history. The field was named after him as a result. He also owns the most losses by a Bulldogs coach.

Sweeney led the program to five 10+ win campaigns across 19 seasons but also had six losing years. He was 143-75-3 at Fresno State, which followed a 26-59-1 output at Washington State that included back-to-back one-win seasons.

10) Joe Paterno

• Years coached: 46
• Teams coached: Penn State
• Total losses: 136

Paterno can credit longevity to his inclusion on this list. He finished under .500 just five times across four decades. He also led the Nittany Lions to two national championships.

His 548 games coached ranks first in the sport. Despite winning nearly 75% of those contests, he has a spot amongst college football’s all-time losers.

T-8) Johnny Majors

• Years coached: 29
• Teams coached: Iowa State, Pitt, Tennessee
• Total losses: 137

Majors posted four losing seasons in five tries at Iowa State before taking the job at Pitt. He led the Panthers to a national championship four years later.

He then moved onto Tennessee where he went 116-62-8 across 16 seasons, only to return to Pitt and end his career with four straight seasons of 4-7 or worse.

College Football Coaches With The Most Losses: T-8) Watson Brown

• Years coached: 19
• Teams coached: Cincinnati, Rice, Vanderbilt, UAB
• Total losses: 137

Watson Brown is technically recognized as the college football coach with the most all-time losses. He dropped 211 games across his lengthy career. Stints at Tennessee Tech and Austin Peay don’t count against him for this list, though.

Still, he holds a Top 10 spot in terms of “major” losses. Brown was 4-6 at Cincy, 4-18 at Rice, 10-45 at Vandy, and 57-68 with UAB. He had four ten-loss campaigns, but he still falls below a family member that will later be mentioned.

7) Ken Hatfield

• Years coached: 27
• Teams coached: Air Force, Arkansas, Clemson, Rice
• Total losses: 140

Hatfield started 4-18 across his first two seasons at Air Force before turning the Falcons into a 10-win program. He then left for Arkansas where he went 55-17 with a trio of 10-2 records.

At Clemson, the success continued though he was not offered a contract extension amid a 32-13 start. He ended his career with a 13-year stretch at Rice, where he logged more than half of his 140 career losses.

6) Dick Tomey

• Years coached: 29
• Teams coached: Hawaii, Arizona, San Jose State
• Total losses: 145

Tomey spent a decade at Hawaii where he posted an overall record of 63-46-3. He was then hired by Arizona, going 95-64 across 14 seasons. That included a 12-1 showing in the 1998 campaign that saw the Wildcats finish fourth in the final rankings.

He resigned in 2000 after a losing season before coaching at San Jose State from 2005-2009. Unfortunately, he finished above .500 just once and went 2-10 in his final year.

5) Mike Price

• Years coached: 24
• Teams coached: Washington State, UTEP
• Total losses: 146

Price experienced eight losing seasons across his first 12 years at Washington State before breaking through with back-to-back 10-win campaigns in 2001 and 2002. He then left the Cougars for Alabama but resigned before ever coaching a game.

The next year, he landed at UTEP where he spent the next decade. While he won eight games in each of his first two seasons, he posted losing records in his final eight years as a head coach.

4) Mack Brown

• Years coached: 35
• Teams coached: Tulane, North Carolina, Texas
• Total losses: 150

Brown is the first member of the ‘150 club’ on this list. Despite having a national championship under his belt, he has the fourth-most losses by a college football coach. His three-and-a-half decades of coaching are the main culprit.

Brown spent his first three seasons at Tulane where he failed to produce a winning record but did improve the win total each year. He then moved to North Carolina where he went 1-10 in Years 1 and 2.

He ended his (first) stint with the Tar Heels with back-to-back 10-win campaigns before going on an incredible run at Texas. After a brief retirement, he returned to Chapel Hill but was unable to match the success seen in his previous tenure. Still, he boasts an overall record of 282-150-1.

3) Rich Brooks

• Years coached: 25
• Teams coached: Oregon, Kentucky
• Total losses: 156

Brooks was tasked with turning around a pair of programs mired in mediocrity. In many ways, he succeeded. He took his lumps along the way, though.

He led Oregon to just its fourth nine-win season in program history in 1994, but that came in Year 18 after having already gone 82-105 with the Ducks.

He left Eugene for the NFL but later returned to the college level to coach at Kentucky. Brooks went 39-47 with the Wildcats across seven seasons.

2) Jess Neely

• Years coached: 36
• Teams coached: Clemson, Rice
• Total losses: 159

Neely topped this list for some time having last coached at Rice in 1966. While he’s since been surpassed, he still ranks No. 2 in college football losses.

Neely started at Clemson in 1931 where he stayed for nine seasons. There, he posted a 43-35-7 record. After a rough start which saw the Tigers go 27-33-6 through seven years, the team won 16 of 19 games across Neely’s final two seasons. That included a Cotton Bowl in 1939, the Tigers’ first postseason win in program history.

He then left for Rice where he coached the next 27 years, posting a 144-124 record. His time with the Owls was up and down. While he did lead the team to a 10-1 season in 1949, he also won two games or less on five occasions.

1) Hayden Fry

• Years coached: 37
• Teams coached: SMU, North Texas, Iowa
• Total losses: 180

Fry is the coach that has lost more than any other in high level college football. Like many before him on this list, much of that can be blamed on a lengthy career.

He roamed the sidelines for nearly four decades and ranks seventh all-time in games coached. He won 230 contests. He lost 180.

Fry started at SMU where he was rather pedestrian in the win/loss column (49-66). Things got better at North Texas, where he went 38-25 across five seasons before taking the job at Iowa.

There, he saw a great deal of success. The Hawkeyes finished the year ranked in the Top 25 on ten occasions under Fry’s guidance. They reached No. 1 in the polls during the 1985 season.

Despite that success, he accumulated more losses than anyone to come before or after. Ironically, his replacement Kirk Ferentz is the closest active head coach to Fry’s mark with 125 losses. Will he take the title? Time will tell!