List of San Diego State Aztecs head football coaches

The San Diego State Aztecs football team represents San Diego State University in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) College Division in the years 1921–1968. In 1969, the team moved to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I.

The program has had 19 head coaches in its 97 seasons of existence. Don Coryell is the coach with the highest winning percentage (.840) and most wins (104) of any San Diego State coaches. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.^[1] From a perspective of Bowl appearances, the former coach Rocky Long has been the most successful and has led the Aztecs to a Bowl game in each of his nine years as head coach.

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General		Overall		Conference		Postseason^{[A 1]}
No.	Order of coaches^{[A 2]}	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^{[A 3]}	C%	Conference winning percentage
†	Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame	O%	Overall winning percentage^{[A 4]}

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards^{[A 5]}
No.	Name	Season(s)^{[A 6]}	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	DC	CC	NC	Awards
1	Charles E. Peterson	1921–1929	78	43	31	4	0.577	16	17	1	0.485	—	—	—	—	3	0	—
2	Walter Herreid	1930–1934	46	20	21	5	0.489	13	12	4	0.517	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
3	Leo Calland	1935–1941	60	34	22	4	0.600	14	10	3	0.574	—	—	—	—	2	0	—
4	John Eubank	1942	7	0	6	1	0.071	0	2	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
5	Bob Breitbard	1945	7	2	5	0	0.286	1	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
6	Gander Terry	1946	10	6	4	0	0.600	2	3	0	0.400	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
7	Bill Schutte	1947–1955	88	48	36	4	0.568	20	14	3	0.581	1	1	0	—	2	0	—
8	Paul Governali	1956–1960	42	11	27	4	0.310	4	15	0	0.211	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
9	Don Coryell^†	1961–1972	125	104	19	2	0.840	46	10	1	0.816	3	0	0	—	7	3 – 1966 1967 1968	—
10	Claude Gilbert	1973–1980	89	61	26	2	0.697	20	12	1	0.621	0	0	0	—	2	0	—
11	Doug Scovil	1981–1985	59	24	32	3	0.432	15	21	3	0.423	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
12	Denny Stolz	1986–1988	35	16	19	0	0.457	14	10	0	0.583	0	1	0	—	1	0	—
13	Al Luginbill	1989–1993	59	31	25	3	0.551	25	11	2	0.684	0	1	0	—	0	0	—
14	Ted Tollner	1994–2001	91	43	48	0	0.473	32	29	0	0.525	0	1	0	1	0	0	—
15	Tom Craft	2002–2005	48	19	29	—	0.396	13	16	—	0.448	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
16	Chuck Long	2006–2008	36	9	27	—	0.250	7	17	—	0.292	0	0	—	—	0	0	—
17	Brady Hoke	2009–2010 2020–2023	72	40	32	—	0.556	25	21	—	0.543	2	1	—	1	0	0	—
18	Rocky Long	2011–2019	119	81	38	—	0.681	51	20	—	0.718	4	5	—	4	3	0	—
19	Sean Lewis	2024–present	0	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	–	0	0	—	0	0	0	—

Notes

^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.^[2]
^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.^[3]
^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.^[4]
^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
^ San Diego State did not field teams during the 1943–1944 seasons.

References

^ "National Football Foundation, Hall of Fame - Inductee Detail, Don "Air" Coryell". Retrieved January 5, 2017.
^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.

[3] Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.^[2]

[4] A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.

[6] Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.^[3]

[8] When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.^[4]

[9] Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season.

[10] San Diego State did not field teams during the 1943–1944 seasons.

[1] "National Football Foundation, Hall of Fame - Inductee Detail, Don "Air" Coryell". Retrieved January 5, 2017.

[Bowls-2] National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.

[Ties-5] Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.

[TieCalc-7] Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.

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v t e San Diego State Aztecs football
Venues	College Field / Aztec Field (1921, 1923–1925, 1927–1928, 1934–1935) Navy "Sports" Field (1922, 1926, 1929–1931, 1933–1934) Balboa Stadium (1921–1925, 1927–1929, 1932, 1934–1935, 1940–1941, 1945–1947, alternate in several other seasons) Aztec Bowl (1936–1942, 1947–1966) San Diego Stadium (1967–2019) Dignity Health Sports Park (2020–2021) Snapdragon Stadium (2022–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Fresno State NFL draftees
Seasons	1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Head football coaches of the Mountain West Conference
Troy Calhoun (Air Force) Spencer Danielson (Boise State) Jay Norvell (Colorado State) Tim Skipper (Fresno State) Timmy Chang (Hawaii) Jeff Choate (Nevada) Bronco Mendenhall (New Mexico) Sean Lewis (San Diego State) Ken Niumatalolo (San Jose State) Barry Odom (UNLV) Nate Dreiling # (Utah State) Jay Sawvel (Wyoming)
# denotes interim head coach