Auburn Coaching History

Auburn football has had 28 head coaches across its history, ranging from George Petrie in 1892 to Hugh Freeze today in 2024. The Tigers have also had 3 interim head coaches: Bill Oliver, Kevin Steele and Cadillac Williams.

These coaches create quite the extensive background. John Heisman, before he became football’s architect at Georgia Tech, coached the Tigers from 1895-1899. Terry Bowden, son of legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden, coached the team from 1993-1998. Then, of course, there’s current Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville, who led the Tigers from 1999-2008.

Auburn’s current head coach, of course, is Hugh Freeze. The former Ole Miss and Liberty head coach fits perfectly among this cast of characters and hopes to bring Auburn a third national championship.

Let’s take a look at Auburn’s full coaching history, including a closer look at some of the biggest names to lead Auburn onto the field.

Auburn Coaching History

As you can see, and as most other programs have seen, the early days of Auburn football were a little chaotic. Auburn had 17 coaches in the first 50 years of the program and 11 coaches across the last 82 years. Incredibly, 9 of those early coaches oversaw the program for one year or less.

Four of these 28 coaches are enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame: Pat Dye, John Heisman, Mike Donahue and Ralph Jordan. We’ll take a closer look at all these coaches except Heisman, who spent just 5 seasons in Auburn when the game was nearly unrecognizable from what it is today.

Ralph Jordan (1951-1975)

Auburn Tigers head coach Ralph Jordan with quarterback (7) Pat Sullivan on the sidelines. Credit: Photo by Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Ever seen a game at Jordan-Hare Stadium? I bet you can see where this is going.

Ralph Jordan, who coached the team from 1951-1975, is a legend in eastern Alabama and the (partial) namesake for Auburn football’s stadium today. Jordan, nicknamed “Shug,” coached both basketball and football for the Tigers, and he holds many records for his time with the football team. He wasn’t half bad as a hoops coach either, finishing his career 136-103 with Auburn and Georgia.

For starters, he’s by far the leader in games coached at Auburn with 256. He’s the only Auburn coach to collect 100 wins and is the winningest coach in Auburn history by a significant margin. His 176 wins eclipse Mike Donahue’s impressive mark of 99 set from 1904-1922 (sans 1907).

Jordan had many great teams at Auburn, but his best by far was the 1957 national championship team which finished 10-0 with wins over ranked teams such as Tennessee, Florida and Mississippi State. The Tigers outscored opponents 207-28 across the season. “Dominant” doesn’t really do it justice.

Jordan, a 4-time SEC Coach of the Year, was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982 — 2 years following his death in July of 1980.

Mike Donahue (1904-1906, 1908-1922)

Mike Donahue is second place to Ralph Jordan in just about every category named above. He’s behind only Jordan in games coached and wins, and he’s No. 2 in overall win percentage behind only Terry Bowden (.730).

Donahue coached the Tigers from 1904-1922 (though not 1907) and was the first representation of stability for the Tigers football program. He’s also the second-longest-tenured head coach in Auburn’s history behind Jordan and also coached the basketball team.

From 1913-1915 Donahue’s Tigers won or tied 22 straight games. In case you’re wondering, the tie came after what was a thrilling 0-0 barnburner against Georgia. Something else interesting — Auburn’s defense did not allow a single point across the entire 1914 season, outscoring the opposition 193-0.

Partially due to this dominance, Donahue’s Tigers won the SIAA (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) Championship 6 times (1904, 1908, 1910, 1913, 1914 and 1919).

Donahue is a member of the inaugural 1951 College Football Hall of Fame class.

Pat Dye (1981-1992)

The playing field at Jordan-Hare Stadium is named after Pat Dye, who coached the Tigers for 12 years from 1981-1992. He won 99 games at Auburn, which is tied for second across in the program’s history with Mike Donahue.

Dye’s Auburn teams won 4 SEC championships — in 1983, 1987, 1988 and 1989. He was named the SEC Coach of the Year in 1983, 1987 and 1988.

Dye did well in bowl games for the Tigers, finishing 6-2-1 with Sugar, Peach and Citrus Bowl victories. The 1983 squad was Dye’s best team, finishing 11-1 with a 9-7 Sugar Bowl win over No. 8 Michigan.

Dye was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Down South.