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List of Northern Arizona Lumberjacks head football coaches

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The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks college football team represents Northern Arizona University in the Big Sky Conference (Big Sky), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program has had 31 head coaches since it began play during the 1915 season. Since December 2023, Brian Wright has served as Northern Arizona's head coach.[1]

Four coaches have led Northern Arizona in the postseason: Max Spilsbury, Joe Salem, Steve Axman, and Jerome Souers. Seven of those coaches also won conference championships: Ira MacIntosh captured one as a member of the Border Conference; Spilsbury captured seven as a member of the Frontier Conferene; and, Salem and Souers each captured one as a member of the Big Sky.

Souers is the leader in seasons coached, with 21 years as head coach and games coached (237) and won (123). Robert G. Stevenson has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.857. Earl Insley has the lowest winning percentage at 0.167.

Key[edit]

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[edit]

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records[A 5], postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 6]
No. Name[5] Season(s) GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CCs NCs Awards
1 Clarence Thorpe 1915–1917 14 9 5 0 0.643 — — — — — — — — 0 —
2 R. A. Fuller 1918 1 1 0 0 1.000 — — — — — — — — 0 —
3 Earl A. Lawver 1919 1 1 1 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
4 J. Phil McVey
Lacey Eastburn 		1920 5 3 2 0 0.600 — — — — — — — — 0 —
5 R. H. Drake 1921–1922 12 4 7 1 0.375 — — — — — — — — 0 —
6 Robert G. Stevenson 1923 7 6 1 0 0.857 — — — — — — — — 0 —
7 William E. Rogers 1924 8 4 4 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — 0 —
8 Talbert D. Jessuppe 1925 6 2 3 1 0.417 — — — — — — — — 0 —
9 Emzy Harvey Lynch 1926 7 5 2 0 0.714 — — — — — — — — 0 —
10 Rudy Lavik[6] 1927–1932 44 28 11 5 0.693 4 5 1 0.450 — — — 0 0 —
11 Ira MacIntosh 1933–1935 22 9 9 4 0.500 4 7 2 0.385 — — — 1 0 —
12 Garrett Arbelbide 1936–1939 35 11 21 3 0.357 4 12 1 0.265 — — — 0 0 —
13 Maurice Moulder 1940–1942 22 6 16 0 0.273 2 14 0 0.125 — — — 0 0 —
14 Frank Brickey 1943–1946 20 10 8 2 0.550 1 2 1 0.375 — — — 0 0 —
15 Nick Ragus 1947–1948 17 5 12 0 0.294 1 6 0 0.143 — — — 0 0 —
16 Emil Ladyko 1949 8 1 6 1 0.188 0 3 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
17 Ben Reiges 1950 9 2 7 0 0.222 0 4 0 .000 — — — 0 0 —
18 John Pederson 1951–1953 23 7 16 0 0.304 3 5 0 0.375 — — — 0 0 —
19 Earl Insley 1954–1955 18 3 15 0 0.167 1 9 0 0.100 — — — 0 0 —
20 Max Spilsbury 1956–1964 88 58 25 5 0.688 17 0 2 0.947 1 1 0 7 0 —
21 Andy MacDonald 1965–1968 40 22 17 1 0.563 — — — — 0 0 0 — 0 —
22 John Symank 1969–1970 20 9 11 0 0.450 0 3 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 —
23 Ed Peasley 1971–1974 40 15 25 0 0.375 5 13 0 0.278 0 0 0 0 0 —
24 Joe Salem 1975–1978 43 26 17 0 0.605 15 9 0 0.625 0 1 0 1 0 —
25 Dwain Painter 1979–1981 33 16 17 0 0.485 8 13 0 0.381 0 0 0 0 0 —
26 Joe Harper 1982–1984 32 12 20 0 0.375 7 14 0 0.333 0 0 0 0 0 —
27 Larry Kentera 1985–1989 55 26 29 0 0.473 16 22 0 0.421 0 0 0 0 0 —
28 Steve Axman 1990–1997 89 48 41 0 0.539 28 32 0 0.467 0 1 0 0 0 —
29 Jerome Souers 1998–2018 237 123 114 — 0.519 85 77 — 0.525 1 5 — 1 0 —
30 Chris Ball 2019–2023 50 20 30 — 0.400 16 21 — 0.432 0 0 — 0 0 —
31 Brian Wright 2024–present 0 0 0 — – 0 0 — – 0 0 — 0 0 —

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ 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]
  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.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Northern Arizona has been a member of Big Sky Conference since the 1970 season.
  6. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 NCAA Division I FCS football season.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Northern Arizona tabs Pittsburg State's Brian Wright as coach". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 3, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2024.
  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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "2012 Northern Arizona Football Media Guide by NAU Athletics". issuu. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
  6. ^ "Candidates For Jack Grid Team Report Sept 17". The Arizona Republican. September 1, 1927. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
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