The Northern Colorado Bears football program is a college football team that represents University of Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Conference, a part of the NCAA Division I Football Championship. The team has had 18 head coaches since its first recorded football game in 1892.[1] Since December 2022, Ed Lamb has served as Northern Colorado's head coach.[2]
Four coaches have led Northern Colorado in the postseason: John W. Hancock, Bob Blasi, Joe Glenn, and Kay Dalton. Four of those coaches also won conference championships: Hancock and Blasi each captured two as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Blasi captured an additional three as a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference and one as a member of the North Central Conference. Glenn captured four and Dalton one as a member of the Big Sky. Glenn also captured two national championships as head coach at Northern Colorado in 1996 and 1997.
Blasi is the leader in seasons coached, with 19 years as head coach and games coached (181) and won (107). Glenn has the highest winning percentage at 0.737. John Lister and Lamb have the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000.
Key
| 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
| No. | Name | Season(s)[A 7] | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | CCs | NCs | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Unknown | 1892 1897 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 1 | John Lister | 1893 1895–1896 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 2 | Arthur Kendel | 1899–1900 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0.286 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 3 | Samuel E. Abbott | 1905 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.250 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 4 | Ralph Glaze | 1917–1918 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0.222 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 5 | William E. Search | 1919–1921 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0.125 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | — |
| 6 | George E. Cooper | 1922–1927 | 47 | 15 | 29 | 3 | 0.351 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0.211 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 7 | Bill Saunders | 1928–1931 | 29 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 0.483 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 0.457 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 8 | John W. Hancock | 1932–1943 1946–1953 | 160 | 77 | 78 | 5 | 0.497 | 44 | 38 | 3 | 0.535 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — |
| 9 | Joe Lindahl | 1954–1962 | 83 | 35 | 44 | 4 | 0.446 | 16 | 28 | 3 | 0.372 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 10 | William C. Heiss | 1963–1965 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 0.464 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 11 | Bob Blasi | 1966–1984 | 181 | 107 | 71 | 3 | 0.599 | 50 | 22 | 0 | 0.694 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — |
| 12 | Ron Simonson | 1985–1988 | 43 | 13 | 30 | 0 | 0.302 | 11 | 25 | 0 | 0.306 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 13 | Joe Glenn | 1989–1999 | 133 | 98 | 35 | 0 | 0.737 | 70 | 28 | 0 | 0.714 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 2 – 1996 1997 | — |
| 14 | Kay Dalton | 2000–2005 | 69 | 38 | 31 | — | 0.551 | 17 | 18 | — | 0.486 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 15 | Scott Downing | 2006–2010 | 56 | 9 | 47 | — | 0.161 | 5 | 35 | — | 0.125 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 16 | Earnest Collins Jr. | 2011–2019 | 100 | 28 | 72 | — | 0.280 | 19 | 53 | — | 0.264 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 17 | Ed McCaffrey | 2020–2022 | 22 | 6 | 16 | — | 0.273 | 4 | 12 | — | 0.250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 18 | Ed Lamb | 2023–present | 11 | 0 | 11 | — | .000 | 0 | 8 | — | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |