List of Northern Colorado Bears head football coaches
# List of Northern Colorado Bears head football coaches

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 17 head coaches since its first recorded football game in 1892. The position has been vacant since November 21, 2022, when Ed McCaffrey was fired.

## Key

Key to symbols in coaches list :

| General | General | Overall | Overall | Conference | Conference | Postseason | Postseason |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Order of coaches | 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 | C% | Conference winning percentage | | |
| † | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage | | | | |

## Coaches

Statistics correct as of the end of the 2021 college football season.

| No. | Name | Term | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | CCs | NCs |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| – | unknown | 1892 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | John Lister | 1893, 1895–1896 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| — | no team | 1894 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| – | unknown | 1897 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| — | no team | 1898 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Arthur Kendel | 1899–1900 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | .286 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| — | no team | 1901–1904 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Samuel E. Abbott | 1905 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .250 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| — | no team | 1906–1916 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Ralph Glaze | 1917–1918 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | .222 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | William E. Search | 1919–1921 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | .125 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | George Cooper | 1922–1927 | 47 | 15 | 29 | 3 | .351 | 4 | 21 | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Bill Saunders | 1928–1931 | 29 | 12 | 13 | 4 | .483 | 10 | 12 | 1 | | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | John W. Hancock | 1932–1943 1946–1953 | 160 | 77 | 78 | 5 | .497 | — | — | — | | — | 1 | 2 | — |
| — | no team | 1944–1945 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Joe Lindahl | 1954–1962 | 83 | 36 | 43 | 4 | .458 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | William C. Heiss | 1963–1965 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 2 | .464 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | Bob Blasi | 1966–1984 | 181 | 107 | 71 | 3 | .599 | — | — | — | | — | — | 5 | — |
| 12 | Ron Simonson | 1985–1988 | 43 | 13 | 30 | 0 | .302 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Joe Glenn | 1989–1999 | 133 | 99 | 34 | 0 | .744 | 70 | 28 | — | | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 14 | Kay Dalton | 2000–2005 | 69 | 38 | 31 | 0 | .551 | — | — | — | | — | — | 1 | — |
| 15 | Scott Downing | 2006–2010 | 56 | 9 | 47 | 0 | .161 | — | — | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Earnest Collins, Jr. | 2011–2019 | 100 | 28 | 72 | 0 | .280 | 19 | 53 | — | | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | Ed McCaffrey | 2020–2022 | 22 | 6 | 16 | 0 | .273 | 4 | 12 | — | .250 | — | — | — | — |
