Michigan has employed 21 head coaches since its first recorded game in 1879. Ten of them are in the College Football Hall of Fame. Two of them account for a third of the program’s 1,021 wins.
Kyle Whittingham takes over for the 2026 season, hired after Sherrone Moore was fired in December.
| Coach | Years | Record | Big Ten | Natl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Whittingham | 2026– | First season | — | — |
| Sherrone Moore | 2024–2025 | 17-8 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Harbaugh | 2015–2023 | 86-25 | 3 | 1 |
| Brady Hoke | 2011–2014 | 31-20 | 0 | 0 |
| Rich Rodriguez | 2008–2010 | 15-22 | 0 | 0 |
| Lloyd Carr | 1995–2007 | 122-40 | 5 | 1 |
| Gary Moeller | 1990–1994 | 44-13-3 | 3 | 0 |
| Bo Schembechler | 1969–1989 | 194-48-5 | 13 | 0 |
| Bump Elliott | 1959–1968 | 51-42-2 | 1 | 0 |
| Bennie Oosterbaan | 1948–1958 | 63-33-4 | 3 | 1 |
| Fritz Crisler | 1938–1947 | 71-16-3 (.806) | 2 | 1 |
| Harry Kipke | 1929–1937 | 46-26-4 | 4 | 2 |
| Fielding Yost | 1901–1923, 1925–1926 | 165-29-10 (.833) | 10 | 6 |
| Gustave Ferbert | 1897–1899 | 24-3-1 | 1 | 0 |
Table shows the program’s principal coaches. Two records carry asterisks from the same 2023 suspensions: Harbaugh’s is sometimes listed as 89-25, with several wins credited to interim coaches instead, and Moore’s is sometimes listed as 18-8, counting the game he won as interim that season.
The Two That Matter Most
Fielding Yost coached 25 seasons and won at a rate nobody since has approached. His .833 winning percentage is the highest of any Michigan coach who lasted more than three years, and his six national championships are half of everything the program claims. The 1901-04 "Point-a-Minute" teams are the foundation the whole program sits on.
Bo Schembechler won more games, 194, and coached more of them, 247, than anyone in Michigan history. He won 13 Big Ten titles in 21 seasons and went 143-24-3 in conference play, a .856 mark. He never won a national championship, which is the first thing critics raise and the last thing anyone in Ann Arbor cares about.
Who Won What
Ten coaches have won at least one of Michigan’s 45 Big Ten championships: Ferbert, Yost, Kipke, Crisler, Oosterbaan, Elliott, Schembechler, Moeller, Carr and Harbaugh.
Six have won national championships: Yost, Kipke, Crisler, Oosterbaan, Carr and Harbaugh. Four — Kipke, Oosterbaan, Elliott and Harbaugh — won Big Ten titles at Michigan both as a player and as head coach.
Lloyd Carr has the most bowl victories with six, ahead of Schembechler’s five and Moeller’s four. Carr was also the first Michigan coach to win four consecutive bowl games.
The Modern Turnover
Michigan had nine head coaches between 1900 and 1989. It has had seven since 2008.
That churn tells its own story: Rich Rodriguez’s three losing seasons, Brady Hoke’s decline after an 11-2 debut, Harbaugh’s slow build to three straight Big Ten titles and a national championship, then Sherrone Moore’s two years ending in a December firing for cause. Whittingham arrives as the fourth Michigan head coach in a decade. Moore’s 17-8 record was not the problem — he won a bowl game over Alabama in his first season and went 9-3 in his second before being dismissed over a university policy violation.
For the titles those coaches won, see our Big Ten championship history and national championship history.
The Bottom Line
Bo Schembechler won more games at Michigan than anyone with 194, and Fielding Yost won at the highest rate at .833 while collecting six national titles. Ten coaches have delivered Big Ten championships and six have won national titles. Kyle Whittingham becomes the 21st head coach in program history in 2026.