Texas has had 31 head coaches since 1894, and 29 of them left with a winning record. The program did not have a losing season until 1933, 38 straight years of winning football, and the two men who broke that pattern did not last long. Two coaches, Darrell Royal and Mack Brown, account for all four national championships.
The Modern Era
| Coach | Seasons | Record | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Sarkisian | 2021 to present | 48, 20 | Big 12, 2023 |
| Tom Herman | 2017 to 2020 | 32, 18 | None |
| Charlie Strong | 2014 to 2016 | 16, 21 | None |
| Mack Brown | 1998 to 2013 | 158, 48 | National, 2005; Big 12, 2005 and 2009 |
| John Mackovic | 1992 to 1997 | 41, 28, 2 | SWC 1994, 1995; Big 12, 1996 |
| David McWilliams | 1987 to 1991 | 31, 26 | SWC, 1990 |
| Fred Akers | 1977 to 1986 | 86, 31, 2 | SWC, 1977 and 1983 |
| Darrell Royal | 1957 to 1976 | 167, 47, 5 | National 1963, 1969, 1970; 11 SWC |
| Ed Price | 1951 to 1956 | 33, 27, 1 | SWC, 1952 and 1953 |
| Blair Cherry | 1947 to 1950 | 32, 10, 1 | SWC, 1950 |
| Dana X. Bible | 1937 to 1946 | 63, 31, 3 | SWC 1942, 1943, 1945 |
| Jack Chevigny | 1934 to 1936 | 13, 14, 2 | None |
The Early Coaches
| Coach | Seasons | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Clyde Littlefield | 1927 to 1933 | 44, 18, 6 |
| E.J. Stewart | 1923 to 1926 | 24, 9, 3 |
| Berry Whitaker | 1920 to 1922 | 22, 3, 1 |
| Bill Juneau | 1917 to 1919 | 19, 7 |
| Eugene Van Gent | 1916 | 7, 2 |
| Dave Allerdice | 1911 to 1915 | 33, 7 |
| Billy Wasmund | 1910 | 6, 2 |
| Dexter Draper | 1909 | 4, 3, 1 |
| W.E. Metzenthin | 1907 to 1908 | 11, 5, 1 |
| H.R. Schenker | 1906 | 9, 1 |
| Ralph Hutchinson | 1903 to 1905 | 16, 7, 2 |
| J.B. Hart | 1902 | 6, 3, 1 |
| Samuel Huston Thompson | 1900 to 1901 | 14, 2, 1 |
| Maurice Clarke | 1899 | 6, 2 |
| David Edwards | 1898 | 5, 1 |
| Walter Kelly | 1897 | 6, 2 |
| Harry Robinson | 1896 | 4, 2, 1 |
| Frank Crawford | 1895 | 5, 0 |
| R.D. Wentworth | 1894 | 6, 1 |
Texas played its first season in 1893 without a head coach. Red rows are the only two coaches to leave with losing records.
Darrell Royal, 1957 to 1976
Royal won 167 games, three national championships and eleven Southwest Conference titles across 20 seasons, and the stadium is named for him. His teams went 109, 27 and 2 in conference play, a .797 mark that was better than his overall .774. He entered every season with roughly a coin flip’s chance of winning the conference.
He also introduced the wishbone offence in 1968, which won two of his three titles and was borrowed by Alabama and Oklahoma within a few years. He was 12 and 7 with a tie against Oklahoma. Our national championships page covers his three title seasons.
Mack Brown, 1998 to 2013
Brown inherited a program that had drifted through the 1990s and produced twelve straight seasons of nine or more wins, nine of them with ten or more. The 2005 team won the national title with the 41 to 38 Rose Bowl win over USC that remains one of the most watched college games ever played.
He left with 158 wins, second only to Royal, but the number Austin remembers is two: two conference titles in sixteen seasons, while Oklahoma won eight in the same span and went 9 and 7 against him. That gap is why the separation came after 2013.
The Decade After Brown
Charlie Strong went 16 and 21 in three seasons, the worst record of any Texas coach, and Tom Herman went 32 and 18 across four before being dismissed with a winning record. Between 2010 and 2020 the program had one ten win season in eleven years.
Steve Sarkisian
Sarkisian went 5 and 7 in his first season and 8 and 5 in his second, then won the Big 12 in 2023 and reached the playoff semifinals in both 2023 and 2024. The 2025 team entered as the preseason No. 1 and finished 10 and 3 with a Citrus Bowl win over Michigan, which counted as a disappointment. He enters 2026 at 48 and 20.
The Thirty Eight Year Streak
Texas did not have a losing season from its first year in 1893 until 1933, a run of 38 consecutive winning campaigns. Clyde Littlefield, who went 44, 18 and 6 across seven seasons, was dismissed for finishing under .500 once. Only two of the 31 coaches in program history have left with losing records.
The Bottom Line
Texas has had 31 head coaches, and Darrell Royal stands above all of them with 167 wins, three national championships and a stadium named after him. Mack Brown won the fourth title and 158 games. Steve Sarkisian is in his sixth season with two playoff appearances and a 48 and 20 record. Twenty nine of the 31 left with winning records, which says most of what needs saying about the program’s expectations.