List of UCLA Bruins head football coaches

The UCLA Bruins college football team represents University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the Big Ten Conference (Big Ten). The Bruins compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 19 head coaches and four interim head coaches since it began play during the 1919 season. From November 2017 to February 2024, Chip Kelly served as head coach of the Bruins.^[1] Since February 2024, DeShaun Foster has served as the head coach at UCLA.^[2]

DeShaun Foster has served as head coach of the Bruins since 2024.

Terry Donahue is the leader in both total wins and seasons coached with 151 wins during his 20 year tenure as head coach of the program. Red Sanders has the highest winning percentage at 0.773. Harry Trotter has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.156. Of the 19 different head coaches who have led the Bruins, Edwin C. Horrell, Sanders, Tommy Prothro, and Donahue have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key

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

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards^{[A 5]}

No.	Name	Season(s)	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	CC	NC	Awards
1	Fred Cozens	1919	8	2	6	0	0.250	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2	Harry Trotter	1920–1922	16	2	13	1	0.156	1	13	1	0.100	—	—	—	0	—	—
3	James J. Cline	1923–1924	15	2	10	3	0.233	0	9	1	0.050	—	—	—	0	—	—
4	William H. Spaulding	1928–1938	131	72	51	8	0.580	33	34	6	0.493	1	0	0	1	—	—
5	Edwin C. Horrell†	1939–1944	61	24	31	6	0.443	16	17	5	0.487	0	1	0	1	—	—
6	Bert LaBrucherie	1945–1948	39	23	16	0	0.590	15	11	0	0.577	0	1	0	1	—	—
7	Red Sanders†	1949–1957	86	66	19	1	0.773	47	11	1	0.805	0	2	0	3	1 1954	—
8	George W. Dickerson	1958	3	1	2	0	0.333	0	1	0	.000	0	0	0	0	0	—
9	Bill Barnes	1958–1964	68	31	34	3	0.492	15	13	0	0.556	0	1	0	2	0	—
10	Tommy Prothro†	1965–1970	62	41	18	3	0.685	22	10	2	0.676	1	0	0	1	0	—
11	Pepper Rodgers	1971–1973	32	19	12	1	0.609	12	7	1	0.625	0	0	0	0	0	—
12	Dick Vermeil	1974–1975	23	15	5	3	0.717	10	3	1	0.750	1	0	0	1	0	—
13	Terry Donahue†	1976–1995	233	151	74	8	0.665	98	51	5	0.653	8	4	1	5	0	—
14	Bob Toledo	1996–2002	81	49	32	—	0.605	32	24	—	0.571	1	2	—	2	0	—
Int.	Ed Kezirian	2002	1	1	0	—	1.000	0	0	—	0.000	0	0	—	0	0	—
15	Karl Dorrell	2003–2007	62	35	27	—	0.565	24	18	—	0.571	1	3	—	0	0	—
Int.	DeWayne Walker	2007	1	0	1	—	0.000	0	0	—	0.000	0	0	—	0	0	—
16	Rick Neuheisel	2008–2011	50	21	29	—	0.420	13	23	—	0.361	1	0	—	0	0	—
Int.	Mike Johnson	2011	1	0	1	—	0.000	0	0	—	0.000	0	0	—	0	0	—
17	Jim L. Mora	2012–2017	76	46	30	—	0.605	28	25	—	0.528	2	2	—	0	0	—
Int.	Jedd Fisch	2017	2	1	1	—	0.500	1	0	—	1.000	0	1	—	0	0	—
18	Chip Kelly	2018–2023	69	35	34	—	0.507	26	25	—	0.500	1	1	—	0	0	—
19	DeShaun Foster	2024–present	12	5	7	—	0.417	3	6	—	0.333	0	0	—	0	0	—

Notes

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.^[3]
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.^[4]
4. When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.^[5]
5. Statistics correct as of the end of the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season.