The Hillsdale Chargers football program represents Hillsdale College in college football as a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), at the NCAA Division II level. The team has had 29 head coaches (not counting "student coaches") since its first recorded football game in 1891. The current head coach is Nate Shreffler, who took the position prior to the 2024 season. [1]
| 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] | ||||
| No. | Name | Term | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | CCs | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | No coach | 1891–1895 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | .583 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1 | Duncan M. Martin | 1896, 1898 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Ignatius M. Duffy | 1897 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 0 | No coach | 1899–1903 | 28 | 9 | 19 | 0 | .321 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Harry McRae | 1904 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 0 | No coach | 1905 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | William Boone | 1906 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | James Whipple | 1907 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6 | Herbert C. Reed | 1908–1910 | 21 | 7 | 9 | 5 | .452 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Claude J. Hunt | 1911–1912 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | .708 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Charles Firth | 1913 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .417 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 9 | Leroy Buchiet | 1914–1917 | 27 | 10 | 14 | 3 | .426 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Lawrence Manson | 1918 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .167 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | Samuel Taylor | 1919 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12 | William J. Rennie | 1920–1921 | 17 | 12 | 4 | 1 | .735 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Louis Ost | 1922 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | Howard B. Jefferson | 1923–1924 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | .667 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | Elroy Guckert | 1925–1926 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 2 | .625 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Dwight Harwood | 1927–1945 | 135 | 69 | 52 | 14 | .563 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | David M. Nelson † | 1946–1947 | 17 | 14 | 1 | 2 | .882 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 18 | Gib Holgate | 1948 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | .722 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Jack Petoskey | 1949–1950 | 19 | 11 | 7 | 1 | .605 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | Irv Wisniewski | 1951 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 21 | Henry Fallon | 1952 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 22 | Charlie Bachman † | 1953 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 23 | Muddy Waters † | 1954–1973 | 190 | 138 | 47 | 5 | .739 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | Jack McAvoy | 1974–1977 | 41 | 24 | 16 | 1 | .598 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 25 | Ron Lynch | 1978–1979 | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | .364 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 26 | Dick Lowry | 1980–1996 | 188 | 134 | 52 | 2 | .718 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 27 | Dave Dye | 1997–2001 | 55 | 21 | 34 | 0 | .382 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 28 | Keith Otterbein | 2002–2023 | 240 | 132 | 108 | 0 | .550 | 116 | 82 | 0 | .586 | 2 | 4 | 2 | — |
| 29 | Nate Shreffler | 2024–present | 23 | 12 | 11 | 0 | .522 | 11 | 7 | 0 | .611 | — | — | — | — |