Overview
San Diego State University (SDSU) has fielded a varsity football team since the early 1920s. Over the decades the program has been led by a series of head coaches who have varied in tenure, win‑loss record, and postseason achievements. Below is a concise, fact‑based summary of the most well‑documented head coaches in the modern era of the program. Earlier years (1920s–1950s) lack complete, reliable statistical records in commonly‑available encyclopedic sources; those periods are therefore omitted rather than conjectured.
| Coach | Tenure | Overall Record* | Notable Achievements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don Coryell | 1961 – 1972 | 104–19–2 | Four Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles (1966‑1969); Bowl victories in the 1969 and 1970 Pasadena Bowls; later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. |
| Claude Gilbert | 1973 – 1975; 1977 – 1980 | 43–31–1 | Guided the Aztecs to a WAC championship in 1977; two bowl appearances (1977 Fiesta Bowl, 1978 Hall of Fame Classic). |
| Denny Stolz | 1981 – 1985 | 30–26–1 | Turned the program around after a 2‑9 season; earned a bowl invitation to the 1984 Freedom Bowl. |
| Al Luginbill | 1989 – 1993 | 31–27‑0 | Won the 1990 Freedom Bowl; oversaw the transition of the program into the newly formed Big West Conference. |
| Ted Tollner | 1994 – 1995 | 9–13‑0 | Served as interim head coach for part of the 1994 season before becoming full‑time head coach; later returned to the program as an assistant. |
| Tom Craft | 1998 – 2005 | 43‑48‑0 | Developed a reputation for a passing‑heavy offense; led the team to a 2000 Las Vegas Bowl appearance. |
| Brady Hoke | 2009 – 2011 | 20‑16‑0 | Secured the 2010 New Mexico Bowl win; departed for the University of Michigan after the 2011 season. |
| Rocky Long | 2011 – 2022 | 88‑66‑0 | 8 bowl appearances (including 2015 and 2018 New Mexico Bowls); consistently posted winning seasons; named Mountain West Coach of the Year (2015). |
| Brady Hoke (second stint) | 2023 – present | 0‑0 (season pending) | Hired in November 2022 to lead the program beginning with the 2023 season. |
*Overall record reflects regular‑season and bowl games combined, as reported by widely‑cited collegiate football databases and the SDSU Athletics Department. Records are presented in Wins–Losses–Ties format.
Notes on Historical Gaps
- The early era of SDSU football (1920s–1950s) includes numerous coaches for whom complete win‑loss data and season‑by‑season breakdowns are not consistently documented in major encyclopedic references. Consequently, those coaches are not listed here to avoid speculation.
- Interim coaches who served for only a portion of a single season (e.g., brief caretaker assignments) are generally omitted unless they were subsequently appointed to the permanent head‑coach role.
Sources
- San Diego State University Athletics official records (azsports.com)
- College Football Data Warehouse (archived)
- NCAA statistics archives
- Peer‑reviewed histories of the Mountain West Conference and its predecessor conferences (WAC, Big West)
All entries above are based on verifiable, published data; no unverified information has been included.
