Brian Kelly Among Most Tenured College Football Coaches
As the fall approaches, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly prepares for his 11th season at the helm of one of the most popular college football programs.
This is no small feat, because it ties him with Fighting Irish legend Ara Parseghian for second all time at the school for the longest tenure. They trail only Knute Rockne, who coached Notre Dame for 13 seasons before his career abruptly ended when he died in a plane crash in 1931.
This also makes Kelly one of the most tenured coaches in the county, with only seven Power Five leaders holding their current job longer. Two of those programs in Utah and TCU have only been members of Power Five conferences since 2011 and 2012, respectively.
| Head Coach | School | Number of Seasons |
|---|---|---|
|
Kirk Ferentz |
Iowa |
22 |
|
Gary Patterson |
TCU* |
21 |
|
Mike Gundy |
Oklahoma State |
16 |
|
Kyle Whittingham |
Utah* |
16 |
|
Nick Saban |
Alabama |
14 |
|
Dabo Swinney |
Clemson |
13 |
|
David Cutcliffe |
Duke |
13 |
|
Brian Kelly |
Notre Dame |
11 |
|
David Shaw |
Stanford |
10 |
|
Gus Malzahn |
Auburn |
8 |
|
Dave Doeren |
North Carolina State |
8 |
|
Mark Stoops |
Kentucky |
8 |
The longest-tenured head coach is Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, followed closely by TCU’s Gary Patterson. They are the only current head college football coaches to be at their current school for longer than 20 years.
Two coaches Notre Dame will face this season have coached at their respective schools longer than Kelly: Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and Duke head coach David Cutcliffe. Both have been at their respective schools for 13 seasons. Though not a Power Five head coach, Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo is entering his 14th season at the helm of the Midshipmen.
Not far behind Kelly is annual rival in Stanford head coach David Shaw, who is entering his 10th season with the Cardinal.
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman represents the only coach in his first year at his respective school.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @ToddBurlage and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.