1897–2024 · 26 head coaches · 733-492-44
- MD Mark Dantonio 2007–2019 114-57
- HD Hugh Daugherty 1954–1972 109-69-5
- CB Charles W. Bachman 1933–1946 70-34-10
- GP George J. Perles 1983–1994 68-67-4
Michigan State’s complete head-coaching lineage: 26 tenures from 1897 to 2024, led by Hugh Daugherty’s 19 seasons. Records, tenure length, and the programs each coach branched to.
Coaching Tree Archive
Every head coach to lead Michigan State, from 1897 to 2024 — 26 tenures mapped as a network, with records, tenure length, and the programs each coach branched to.
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1 of 26 tenures · filtered · 12 linked programs
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Programs that shared a head coach with Michigan State — open their network.
Career wins across every FBS program each coach led.
Last updated Aug 24, 2026
A coaching tree maps the chain of head coaches at a program and the other jobs those coaches held. This Michigan State tree covers every head coach on record from 1897 to 2024, ordered oldest to newest, with each tenure’s record and length.
Tenures are aggregated from season-by-season head-coaching records. Consecutive seasons at one program group into a single tenure, and a coach who returns later gets a second branch. This is a head-coach lineage, not an assistant-coach tree.
A coaching tree traces the succession of head coaches at a program — who held the job, in what order, and which other schools those coaches led before or after. FantasyHQ builds one for 134 FBS programs at https://fantasyhq.co/cfb-hq/coaching-tree, covering every head-coaching tenure on record since 1882.
Michigan State has had 26 head-coaching tenures on record between 1897 and 2024, producing a combined 733-492-44 record. The full lineage is at https://fantasyhq.co/cfb-hq/coaching-tree/michigan-state.
Hugh Daugherty holds the longest head-coaching tenure at Michigan State with 19 seasons. Mark Dantonio recorded the most wins with 114.
Jonathan Smith is the most recent Michigan State head coach in FantasyHQ’s records (2024). Coaching changes are reflected when the season data updates; this page was last labeled Aug 24, 2026.
12 other FBS programs have employed a Michigan State head coach. Missouri shares the most with 2. Each connected program links to its own coaching tree from https://fantasyhq.co/cfb-hq/coaching-tree/michigan-state.
Tenures are built from season-by-season college football head-coaching records covering 134 FBS programs from 1882 onward. Each tenure aggregates that coach’s consecutive seasons at the program into wins, losses, and ties. Records were last labeled Aug 24, 2026.