Most losses in college football: Coaches with more defeats than wins

College football’s mythology is built on legends who piled up wins, creating dynasties that defined generations. But for every surge of triumph, there is a defeat—often carried by the architect on the sideline.

Their careers stretched across shifting eras, budget gaps and rebuilding cycles that rarely broke their way. Yet those long tenures left traces worth revisiting, showing how persistence shaped programs even when the scoreboard didn’t.

Before the numbers come into focus, the lens lingers on the stories behind them—seasons marked by strain, resilience and complicated legacies that ultimately tie these coaches to the NCAAF’s all-time losing records.

Watson Brown | 211 losses

Watson Brown (Source: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Long before the stat sheet immortalized him, Watson Brown was known as a coach who didn’t shy away from the hard jobs. By the time he retired in 2015, his career coaching ledger read 136–211–1, making him the all-time leader in losses (211) among college coaches — a dubious distinction that masks more than three decades of dedication and willingness to rebuild struggling programs.

His journey took him from Austin Peay to Cincinnati, Rice, Vanderbilt (his alma mater), UAB and finally Tennessee Tech. Throughout, he earned a reputation as a coach who accepted underdog roles, facing powerhouses on the road, inheriting underfunded programs, and often staying long enough to see small cultural shifts rather than instant success.

That 211-loss figure, then, tells part of the story, but it doesn’t capture the full scope of a career defined by grit, loyalty and long-term commitment to institutions that few others would touch.

Roland Ortmayer | 209 losses

Roland Ortmayer (Source: The University of La Verne)

With 209 career losses, Roland “Ort” Ortmayer stood for decades as the face of perseverance in college football. But losses alone can’t describe the unconventional legacy he built: over a 44-year tenure mostly at University of La Verne Leopards, he coached not for the glory or the headline-grabbing seasons, but to sustain a program with heart.

He was known for unorthodox methods — optional practices, no offseason weight training — and for prioritizing the educational and personal development of his players over a pure win-loss record.

In a coaching world often obsessed with championships and rankings, his 209 losses speak less about defeat than about devotion to a vision of college football grounded in opportunity, continuity, and the belief that the sport could be more than just spectacle.

Mike Price | 183 losses

Mike Price (Source: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

Mike Price’s career — 183 losses in all — is the sort of arc that only college football can produce: sharp peaks, turbulent valleys, and a string of rebuilds that tested his adaptability. At Washington State, he engineered some of the program’s most memorable runs, including the 2002 Rose Bowl season that briefly elevated the Cougars into national conversation.

Later, at UTEP, he sparked early optimism with back-to-back eight-win seasons before facing the grinding realities of a resource-strapped program. His loss total tells a story of longevity more than failure: He took on difficult jobs, stayed long enough to leave a footprint, and lived through the consequences of challenging schedules and cyclical rosters.

Terry Price | 181 losses

Terry Price (Source: Texas A&M Athletics)

Terry Price’s coaching path, marked by 181 losses, unfolded far from the high-visibility world of Power Five football. His decades guiding small private programs demanded a different kind of resilience: fewer scholarships, smaller budgets, and rosters built from local talent rather than national pipelines.

His teams often played for pride and player development as much as for standings, and those seasons — win or lose — formed the backbone of athletic life on their campuses. The sheer number of games he coached reflects a commitment to the sport’s grassroots level, where fulfilling the mission of mentorship mattered as much as the pursuit of postseason relevance.

Buddy Teevens | 178 losses

Buddy Teevens (Source: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Buddy Teevens closes his career with 178 losses, yet the number barely hints at his impact on the sport. At Dartmouth, where he became the winningest coach in program history, he engineered Ivy League titles while championing a player-safety revolution that reached far beyond the conference.

His insistence on limiting live tackling in practice, along with his support for robotic tackling dummies, reshaped conversations about health across college football and the NFL.

He coached at Maine, Tulane, and Stanford as well, experiencing the ups and downs reflected in his loss total. But his legacy rests on innovation, leadership, and a belief that the sport could evolve without losing its soul.

Mertz Mortorelli | 176 losses

The 176 losses recorded by Mertz Mortorelli trace the outline of a coaching life deeply entwined with Wisconsin–Superior, where he spent decades balancing roles across multiple sports.

In football, his teams were often outmatched by larger, better-funded opponents, but Mortorelli’s influence extended into every corner of the athletic department — from basketball and tennis to track and golf.

His work reflected the ethos of small-college athletics: long hours, limited resources, and a commitment to giving athletes structure and opportunity. Those 176 defeats, spread over many seasons, speak to continuity and devotion rather than missteps.

Lombe Honaker | 176 losses

Lombe Honaker’s coaching timeline spans an era when college football was still carving out its identity, and his 176 losses are scattered across institutions that helped shape the sport’s early decades. From Maryville to Baldwin-Wallace, he operated in a landscape defined by minimal budgets, evolving rules, and teams built from regional players.

His career is a portrait of the early American coach: part strategist, part recruiter, part community figure. The losses tell us less about failures on the field and more about the willingness to keep showing up year after year, helping the sport stabilize and eventually flourish.

Dennis Miller | 172 losses

Dennis Miller (Source: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Dennis Miller’s career — often under the radar of major-college headlines — ended with 172 losses on lists of long-serving college coaches. His coaching journey ran through schools like Northern State University and later Wisconsin Lutheran College.

What stands out is that his tenure encompassed both rebuilding efforts and moments of success: at Northern State he turned around a struggling program, took them to playoffs and won conference championships, proof that even deep in the lower tiers of college football, coaching is about more than win-loss columns.

At Wisconsin Lutheran, he helped establish and sustain a freshman program, guiding young athletes often entering college football for the first time. In his case, 172 losses mark decades of mentorship, continuity, and the quiet labor of sustaining programs that otherwise might have vanished.