The Fresno State Bulldogs college football team represents California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State) in the Mountain West Conference (MWC), as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 19 head coaches, and 3 interim head coaches, since it began play during the 1921 season. Since July 2024, Tim Skipper has served as Fresno State's interim head coach after Jeff Tedford stepped down due to health concerns.
Eight coaches have led Fresno State in postseason bowl games: James Bradshaw, Cecil Coleman, Darryl Rogers, Jim Sweeney, Pat Hill, Tim DeRuyter, Jeff Tedford, and Lee Marks. Eleven coaches also won conference championships: Arthur W. Jones captured three as a member of the California Coast Conference; Leo Harris captured two, Stanley Borleske one, and Bradshaw one as a member of the Far Western Conference; Cecil Coleman captured three, Bradshaw and Clark Van Galder each had two, and Darryl Rogers one as a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association; Sweeney captured six as a member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association / Big West Conference; Sweeney captured two and Hill one as a member of the Western Athletic Conference; DeRuyter and Tedford each captured two as a member of the MWC.
Sweeney is the leader in seasons coached, with 19 years as head coach and games coached (221) and won (144). Bradshaw has the highest all-time winning percentage at 0.750. Earl Wight has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000.
| Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | DC | CC | NC | Awards | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1921–1928 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| 2 | 1929–1932 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| 3 | 1933–1935 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| 4 | 1936–1942 1946 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | 1944 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | 1945 1949 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 7 | 1947–1948 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | 1950–1951 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 9 | 1952–1958 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | 1959–1963 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | 1964–1965 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 12 | 1966–1972 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 13 | 1973–1975 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 14 | 1976–1977 1980–1996 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 15 | 1978–1979 | — | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 16 | 1997–2011 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| 17 | 2012–2016 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Int | 2016 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 18 | 2017–2019 2022–2023 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 19 | 2020–2021 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| Int | 2021 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| Int | 2024–present | — | — | — | — |