Early years The program began in the late 1800s, but its tradition did not truly develop until the arrival of
Bill Murray in 1940. During his 11 seasons at the helm, the Fightin' Blue Hens compiled a record of 49–16–2 with one National Championship in 1946, which culminated in a win over
Rollins in the now-defunct
Cigar Bowl. That was good for an impressive .747 winning percentage. After Murray departed to take over at
Duke University in 1950,
David M. Nelson came on board as head coach.
20th century During his time at Delaware, Nelson developed the Delaware Wing-T offensive system. This system, strongly rooted in running the football and deceptive fake hand-offs, became the identity of Delaware football for nearly 50 years. Nelson also brought with him another icon of Delaware football: the
"winged" helmet. The iconic
Michigan-style helmet was developed by Nelson's coach at Michigan,
Fritz Crisler, who first used the helmet design when he was head coach at
Princeton, though in black and orange. Nelson played for Crisler when Crisler was head coach at Michigan, and Nelson brought the helmet design with him to every team he coached (
Hillsdale College,
Harvard,
Maine and Delaware). Nelson stepped down as football coach in 1965, and in his 15 years (1951–1965), the Hens compiled an 84–42–2 (.664) record with one National Championship in 1963 and a bowl win over
Kent State in the now-defunct
Refrigerator Bowl. In 1966, an assistant football and baseball coach named
Harold "Tubby" Raymond took over, and after a rocky start (the team recorded a 2–7 record in his second season) became the face of Delaware football for 36 seasons. While Nelson developed the Delaware Wing-T, Raymond perfected it. When he retired in 2001, Raymond had racked up 300 wins against 119 losses and three ties, good for a .714 win percentage. His teams earned 14
Lambert Cup Trophies (as the best team in the east in a particular division), four national semi-finals, and three National Championships in 1971, 1972, and 1979. His 300 wins account for nearly half of the football victories in school history. These three men (Murray, Nelson and Raymond) are all enshrined in the
College Football Hall of Fame in
Atlanta.
Georgia Tech is the only other school to place three consecutive coaches into the College Football Hall of Fame. Notable program victories include multiple wins over
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools
Navy (including a win at Navy's Homecoming game during a year when they went to a bowl game),
Maryland,
Rutgers, and
Temple. Speculation regularly exists regarding whether the Blue Hens will "move up" to the FBS level at some point. The University of Delaware has more than 60 wins against opponents playing at the highest level, whether that was FBS (since 2006), I-A, or the University level (prior to 1978). However, whereas most I-AA schools move up because of the perception of increased money and prestige, UD has an extremely profitable football program, and it is already well-regarded academically and athletically. "We're the LSU; we're the Georgia, the Florida of Division I-AA", Delaware coach
K. C. Keeler said in
American Football Monthly in September 2004. "We have every resource. There's some people who have better resources than we do, but in general, the college campus we have is in one of the greatest college towns in America, and the academics ... we led the nation last year in out-of-state applications, more than Michigan or Texas. But that's what this school has become – everybody wants to come to school here." While most schools at the FCS level can expect 8,000–10,000 fans for a football game on a good day, the Fightin' Blue Hens can expect sellout crowds of over 22,000 at every home contest; Delaware was the only FCS program to average more than 20,000 fans per regular-season home game for each season from 1999 to 2010. Delaware's eighth loss, to
Villanova University in the final game of the season, ended a season with eight losses for the first time in 117 seasons. The Fightin' Blue Hens were one of only four teams in the NCAA to never lose eight games in a season; the others are
Michigan, which lost its eighth game a week before the Hens the same season,
Tennessee, and
Ohio State. On January 7, 2014, Keeler was fired following the
2012 season in which his team posted a 5−6 record. Delaware hired
Rutgers offensive coordinator Dave Brock as the team's head coach on January 18, 2013. Brock was unable to maintain any of the success or momentum of his predecessors, could not recruit as successfully as his predecessors, and oversaw a precipitous decline in the program's on and off field fortunes. He became the first head coach in the 90+ year history of Delaware football to be fired in-season, on October 17, 2016. He was replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach
Dennis Dottin-Carter, who completed the 2016 season. The team never made the FCS playoffs under his tenure. The team hired
Richmond head coach
Danny Rocco on December 13, 2016. Rocco was fired at the end of the 2021 season. With a September 7, 2019 victory over the
Rhode Island Rams, Delaware became the 39th team in the
NCAA with 700 wins. On December 10, 2021, Delaware named former UD quarterback
Ryan Carty as their new head coach. Carty spent 11 years on the
New Hampshire coaching staff, and spent 4 years as offensive coordinator at
Sam Houston State under Keeler. On November 28, 2023, Delaware and
Conference USA (CUSA) announced that the Blue Hens would begin the transition process to the
Football Bowl Subdivision after the 2023 season, to join Conference USA beginning in 2025. UD played in the CAA in 2024, but was not eligible for the FCS playoffs due to NCAA rules for transitioning programs. ==Head coaches==