List of Hawthorn Football Club coaches

The Hawthorn Football Club are a professional Australian rules football team based in Mulgrave, Victoria, playing in the Australian Football League. The team began as the Mayblooms before changing their nickname to the Hawks in 1942.

Since joining the VFA in 1914, Hawthorn have had 33 coaches. The current coach of the club is Sam Mitchell, who took over from Alastair Clarkson ahead of the 2022 season. Clarkson is the most successful coach in the club's history having led the team for more games coached, home and away games coached, games won, home and away wins, finals games, finals wins, and VFL/AFL premierships.

#	Number of coaches
G	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
D	Draws
Win%	Winning percentage
†	Interim Coach
‡	Fill–in coach
*	Player–coach
^	Inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame

VFA/VFL/AFL Men's coaches

As of the end of 2024

#	Name	Season(s)	Total					Achievements
#	Name	Season(s)	G	W	L	D	Win%	Achievements
1	Alf Gough	1914–1915	31	4	26	1	12.90
2	Jack McKenzie	1919	18	8	10	0	44.44
3	Ted Alley	1920	4	1	3	0	25.00
4	Arthur Rademacher	1920–1921	35	13	22	0	37.14
4	Arthur Rademacher	1933^‡	35	13	22	0	37.14
5	Bill Walton	1922–1924	54	31	22	1	57.41
6	Alec Hall	1925	17	3	14	0	17.65
7	Dan Minogue*	1926–1927	36	4	31	1	11.11
8	Bert Sutton*	1928	18	0	18	0	0.00
9	Albert Chadwick*	1929	18	4	14	0	22.22
10	John Harris*	1930–1931	36	9	27	0	25.00
11	Jim Jackson	1932	18	3	15	0	16.67
12	Fred Phillips	1933	0	0	0	0	0.00
13	Bill Twomey Sr.*	1933–1934	32	5	27	0	15.63
14	Ivan McAlpine*	1935–1938	72	22	50	0	30.56
15	Len Thomas*	1939	18	5	12	1	27.78
16	Bert Mills*	1940–1941	36	10	26	0	27.78
17	Roy Cazaly	1942–1943	30	10	20	0	33.33
18	Tommy Lahiff*	1944	18	2	15	1	11.11
19	Keith Shea*	1945–1946	39	9	30	0	23.08
20	Alec Albiston*	1947–1949	57	12	45	0	21.05
21	Bob McCaskill	1950–1951	36	4	32	0	11.11
22	Jack Hale	1952–1959	146	61	84	1	41.78
23	John Kennedy Sr.^	1957^‡	299	181	116	2	60.54	3× VFL premiership (1961, 1971, 1976) 3× Jock McHale Medal (1961, 1971, 1976) 5× VFL Grand Final (1961, 1963, 1971, 1975, 1976) 4× Minor premiership (1961, 1963, 1971, 1975) 2× McClelland Trophy (1961, 1971) 2× Pre-season premiership (1968, 1969)
23	John Kennedy Sr.^	1960–1963 1967–1976	299	181	116	2	60.54
24	Graham Arthur*	1964–1965	36	17	19	0	47.22
25	Peter O'Donohue	1966	18	5	13	0	27.78
26	David Parkin^	1977–1980	94	57	37	0	60.64	VFL premiership (1978) Jock McHale Medal (1978) VFL Grand Final (1978) Pre-season premiership (1977) NFL Championship (1976)
27	Allan Jeans^	1981–1987 1989–1990	221	159	61	1	71.95	3× VFL premiership (1983, 1986, 1989) 3× Jock McHale Medal (1983, 1986, 1989) 6× VFL Grand Final (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989) 2× Minor premiership (1986, 1989) 3× McClelland Trophy (1984, 1985, 1986) 2× Pre-season premiership (1985, 1986) 2× VFL Team of the Year (1983, 1986)
28	Alan Joyce	1988 1991–1993	93	67	26	0	72.04	2× VFL/AFL premiership (1988, 1991) 2× Jock McHale Medal (1988, 1991) 2× VFL/AFL Grand Final (1988, 1991) Minor premiership (1988) McClelland Trophy (1988) 3× Pre-season premiership (1988, 1991, 1992)
29	Peter Knights^	1994–1995	45	20	25	0	44.44
30	Ken Judge	1996–1999	89	37	50	1	41.57	Pre-season premiership (1999)
31	Peter Schwab	2000–2004	109	52	57	0	47.71
–	Chris Connolly^‡	2001	1	1	0	0	100.00
–	Donald McDonald^†	2004	5	3	2	0	60.00
32	Alastair Clarkson	2005–2021	390	228	158	4	58.46	4× AFL premiership (2008, 2013, 2014, 2015) 4× Jock McHale Medal (2008, 2013, 2014, 2015) 5× AFL Grand Final (2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) 2× Minor premiership (2012, 2013) 2× McClelland Trophy (2012, 2013) 4× All-Australian team (2008, 2013, 2014, 2015)
–	Brendon Bolton^‡	2014	5	5	0	0	100.00
33	Sam Mitchell	2022–present	70	30	40	0	42.86	McClelland Trophy (2024)

AFL Women's coaches

On 12 August 2021, Hawthorn was granted a license to join the AFL Women's league for the 2022/23 season.^[1] Bec Goddard who was in charge of the club's VFL women's side was immediately appointed as the club's first ever AFLW coach. ^[2]

As of the end of 2024

#	Name	Season(s)	Total					Awards
#	Name	Season(s)	G	W	L	D	Win%	Awards
1	Bec Goddard	2022 (S7)–2023	20	6	14	0	30.00
2	Daniel Webster	2024–present	13	10	3	0	76.92	McClelland Trophy (2024)

References

^ "AFLW will expand to 18 teams from the 2022/23 season". ABC news. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
^ Black, Sarah (12 August 2021). "Hawks unveil premiership mastermind as inaugural AFLW coach". womens.afl. Retrieved 13 August 2021.

AFL Tables - Hawthorn coaches

[1] "AFLW will expand to 18 teams from the 2022/23 season". ABC news. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.

[2] Black, Sarah (12 August 2021). "Hawks unveil premiership mastermind as inaugural AFLW coach". womens.afl. Retrieved 13 August 2021.

[1]

[2]

v t e Coaches of the Hawthorn Football Club
VFA	1914–1915: Gough 1919: McKenzie 1920: Alley 1920–1921: Rademacher 1922–1924: Walton
VFL/AFL	1925: Hall 1926–1927: Minogue 1928: Sutton 1929: Chadwick 1930–1931: Harris 1932: Jackson 1933: Phillips 1933: Rademacher 1933–1934: Twomey 1935–1938: McAlpine 1939: Thomas 1940–1941: Mills 1942–1943: Cazaly 1944: Lahiff 1945–1946: Shea 1947–1949: Albiston 1950–1951: McCaskill 1952–1959: Hale 1960–1963: Kennedy 1964–1965: Arthur 1966: O'Donohue 1967–1976: Kennedy 1977–1980: Parkin 1981–1987: Jeans 1988: Joyce 1989–1990: Jeans 1991–1993: Joyce 1994–1995: Knights 1996–1999: Judge 2000–2004: Schwab 2004: McDonald 2005–2021: Clarkson 2022–: Mitchell
AFL Women's	2022 (S7)–2023: Goddard 2024–: Webster
Italics denote caretaker coach