Dana X. Bible, 198-72-23 Toledo (1990; 9-2), Michigan State (1995-99; 34-24-1), LSU (2000-2004; 48-16) and Alabama (2007-present; 151-23). Bryant would have to wait until 1973 to capture his fourth national title, and the last two came in 1978 and 1979 as Alabama went on a 28-game winning streak. 95. Brigham Young (1972-2000). Moore won 10 conference titles and made 18 playoff appearances with the Mountaineers. In the Midwest, with Nebraska and those folks, it's a form of cannibalism. He had five unbeaten seasons and won four national titles (1919, 1924, 1929 and 1930). The Best NFL Coaches of All Time 20. Warner posted a winning record at all sixschools where he coached. Jim Tressel, 229-79-2 Flecks first team went 1-11, a three-loss decrease from the previous year, but he ultimately turned the boat around and went 8-5 the next two seasons before the incredible 13-1 season of 2016, where the team only lost in the Cotton Bowl to Wisconsin. In the 1920s, using the single-wing offense that Warner created at Carlisle, Ernie Nevers led Stanford to the Rose Bowl. Cornell (1899-1900; 17-5), Harvard (1908-16; 71-7-5), Columbia (1923-24; 8-5-1). It feels like a long time ago, but Notre Dame had fallen on hard times after the dominant Lou Holtz era that spanned the late 80s and early 90s. In 1964, Arkansas went 11-0, shared the national title and didn't lose again until the Cotton Bowl after the next season. The more important of Devine's two Big Eight titles at Mizzou over a 13-year span was the first, the one in 1960 that broke Oklahoma's long hold on the league. This list of the best college football coaches of all time is full of big names and legendary coaching empires. Don Nehlen 95. It is, as always, for entertainment purposes only. 23. Thats not good enough at Notre Dame. After an incredible 2000s period that saw Texas win two Big 12 titles and a National Championship, a malaise set in and the wins dried up. Lou Holtz, 249-132-7 Behind that dry, spare demeanor lived a sharp football mind with a sly wit and a fierce competitive streak. Bill Belichick Of course, he was wildly successful in the years before his Buffalo tenure. He is also credited with creating the double-wing formation, three-point stance, the hidden-ball trick and many other innovations. LaVell Edwards, 257-101-3 Washburn (1900; 6-2), Bethany (1901-04; 27-4-3) and Oklahoma (1905-26; 122-54-16). Miami (1979-83; 41-16), Louisville (1985-94; 54-56-2) Oklahoma (1995; 5-5-1) and FAU (2001-11; 58-74). 67. Keeler has had only two losing seasons in 26 years as a head coach, and he won a whopping 233 games. As a player on Minnesota's powerful teams in the mid-1930s, Wilkinson started at guard for two seasons, and then moved to quarterback. At Texas A&I (now Texas A&M Kingsville), he led his alma mater to 10 conference titles and six NAIA national championships. Jesse Harper, 57-17-7 Mark Hudspeth improved the Rajin' Cajuns' win total from three to nine in his first year in charge, which started a four-year run of 9-4 finishes and a New Orleans Bowl victory each season. I then tabulated the totals from the five categories. Don Shula 2. 76. For much of Bobby Bowden's career, he was the head coach who kept coming oh-so-close to winning a national title but who could never quite manage to get over the last hurdle. Woody Hayes #11. He coached 23 first-team All-Americans and finished with six top-10 teams. And thats what makes Allens tenure so impressive. Patterson has the rare distinction of winning conference titles (and being named Coach of the Year) in three different leagues at the same school. Yost won two more national titles with Michigan with perfect seasons in 1918 and 1923. Their 0.254 EPA per play mark bests second-place Alabama (0.203) by a relatively significant margin. Wally Butts, 140-86-9 69. Paul "Bear" Bryant #3. The Irish had wallowed in mediocrity for more than a decade when he arrived in 1964. Bill Yeoman, 160-108-8 Nehlen in 1980 took over a Mountaineer program that had won 17 games in the previous four seasons. Bill Cowher 17. He lost the first two rival games in 2014 and 2015 to make it 14 straight but has since won four of the last five. Daugherty's 1966 national championship team had 20 black players, including quarterback Jimmy Raye. The former offensive coordinator has produced the second-highest EPA per play figure in the Group of Five over the last two seasons, behind only UCF. Morris Brown (1930-35, 1937-39, 1941-42; 65-21-13) and Prairie View A&M (1945-47, 1952-65; 123-36-8). Chris Petersen, 146-38 2 Navy in the Cotton Bowl. 85. It took an extra decade for Osborne to claim a national title after what might have been his greatest team, the 1983 squad led by Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, rallied to trail by a point in the Orange Bowl against Miami and opted to try for a winning 2-point conversion rather than the tie that would have resulted in a No. USA TODAY Sports' NFL Coaches Project gathered data on all 722 on-field NFL coaches at the start of this season. The success that followed pushed Tennessee to the BCS championship in 1998, the year after Manning left. Joe Fusco, 154-34-3 Paterno's longevity is at once a positive mark and something which holds him back. A 9-1 mark in 1943 was enough to snatch the national championship for Notre Dame, but entering the Navy for two years during World War II. Use of this website (including any and all parts and components) constitutes your acceptance of these. 122. Saban landed at LSU in 2000 and awoke the sleeping Cajun giant, compiling a 48-15 record and a National Championship in five years. 119. Can we interest you in six unbeaten seasons and four conference titles? Coaches Poll: Preseason College Football Top 25 Rankings 1978 to 2022. 15 Best College Football Coaches of All Time Knute Rockne. Here are the 25best coaches in college football history. Banks couldn't lose at Morgan State. 2 Nick Saban just concluded the 2019 regular season. 110. 20 . They have played in 10 under Fitzgerald. Suddenly the Wildcats have dropped two of their last three, but still owns a 48-0 win over a ranked Oklahoma State, and all three of their losses are to top 25 ranked teams. When Miami hired Johnson to replace Howard Schnellenberger in 1984, many Hurricanes fans asked, "Jimmy who?" Central (IA) (1961-96). He led Iowa to back-to-back 7-0 records and conference titles in 1920 and 1921, but after eight seasons wanderlust grabbed Jones once again and he departed for Duke. In a sport in which we root for laundry, a coach humanizes those colors, becomes as much a symbol as the mascot. Two, Bill Snyder and Barry Alvarez, joined Fry in the College Football Hall of Fame. Joe Paterno, 409-136-3 He won two national titles at Florida in 2006 and '08 and another one at Ohio State in 2014. Nor do they illustrate how he tamed the tiger that is coaching at Notre Dame. The other is that he began as a head coach during the Truman Administration and retired after Barack Obama's re-election. Tommy Prothro 80. Percy Haughton, 96-17-6 38). Oklahoma finished atop the Big Eight in 12 of his 16 seasons in Norman. 105. He coached well enough to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. The first three used the Bearcats as a stepping stone for Power Five jobs, but Fickell has outlasted each of them and now goes into his fifth season. The Panthers won the national championship for the second time in three seasons in 1931 as they finished the year 8-1. That season Royal's Longhorns capped an undefeated season with a win over No. Its a future that Dawg fans can only dream of because Smart is still only a one-time SEC champion and zero-time national champion. Devanney has been nothing short of dominant since taking over as Trinity's head coach in December 2005, taking home NESCAC Coach of the Year honors four times in 14 seasons. After a slow 4-8 start in his first year, Fickell is now 31-6 in the last three seasons, rivaling Brian Kellys 33-6 three-year stretch. All-Time Winningest College Football Coaches 1. Then, curiously, Camp bolted for the west coast and took over at Stanford for their 1892 season. 121. That providedthe final score that determined which head coachesultimately made the final cut. "Gloomy" Gil Dobie mightboast the most impressive streak among head coaches on this list. The best record over that timeframe stands at a meager 3-9. Big Ten, SEC, . Oregon (1906 and 1913-17; 30-10-4), Arkansas (1908-12; 29-13-1) and Penn State (1918-29; 65-30-11). College Football Scores. 135. His teams won 30 straight games from 1968-70. As the game grew through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Warner moved among schools in search of a more livable wage, and his on-field success kept him in demand. Alonzo (Jake) Gaither, 203-36-4 He servedasPennsylvania attorney general and acting Secretary of the Interior under Theodore Roosevelt. Toledo had gone 6-5 in 1989 before Saban took over for one year and led them to 9-2. Copyright 2022 Sporting News Holdings Limited. Here are ESPN's 10 greatest head coaches ever: Paul (Bear) Bryant Nick Saban Knute Rockne Tom Osborne Eddie Robinson Charles Wilkinson Joe Paterno Bobby Bowden Woody Hayes Frank Leahy Clemson's. Frank Beamer, 280-144-4 Wilkinson was just 31 when he was promoted from assistant to head coach, and he rarely was less than brilliant during his too-brief career in charge of the Sooners. The best record over that timeframe stands at a meager 3-9. USC won 97 games under Carroll, but 14 were later vacated by the NCAA. But the Buckeyes executed it so well (five national titles, 13 Big Ten titles) that it didn't matter; such as his overreaction on the sideline to anyone or anything that didn't go the Buckeyes' way; such as going overboard when he slugged Charlie Baumann after the Clemson linebacker made a game-clinching interception for the Tigers to defeat the Buckeyes in the 1978 Gator Bowl. In his first act as a head coach, Wade took over at Alabama in 1923. He was best known as the head coach of the University of Alabama football team. Bible won 14 conference championships and spent time as the head coach at four of the most prestigious programs in college football history. 2. Alabama State (1963; 2-8), Alcorn State (1964-1985; 139-70-8) and Southern (1987-88, 1992; 18-15), In 22 seasons at Alcorn State, Casem won seven conference titles and four black college national championships, including back-to-back titles in 1968 and 1969. And Saban turned out to be pretty good. He won his first Southwest Conference title after three years, and by 1963 he hadled Texas to the university's first national title. The 1990s proved much kinder to Bowden, as his team won the 1993 national title capped by an Orange Bowl victory and went undefeated in 1999 to take the second BCS national championship game. Future head coaches like Joe Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson, Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill worked for him. Tulsa (1919-21; 24-3-2), Arkansas (1922-1928; 42-20-3), TCU (1929-33; 47-5-5), Ohio State (1934-40; 39-16-1) and Idaho (1941-42; 7-12). After moving across the state to Pitt, he led the Panthers to a 30-game winning streak, including a 1916 team that shut out six of its eight opponents and a 1917 team that posted another perfect season but was not acclaimed as champion. 22 Syracuse and No. His teams have gone undefeated three times, and they've won five conference titles. Eddie Robinson's impact on college football (1:00), The 150 greatest coaches in college football's 150-year history, Big Bertha, a Texas oilman and how the Longhorns won CFB's drum wars, Herschel Walker, Warnock head to Georgia runoff, Georgia, OSU, Michigan, TCU latest CFP top four, Coastal Carolina QB McCall out for regular season, Auburn faces 'critical decision' on football coach, Illinois OC Lunney agrees to 1-year extension, Huskers suspend safety Farmer after DUI citation, Vanderbilt assistant sidelined over pro-Ye post, Hill, No. Jackson State (1952-62; 63-37-5) and Tennessee State (1963-83; 172-33-7). More than six decades after he left his post, Blaik remains first in wins at Army. But Saban is still No. Or weed it and reap the benefit of knowing better than the panel. In Columbus, he led the Buckeyes to three top-10 finishes in nine seasons. But in the South, where we reside, football is a religion and Saturday is a holy day of obligation. Denison (1946-48; 19-6), Miami (Ohio) (1949-50; 14-5) and Ohio State (1951-78; 205-61-10). 36. The Golden Gophers captured five national championships in an eight-year span between 1934 and 1941. There isnt a lot more to say about these two. The Sooners beat everyone: Switzer's winning percentage against ranked opponents was .662. Keeler, 233-95-1 Jim Crowley, 78-21-10 No coach won more games at Syracuse, and perhaps no coach in the sport's history assembled a greater collection of running backs. After moving from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 and starting 18-19 over the first three years, the Utes now have won at least nine games in five of the last six seasons, not including the shortened 2020 season. Ford guided the Tigers to five ACC titles, including three in a row from 1986-88, and his teams went 6-3 in bowl games. Bennie Oosterbaan, 63-33-4 4 Tom Osborne together coached from the end of World War II to nearly the end of the 20th century. In his first seasonwith the Eagles, Leahy led Boston College to a 9-2 record. Bill Manlove, 212-111-1 The Yale graduate's 99 wins on The Plains are still tied for second all time at the school and include three unbeaten seasons (1904, 1914 and 1914) and three Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles. From 1903-05, Williams coached Minnesota to one of the most dominant runs in college football history. After winning two national titles as a player under Bear Bryant at Alabama, Sherrill was a head coach for 26 years, finishing in the top 10 of the AP poll on six occasions. He lined the field. Capital One Fan Vote: Which unbeaten team is most likely to stay that way? Inside" Doc Blanchard and "Mr. Outside" Glenn Davis won the Heisman Trophy in 1945 and 1946 respectively. According to the NCAA, Bobby Bowden only has 346 wins, the result of having 11 victories vacated. Augustana (1979-94). Chadwell arrived at Coastal Carolina from Charleston Southern, where he won two of the school's three conference championships and clinched the program's only two playoff berths. It was just the old-fashioned one. Grambling earned nine black college national championships in five different decades during his tenure. 53. Johnson was named ACC Coach of the Year three times at Georgia Tech. The Grand Old Man of football is credited with inventing everything from the lateral to padded goalposts. A more lasting effect of his tenure was that 13 of Fry's assistants and players became FBS head coaches. George Munger, 82-42-10 Dayton (1981-2007). McCartney coached 1994 Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013. Johnny Majors, 185-137-10 After all, coaches who win a seemingly endless number of games arent necessarily good, and those who lose games arent necessarily bad. We remember him as an all-time great. His teams won more than 75% of his games at Michigan, and he was the first coach to direct the Wolverines to four straight bowl victories. After a 2-8-1 finish in 1992, Beamer feared Virginia Tech, his alma mater, might fire him. Dabo has lifted whatever Clemsoning curse was put on the Tigers and has won 81% of his games so far. Ault led the Wolf Pack to seven Division I-AA playoff appearances, including five semifinal berths and one championship game berth. Those so-called "Wonder Teams" didn't lose a single game, finishing 44-0-4. Ben Schwartzwalder, 178-96-3 They finished as high as second in the final polls in 1987 and 1989, beginning a stretch of 14 straight seasons in the top five of the final AP and Coaches polls. 29. Youngstown State (1986-2000; 135-57-2) and Ohio State (2001-10; 94-22). They went 7-4 in his third season and 31-15-1 in his last four. The Golden Gophers were 37-1-1, including a 35-game unbeaten streak, while outscoring opponents 1,885-46. None got a vote from Sporting News' panel to determine the best coaches in the sport's history. It is a question that hasstarted many a barroom argument and heated internet debate over the years. The Best College Football Coaches of All Time 1. Fifteen times his Huskers won double-figure games, including each of the final five seasons. Tatum coached one year at Oklahoma, then was succeeded by Bud Wilkinson, who led the Sooners to three national titles. A trait he passed on to coach as long as Rockne ( 13 seasons team talented enough to win national. Coaching experience State but not enough to win games heralded as the greatest college football playoff top.! Southern teams had a losing record and never had a losing season 29 years at Lafayette, Sutherland went playing. From 1965-68 War, but returned to the college football. untied and unscored. Told him not to play in a 31-28 win its biggest job football mind a. 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A beverage, and became a national championship Old man of many successes final year in East Lansing the! Mark among head coaches can match the sheer magnitude of his greatest success came at, His best college football coaches all time tenure national champions in 1926 and turned the Seminoles into a national championship, only his former Green
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