Greatest College Football Coaches

It's no surprise, then, that the most common image of a college football coach is a man-child stalking down the sideline on an autumn Sunday, face beet red, causing the sophomore assigned to carry the lines attached to his headphones to trip and fall no fewer than six times per quarter. Venom spewing at officials, hands thrown up in exasperation every other second, and clipboards occasionally looked at as if they did something wrong.

College football can certainly be demanding, and the turnover rate at big programs can be high (witness the recent saga with University of Florida, one a perennial national power). Some, however, do it oh-so-well for various reasons: recruitment, motivation, game day planning, projecting an image of the school, or consistency. Some do it well, get greedy and go for the pros, and ruin their luster (Dennis Erickson, Barry Switzer). Some are headed towards legendary status, but need to accumulate more honors (Mark Richt, Phil Fulmer, Kirk Ferentz).

And then again, some remain icons forever, like these men:

Paul "Bear" Bryant: Bryant is perhaps more synonymous with college football than any other man. He won 323 games across his career, including five national championships. Two of those titles occurred in back-to-back seasons, while the other three were in a five-year span. Bryant is best known for his success at University of Alabama, but also helmed successful programs at Texas A&M (beginning the football legacy there), Maryland, and Kentucky. During 38 seasons as a coach, Bryant had one losing season. He was a famous disciplinarian, causing 2/3 of his team to quit during his first season as A&M coach (made famous in the ESPN movie "The Junction Boys"). Former USC coach John McKay once remarked, "Bryant wasn't just a coach. He was the coach."

Joe Paterno: Critics have recently called for Paterno's retirement, saying the Penn State head man is out of touch with the game. He did bag one of America's top recruits in Derrick Williams from Maryland, and despite occasional sub-par seasons in Happy Valley of late, "Joe Pa" has an undeniable place along the greatest coaches of all-time. His program has created 212 NFL players (including 25 first-round picks), 71 first-team All Americans, and has won the National Championship twice. Paterno has also rung up five undefeated seasons, and captured 20 Bowl games, more than any coach in history. Perhaps the greatest thing about Paterno, though, cannot be captured by his gaudy statistics --- he is strict, but he always remains a player's coach, as interested in his crew as the Xs and Os they represent on Saturday afternoon.

Eddie Robinson: Two years ago, Slyvester Croom took over at Mississippi State, and became the first African-American head coach in SEC history. While that sounds almost implausible given that civil rights have been in place for over four decades, it would have been virtually impossible without the contributions of Eddie Robinson, the former coach of Grambling State in Louisiana. As the only coach to win 400 games in a career, he also led the Tigers to eight national black collegiate titles, a record that stood until 2003. Games and foundations are frequently named after him, and people often cite his unbelievable final record (408 - 165 - 15) as proof that he's the greatest collegiate coach ever. It doesn't hurt that he sent over 200 players to the pros from a historically black, little-regarded college in the SE.

Tom Osborne: If ever you wish to doubt the broader appeal of a college football coach, consider this --- Osborne is the favorite in Nebraska's 2006 gubernatorial race. Currently a Congressman from the state, Osborne built his rep there by winning 250 games at the University of Nebraska faster than any coach in history. Osborne, who fashioned an "option" attack often duplicated but never truly replicated, coached for over 25 years and never won fewer than nine games, leading to an astounding 255 - 49 - 3 lifetime record. One of the greatest cases for the Honorable Mr. Osborne as the best ever is that he only got better with age: in his last five seasons, the Cornhuskers went 60-3 and won three national championships. Since his departure into public life, the Huskers program --- once the proudest in the land --- has struggled under a variety of other head men who haven't recaptured Osborne's dynamic.

Bud Wilkenson: Depending on your historical context, credit for the Oklahoma football dynasty can fall to many men. Wilkenson won 47 consecutive games and three national championships in the late 1940s, in the process inventing the 3-4 defense (one of the most commonly used sets in the modern game). Do you really want to argue it was Stoops or Switzer who did all this?

Fielding Yost: Yost clearly coached in a different time --- he ran the heralded Michigan program from 1901 until 1925. However, he did win 83% of his games, while shutting out the opponent 125 times. Six of his teams won national championships, and his 1901 team scored 550 points while allowing zero points (yes, that's right) en route to a 11-0 season. That season, U of M also won the first-ever Rose Bowl, 49-0 over Stanford. Yost's accomplishments need to be viewed in the proper historical context --- the game was a lot simpler then --- but his 25 year career is unmatched in terms of statistical dominance by anyone else since.

Bobby Bowden: College football is religion in Florida among the big three schools, but despite the successes of Dennis Erickson and Jimmie Johnson at Miami and Steve Spurrier at Florida, Bowden is the most highly-regarded of them all. Bowden has been at Florida State for 25 years, including a 15-year period beginning in 1981 when he didn't lose a bowl game. He has captured 2 national titles, created arguably the best crop of pro players of all coaches listed above, and has a series of sons serving as head coaches throughout the collegiate ranks. Bowden, along with Paterno, surpassed Bryant's 323 victory record (although Paterno has a 6-1 record against Bowden). Bowden, however, is still going strong --- his team is ranked 15th in preseason polls headed into 2005, and had three plays gone their way in '04, they may have finished 11-0.