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The Best NCAA Coaches
By JB Webs
The Best Coaches in NCAA Football History
NCAA football, particularly Division I-A, is one of the most
competitive collegiate sports. Many coaches have had
winning seasons, but only the greatest are remembered by
fans. Bobby Bowden, forty four years after coaching his first
college game and after twenty nine years with Florida State,
is the winningest coach in NCAA history. His Seminoles were
ranked in the Associated Press (AP) Top Five for fourteen
consecutive seasons. His 1999 team was the first ever to go
from opening game to the championship while maintaining
their number one AP ranking the whole time. He is ranked
second in most bowl wins. When he took over in 1976, the
Seminoles had won a total of only four games in three
seasons. His career record with the Seminoles, playing some
of the league's toughest teams, is 278-70-4.
Also considered a NCAA coaching great is Joe Paterno. As he
prepares for his fortieth year with Penn State, he is in second
place for all time victories, only behind Bobby Bowden. He led
the Nittany Lions to national championships in 1982 and 1986
and had five unbeaten/untied seasons. Oh, and he is the one
Bobby Bowden is chasing for all time bowl wins with a record
of 20-10-1.
If NCAA football was a religion in Alabama, Paul ¡°Bear¡± Bryant
would be their messiah. He led the Crimson Tide to six
national titles between 1961 and 1979. At the time of his
retirement, he was the winningest coach of all time and also
held the record for most bowl wins. Bear was known as a
stern, no nonsense coach. He once suspended his star
quarterback, Joe Namath, causing him to miss the 1964 Sugar
Bowl.
But Bowden and Paterno, as great as they are, may never be
able to reach the greatness a certain Norwegian achieved
while coaching America's most famous Irish-Catholic
university. Knute Rockne has been the subject to countless
books and even a movie that featured a former president,
Ronald Reagan, as his most famous player, George Gipp.
Even people that don't know much about football or Notre
Dame surely know the line ¡°Win one for the Gipper.¡± What
Rockne could have accomplished will never be known. He was
cut down in his prime, dying in a plane crash at age 42. But in
his short thirteen years at Notre Dame, he managed to
compile a record of 105-12-5, including six national
championships. That is the winningest percentage (.881) of
any NCAA football coach ever. He was also created the
unstoppable backfield known as the four horsemen that led
the Fighting Irish to a 28-2 record. He was dearly loved not
only by his players, but fans as well.
Sure, there will be other great coaches in the future of the
NCAA. But no one can ever forget these great men or their
astonishing accomplishments.
About the Author
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