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Top 5 college football coaches the past 40 years

Must have at least 15 years as a head coach in Division I.

Bo Schembechler
Bear Bryant
Bobby Bowden
John Robinson
Tom Osborne

Comments

  • Current stubborness aside, Joe Pa should be on the list IMO ...
  • Yeah,

    I kept Jopa off the list because of his current demise.

    I did love it when he beat Miami,Fla 14-7 in that championship upset.
    Was Vinny the quarterback for Miami ?

    Also, one of the greatest games I ever saw (of which there are many),
    was when Jopa went against the Bear in the SugarDome only to
    lose 7-0. I believe it was Jeff Rutledge and Major Oglivie for Alabama.
    I can't remember the QB for Penn St.
  • BugOnTheRugBugOnTheRug Posts: 1,611 ✭✭✭
    come on.........you gotta squeeze JoePa on that list somewhere!!

    BOTR
  • 1420sports1420sports Posts: 3,473 ✭✭✭
    Was Vinny the quarterback for Miami ?

    Yes. The Heisman winner was stifled that day. I remember a young Michael Irvin getting popped ...

    Paterno is definitely on that list. Bump Bo or Tom.
    collecting various PSA and SGC cards
  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 30,547 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bear Bryant
    Jo Paterno
    Bobby Bowden
    Woody Hayes
    John Robinson
  • khaysekhayse Posts: 1,336
    Bump Bo?!?!

    What!?!?! image

    -Khayse
  • jaxxrjaxxr Posts: 1,258 ✭✭
    I like Perkdogs' list, but.....

    In a close call would drop Bobby Bowden and add Ara Parsieigian ( sp? ) of Northwestern and Notre Dame.

    I think the National Championship game won by Alabama, was 14-7 and Leroy Jordan LB of the Tide, stopped FB Mat Suey at the goal line at the game's end.
    image
    This aint no party,... this aint no disco,.. this aint no fooling around.
  • Bear Bryant
    Bobby Bowden
    Joe Paterno
    Woody Hayes
    Bo Shembechler


  • << <i>Must have at least 15 years as a head coach in Division I. >>

    a silly requirement

    you just end up ignoring well deserving
    coaches like
    EDDIE ROBINSON - Grambling State University's
    legendary football coach for 57 years. He won
    more football games than any other coach had,
    college or pro, with a record of 408-165-15
    image

    or
    Saint John's University legendary head coach John Gagliardi
    completed his 56th season as a collegiate head football coach
    He is now the winningest coach all-time in college football history.
    Gagliardi (Guh-lahr-dee) currently owns a 421-117-11 (.777)
    collegiate career record. (397of them were at SJU!!)

    image
    imageimage
  • Bobby bowden should be at the top...Oh wait, he is! ha...
    most wins by any coach in college football.
    BOWDEN IS KING...and will go down as the greatest ever to coach college football! His record will not be surpassed by anyone!
    Tally Stand up!
    Real recognize REAL
    image
  • khaysekhayse Posts: 1,336
    >most wins by any coach in college football
    Clearly you're not reading other people's posts or you would know that to be false.

    Someone make that old goat retire (and take Joe Pa with him).

    -Khayse


  • << <i>Clearly you're not reading other people's posts or you would know that to be false. >>

    yeah, you are right.

    but Hey,
    Skip2MyLouie is close...

    Bowden only needs to get about 75 more wins
    to be #1... (and stop Gagliardi from winning at the same time!)
    image

    College Football's 300 Win Club (as of Nov. 13, 2004)
    There have been more than 25,000 head coaches in the history of college football.
    Only these 10 have won more than 300 games.

    1. John Gagliardi, SJU: 421-117-11, 56th year, .777 (still active, 7-3 in 2004)
    2. Eddie Robinson, Grambling: 408-165-15, 55 years, .707
    3. Bobby Bowden, Florida State: 350-101-4, 39th year, .774 (still active, 8-2 in 2004)
    4. Joe Paterno, Penn State: 342-116-3, 39th year, .745 (still active, 3-7 in 2004)
    5. Paul "Bear" Bryant, Alabama: 323-85-17, 38 years, .780
    6. Glenn "Pop" Warner, Temple: 319-106-32, 44 years, .733
    7. Roy Kidd, Eastern Kentucky: 315-123-8, 39 years, .715
    8. Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pacific: 314-199-35, 57 years, .605
    9. Frosty Westering, Pacific Lutheran: 305-96-7, 39 years, .756
    10. Tubby Raymond, Delaware: 300-119-3, 36 years, .714

    imageimage
  • no Lou Holtz anywhere? we all know what he did at ND all those years.
  • stevekstevek Posts: 28,884 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Must have at least 15 years as a head coach in Division I.

    Bo Schembechler
    Bear Bryant
    Bobby Bowden
    John Robinson
    Tom Osborne

    <<< I kept Jopa off the list because of his current demise. >>>

    What an asinine comment! Most every great coach or player has some bad years towards the end of their careers. To leave Joe Paterno off a top 5 list like this, with all of his tremendous lifetime accomplishments, is just plain rediculous and pathetic.
  • Not pathetic at all.

    Although you are a big Jopa fan, and he
    is a great coach, he does not have as many
    national champs as the other coaches. Although
    he may have Bo beat.

    I'm not sure about winning percentage, but
    I know Bowden, the Bear, and Osborne have him beat
    on that too.
  • dirtmonkeydirtmonkey Posts: 3,048 ✭✭
    People must consider conferences & competition when choosing what coach may have been the so-called best ever IMO. JoPa did have some great years with some great teams, but they typically played some lousy competition during some of those years as well. Bowden has had lackluster competition in the ACC for a long time as well. There's generally only one (two at best) teams worthy of a bowl in that conference every year, and they usually differ every year. Many of these coaches used to pile up "cupcakes" in the preconference schedule such as Osborne did for many of those years with Nebraska.

    I wont say Bo is the best because I don't think you can really judge them, but the Big 10 has been one of the toughest conferences for many years. Bo always scheduled tough games in preconference, which is generally why they were out of the championship hunt by the end of September. The year he last coached, they went undefeated in the Big Ten but lost two games in the preconference schedule to Notre Dame and Miami (ND won on a Ho kick and Miami came back from like 30-14 late to win 31-30) while other ranked teams were beating up on Pacific and South Florida. Bo always said he played tough teams to get his teams ready to win the Big 10 and go to the Rose Bowl, which was their main goal every year. Bo always believed that to be the best, you had to beat the best. He started by resurrecting a Michigan team back to a national power and knocking off the unbeatable Ohio State 24-12...
    image
  • stevekstevek Posts: 28,884 ✭✭✭✭✭
    <<< Not pathetic at all.

    Although you are a big Jopa fan, and he
    is a great coach, he does not have as many
    national champs as the other coaches. Although
    he may have Bo beat.

    I'm not sure about winning percentage, but
    I know Bowden, the Bear, and Osborne have him beat
    on that too. >>>

    Oh so you are a statistics guy huh? Okay then according to statistics, Barry Bonds is greater than Babe Ruth, right? Wrong. And you are wrong about Joe Paterno. You called him a great coach and that is appreciated. Your other choices are good ones and right up there of course. However I strongly believe that Joe Paterno is the greatest college football coach of all time. You know all the statistics and so do I but a few things stand out with Paterno. His honesty and integrity is unmatched - this has been stated and documented by many members of the press. The graduation rate among his players is phenomenal compared to many other college football programs. He not only won, but won with class, dignity, and doing it the right way for the benefit of the players. Also you mentioned championships - Penn State in my opinion was "cheated" out of a number of championships from voters who had bias towards Southern, Mid-Western and Western schools, and had bias against Eastern schools. Yes a conspiracy theory which is based on fact. But that was a long time ago, it is spilled milk and and I'm not going to worry about it now. Fortunately there is now a college playoff system in place to prevent this bias voting which occured in the past - Paterno was one person who called for this playoff system many years before it happened.




  • << <i>Jopa is a great coach,
    he does not have as many national champs as the other coaches. >>

    he has 2 National Championships
    (same as Bobby Bowden by the way)

    But
    He coached FIVE different UNDEFEATED
    seasons... PLUS Bowl wins

    TWO OF THEM WERE BACK TO BACK IN 68-69
    and they only gave them 1 National championship
    and that was in 86...
    So how obvious is it that there was some conspiracy here...



    Perfect seasons under Paterno
    Season Record
    1968 11-0
    1969 11-0
    1973 12-0
    1986 12-0 -- National Champions
    1994 12-0
    imageimage


  • << <i>Must have at least 15 years as a head coach in Division I.

    Bo Schembechler
    Bear Bryant
    Bobby Bowden
    John Robinson
    Tom Osborne >>



    I agree with others that Joe Pa should be on the list.

    I don't recall Schembechler winning any national championships, which makes him the odd man out on that list. I do recall his team perenially losing the Rose bowl to whatever Pac-10 team was in it.
  • stevekstevek Posts: 28,884 ✭✭✭✭✭
    BigKidAtHeart - Thanks for your post! Just a correction though...Penn State was also the national champion in 1982, so Joe Paterno did win 2 national championships. But as you pointed out it should have been more. Thanks again!


  • << <i>BigKidAtHeart - Thanks for your post! Just a correction though...Penn State was also the national champion in 1982, so Joe Paterno did win 2 national championships. But as you pointed out it should have been more. Thanks again! >>

    sorry forgot about 82.
    thanks,
    I corrected my above post

    either way, there is no way to compare.

    Jo Pa is near the very top!
    imageimage
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