Greatest Cfb Coach of All-Time?

[Across The Field]

1. Saban - Looking for NC #7, which cements his spot alone at the top
2. Bryant - 2nd on the list with 6 NCs
3. Hayes - Bad ending, but can't argue with 5 NCs
4. Leahy - 4 NCs, to go along with 2 as a player

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

If you are going to have a coaching Mount Rushmore, Coach Eddie Robinson should get some love.

He’s on one for FCS, but we’re talking FBS here.

 

[DIKOWT DOWG]

I thought Bear Bryant won a NC at UK and was going to say that alone makes him the greatest of all time. But after I looked it up, they didn't.

But still. Anyone that can put a Kentucky team on the map gets my vote.

 

[UtahUte]

John Gagliardi!

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Well, so far I've noticed that about half of you seem to try to be unbiased and list coaches you honestly think have proven to be the best, and the other half seem to allow their personal biases to influence their picks, which is ok. So far most of the coaches I've seen mentioned all seem worthy of high praise, and I like this Mt Rushmore idea, so I'm going to list my biased Mt Rushmore coaches first. Sometime later I will try to make up an unbiased list, but I'll wait to see more suggestions first.

My Mt Rushmore is

Henry L "Doc" Williams
Gil Dobie
Bernie Bierman
Bud Wilkinson

And my 5th would be Biggie Munn.

Biggie Munn not only won a couple Natty's coaching MSU, he was the most instrumental person responsible for getting Michigan State into the Big Ten.

Bud Wilkinson was named by CBSSportsline as their 20th Century "National Coach of the Century", taking turns during the 50's with Biggie Munn winning Natty's with OU while taking ownership of the longest winning streak in cfb history. They were both(Munn and Wilkinson) Asst Coaches under...

Bernie Bierman was named by CBSSportsline as their 20th Century "Big Ten Coach of the Century". After playing for Doc Williams he went on to coach Tulane to TWO Natl Titles before going home to Minnesota, where he won FIVE MORE Natl Titles, and probably would have won at least one more in 1942, if not more, but the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the Military stole not only most of Minnesota's best players, they also stole Bierman, who then ended up coaching the very team that broke his own Minnesota winning streak. His Iowa Seahawks Navy team, which included a couple former Gophers that got pulled out of the NFL beat them by a very small margin for their first loss since 1939.

So after winning SEVEN Natl Titles at two DIFFERENT schools, it took a friggin world war to end his dynasty and domination of college football and he, himself, had to break his own winning streak. And not only did former Gophers play for Bierman on his Iowa Seahawks team that played against the Gophers, but at least 2 other Gophers who garnered some degree of AA status ended up playing for the Gophers rivals, Michigan and NW because there were military training bases near those schools, while there was none near the U of Mn campus.

Gil Dobie only holds the NCAA record for the longest unbeaten streak in history, 63 games, coaching Washington. But Washington wasn't the only school he had success at. He coached at Navy for 3 years and only lost 2-4 games and he coached Cornell to 1 or 2 Natl Titles as well.

And Dobie, Bierman and HOFer Clark Shaughnessy all played for...

Henry L "Doc" Williams, who won 4 Natl Titles(unrecognized), had close to the best winning percentage in cfb from 1900 to 1919. Yeah, better than even Michigan and Notre Dame. He is considered one of the Fathers of college football. He co-authored one of the seminal early works in cfb with Amos Alonzo Stagg considered one of a trilogy of the most important books every written about cfb. The other two were written by Walter Camp and Deland, the inventor of the flying wedge. Williams invented the 4 man backfield. He came up with that innovation as a way of neutralizing Michigan's Point a Minute Machine, and it worked, ending their 1903 game in a 6-6 tie. He also invented the Minnesota Shift, which was the precursor to all offensive pre-snap movement, used to throw off defenses ever since then. I read he was the one who first proposed the forward pass be allowed in college football(not saying he invented or came up with the idea, just that he was the first to propose making it legal), and he was one of the first to utilize the forward pass successfully.

And the Natl Title Trophy was named after Henry Williams for a short period of time. Any school that won 3 Natl Titles got the Trophy renamed after one of their coaches and Minnesota came one Title short of getting the Trophy renamed for one of it's coaches a 2nd time, and probably would have accomplished this in 1942 if not for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Instead it got renamed the Knute Rockne Trophy late in the 40s and I believe that became it's permanent name? Might of had something to do with the UPI/Coaches Poll starting up?


Williams coaching tree is extensive, including Bierman, Gil Dobie and Shaughnessy, all Cfb Hall of Fame Coaches, and Bierman coached Bud Wilkinson and Bud Grant, both Hall of Famers, he also had Biggie Munn(a HOFer) and Wilkinson as Asst Coaches, as well as a guy named Cal Stoll. Cal Stoll coached Tony Dungy(a HOFer) and that 4 time CFL Grey Cup Title winning coach I can never remember the name of, lol.




So, my Mt Rushmore guys is a biased list, but 3 of them are legitimate contenders. Bierman with SEVEN Natl Titles who needed a World War to stop his domination of the sport, Wilkinson who others here have listed and who got named "Coach of the Century" by at least one unbiased source, and Williams with 4 Nattys and who is considered one of the one of the Grandfathers of the game and a major innovator.

I'll work on my unbiased list to post later. Saban will be on it, just not yet #1.

oh my... given this post, I'd say you're at least in your mid-50s. That said, your young girl avatar is even more el creepo.

That "young girl" is in her 30s, and the only guys who think it's creepy when older men date younger women are young men who are frustrated because the women their age won't date their couch potato lazy pot smoking video game playing arses. If that is not you, then what do you care?

And what does it say about you as a person when because you don't like what I say about sports, you choose to try to berate my character?

 

[carson]

Does he save all this to a word document?

 

[HuskerinBig10]

Names that come to mind

John McKay the USC dynasty was built by John McKay. Student body left and Student body right. Mike Garrett and OJ Simpson.
Bud Wilkinson 47-0
Joe Paterno
Bobby Bowden
Barry Switzer
Tom Osborne
Bear Bryant
Nick Saban
Dabo Swinney
Eddie Robinson sure he was at Grambling, but he had NFL talent year in and year out
Fielding Yost
Knute Rockne

I would like to put Schnellenberger there because he began the Miami dynasty, but he just flat out sucked once he left Miami.

 

[7Samurai13]

Names that come to mind

John McKay the USC dynasty was built by John McKay. Student body left and Student body right. Mike Garrett and OJ Simpson.
Bud Wilkinson 47-0
Joe Paterno
Bobby Bowden
Barry Switzer
Tom Osborne
Bear Bryant
Nick Saban
Dabo Swinney
Eddie Robinson sure he was at Grambling, but he had NFL talent year in and year out
Fielding Yost
Knute Rockne

I would like to put Schnellenberger there because he began the Miami dynasty, but he just flat out sucked once he left Miami.

I would say Way too early for Dabo just yet. Right now, no doubt but he is way far off in the all time conversation.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Saban by a mile. Nobody has even come close to doing what he has done.

Bernie Bierman = SEVEN Natl Titles at 2 different schools. Needed a WORLD WAR to stop his domination. Stopped his own winning streak.

Bud Wilkinson & Bud Grant played for him & BW and Biggie Munn coached under him.

 

[carson]

Bernie Bierman = SEVEN Natl Titles at 2 different schools. Needed a WORLD WAR to stop his domination. Stopped his own winning streak.

Was this before or after blacks were allowed to play?

 

[KingKoolKat75]

Jimmy Johmson

 

[batchaps4me]

He’s on one for FCS, but we’re talking FBS here.

I am talking coaching. Jim Crow kept him out of FBS for most of his college career. If you are talking great coaches, he is in the mix. TBH he is not on my coach's Rushmore but is a finalist.

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

I am talking coaching. Jim Crow kept him out of FBS for most of his college career. If you are talking great coaches, he is in the mix. TBH he is not on my coach's Rushmore but is a finalist.

No one is blaming him for that, but if you start mixing divisions it gets cloudy. Of course, comparing 1901 to 2018 gets cloudy as well...

 

[batchaps4me]

No one is blaming him for that, but if you start mixing divisions it gets cloudy. Of course, comparing 1901 to 2018 gets cloudy as well...

And to be honest, CER has an amazing story. I really doubt that any of the Rushmore coaches could have accomplished what CER did. On the flip side, I doubt that CER could have done what CNS has as well. That does not tarnish CES at all as IMHO no other coach will be a CNS for another generation or so.

 

[Chewbaccer]

I thought Bear Bryant won a NC at UK and was going to say that alone makes him the greatest of all time. But after I looked it up, they didn't.

But still. Anyone that can put a Kentucky team on the map gets my vote.

If they did the voting like they did now, after the bowls, he would have won the 50 natty for Kentucky. Any Oklahoma fan claiming that one is no better than Bama fans claiming the 64 natty.

 

[Chewbaccer]

If they did the voting like they did now, after the bowls, he would have won the 50 natty for Kentucky. Any Oklahoma fan claiming that one is no better than Bama fans claiming the 64 natty.

But they're not nearly the scumbags that Notre Dame/Army fans that claim 1946 are. Claiming that one is just straight up cowardly.

 

[DIKOWT DOWG]

If they did the voting like they did now, after the bowls, he would have won the 50 natty for Kentucky. Any Oklahoma fan claiming that one is no better than Bama fans claiming the 64 natty.

I was just reading about that. I have a problem figuring out which team is best until they get on the field. It doesn't matter who played who yesterday. It only matters when they line up against each other today.

 

[Chewbaccer]

I was just reading about that. I have a problem figuring out which team is best until they get on the field. It doesn't matter who played who yesterday. It only matters when they line up against each other today.

Sagarin lists Kentucky as the 1950 champs. The way they determined champions before the BCS was straight up trash.

 

[fredsdeadfriend]

Was this before or after blacks were allowed to play?

I don't know, my school has NEVER BEEN A RACIST school. Can you claim as much? Maybe that is why Minnesota dominated back then? Not UMn's fault other schools were foolishly racist.

 

[carson]

I don't know, my school has NEVER BEEN A RACIST school. Can you claim as much? Maybe that is why Minnesota dominated back then? Not UMn's fault other schools were foolishly racist.

You don't know but you do know?

CU has had black college football players since Frank Clarke transferred from JUCO in 1954.