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 Best Smartphone Software