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