By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Recent days my heart and mind is preparing for the return of college football.
August has always been a time of optimism and pure joy with the expectations of my two favorite teams, the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida State Seminoles.
Lately the conference the Vols call home has been the subject of headlines. The Southeastern Conference might expand to 16 teams in the near future with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas. That could be considered good news in many people’s eyes.
But there is bad news coming from Tallahassee, the legendary coach and man who put FSU Football on the map was diagnosed with a terminal medical condition.
College Football icon Bobby Bowden suffered from pancreatic cancer and passed away Sunday. Packing a lot of life in his 91 years, I started to reflect on his impact on the game. Then I started to think about Bowden’s influence on my life.
About 10 years ago I received his book “Called to Coach.” My friend Christina Morgan not only gave me the words of Bowden to read, she got me on the media list to hear Bowden speak to the Touchdown Club of Memphis.
Once Coach wrapped up another memorable speech, the press had a chance for a brief one-on-one. Holding my book close to my chest, Coach Bowden looked up at me.
“Son, you want me to sign your book? Wait a minute, I meant do you want me to sign my book… I lived it.”
Just like that I was at ease and got a chance to shake the hand of the icon. In that moment I realized he was a regular guy. He has won and loss. He has experienced joy and sorrow. Not just on the football field.
Throughout the rich and more than 150-year history of collegiate football, only 93 men have coached teams to more than 200 victories. Bowden and his colleague get The Best Sellers’ List spotlight this week and I’m going to rank the top 10 out of the 93. My honorable mentions are Mack Brown, Lavell Edwards, Brian Kelly, Lou Holtz, Hayden Fry, Jim Tressel and Bill Snyder.
10. Woody Hayes
Denison (1946–1948), Miami (Ohio) (1949–1950), Ohio State (1951–1978)
With 238 wins vs. 72 losses, Hayes makes my top 10 because he helped make Ohio a football state. The reason why we say “The” Ohio State University is because of the rich tradition he groomed throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s. Hayes’ teams won five national championships in 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968 and 1970). He owned the Big 10 Conference with 13 titles. And he won his share of games against that team up North, the Michigan Wolverines. The battles he had with Bo Schembechler of Michigan are known as “The Ten Year War.”
9. Pop Warner
Georgia (1895–1896), Iowa State (1895–1899), Cornell (1897–1898, 1904–1906), Carlisle (1899–1903, 1907–1914), Pittsburgh (1915–1923), Stanford (1924–1932), Temple (1933–1938)
Just reading his coaching resume will take your breathe away. Pop Warner left an impact at all those schools and the game overall. He was an offensive genius as the game developed and grew. Warner’s concepts are still being used today from high school to the pros.
In Warner’s 44-year coaching career he won 319 games, a record that survived until the 1980s.
His memory lives on forever with his name given to one of the country’s major football organizations for boys, the Pop Warner Youth Football League in 1934.
8. John Gagliardi
Carroll (Mon.) (1949–1952), Saint John’s (Minn.) (1953–2012)
Who replaced Warner as the winningest college football coach? John Gagliardi who did most of his winning at Saint John’s (Minnesota). While pacing the sidelines in Collegeville, Gagliardi’s final tally was 489-138-11.
His career started in Montana at Carroll College and then in 1953 he made the move East. His Saint John’s Johnnies won four national titles (the NAIA Football National Championship in 1963 and 1965, and the NCAA Division III Football Championship in 1976 and 2003). Gagliardi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. I don’t care what level you’re on, that is impressive. And several of his players say his greater impact outside of the winning was teaching them how to be better men.
7. Eddie Robinson
Grambling (1941–1942, 1945–1997)
Another great molder of men came from the Historic Black College and University level in Grambling State’s Eddie Robinson. He is known as the “Joe Paterno,” “Bobby Bowden,” or “Bear Bryant” of HBCUs.
For 56 years, he was a coach who won and sent players to the NFL during a period of great racial divide in this country. Robinson took full advantage of great athletes not being allowed in Southern university because of their race. Robinson guided players like Doug Williams, Charlie Joiner, Buck Buchanan, Willie Davis and Willie Brown to the pros, Super Bowl championships and even the Hall of Fame.
Robinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Robinson is arguably the most successful college football coach in FCS history and has the third most victories in college football history. He finished his career with 408 wins.
6. Steve Spurrier
Duke (1987–1989), Florida (1990–2001), South Carolina (2005–2015)
Full disclosure, I grew up hating his man. As a Tennessee fan, Spurrier ruined one Saturday in late September for me every years in the 1990s. And the rest of the season I had to pray my Vols could catch up and those Florida Gators would drop two SEC games.
“You can’t spell Citrus without UT,” was his quote about sending my beloved Vols to a second-tier bowl game. Meanwhile Spurrier had his Gators in the National title hunt almost every year.
Spurrier’s teams were known for winning with aggressive and high-scoring offenses. He coached a Heisman Trophy winner and led the Gators to the 1996 National title.
What puts Spurrier on this list is 228 career wins. But what has him ranked so high is his ability to win big at schools like Duke and South Carolina.
Spurrier’s offenses had defenses shaking in their cleats and kept opposing coaches up all week trying to figure out how to keep them under 40 points.
That success has Spurrier’s name mention with an icon like Bear Bryant.
Florida’s four consecutive SEC championships in the mid-1990s is the second-longest streak in conference history behind Bear Bryant’s 1970s Alabama teams. Spurrier and Bryant are the only coaches to hold the record for most conference wins at two different SEC schools. Spurrier is second to Bryant in total wins while leading an SEC program.
5. Amos Alonzo Stagg
Springfield (1890–1891), Chicago (1892–1932), Pacific (CA) (1933–1946)
If there is an original Mt. Rushmore of college football coaches, the four men carved on the side of a mountain top would be Pop Warner, Knute Rockne, John Heisman and Amos Alonzo Stagg. Stagg’s resume is still good enough to get him ranked No. 5 on my list.
Some people call him the “Father of Football.” He literally coached a team named the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfield College). But his coaching fame came from 1892 to 1932 at the University of Chicago. After his stay at Pacific, Stagg compiled an amazing 314 wins, winning more than 60 percent of his games.
While coaching a little baseball and basketball on the side, Stagg had two undefeated Chicago Maroons teams winning national titles in 1905 and 1913.
At Chicago, Stagg found time to institute an annual prep basketball tournament and track meet. Both drew the top high school teams and athletes from around the United States. Good recruiting tool. Stagg is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and Basketball Hall of Fame.
4. Joe Paterno
Penn State (1966–2011)
His career ended in disgrace. Known as Papa Joe, for decades Joe Paterno came across as father figure, gentle old man and benevolent leader on the gridiron. Then we learned Paterno looked the other way when a horrible crime was taking place on his campus and within his program.
We wouldn’t know where Penn State is located if it wasn’t for Paterno. Nittany Lions? What is that? JoePa put the school on the map. His resume over 45 years earned him a top four spot on my list. With 409 victories, Paterno is the most victorious coach in NCAA FBS history.
Paterno coached five undefeated teams that won major bowl games. But a couple of his Penn State teams were cheated out of championships. In 1994, the Nittany Lions were not denied that title. Before he was done coaching, JoePa was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.
3. Nick Saban
Toledo (1990), Michigan State (1995–1999), LSU (2000–2004), Alabama (2007–present)
The man on his list still adding to his win total. Nick Saban has won 256 games heading into the 2021 season with the powerhouse and championship favorites Alabama Crimson Tide. Saban is chasing another National this season.
Let’s not talk about Saban’s cup of coffee in the NFL, let’s focus on his greatness on the collegiate level. Saban led the LSU Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2003 and the Alabama Crimson Tide to BCS and AP National championships in 2009, 2011, 2012. Then in the new College Football Playoff, Saban’s Tide has won the 2015, 2017 and 2020 titles. He has won seven national titles as a head coach, the most in college football history. He is to college football titles what Tom Brady is to Super Bowl championships.
Who will retire first? Saban is 69 years old and is in good health. He might be around for another 5 years like Brady.
COACH Paul BEAR BRYANT at Legion Field. 1982 File Photo. TRONCALE PHOTO
2. Bear Bryant
Maryland (1945), Kentucky (1946–1953), Texas A&M (1954–1957), Alabama (1958–1982)
How do you know a man is an icon?
The Paul W. Bryant Museum, Paul W. Bryant Hall, Paul W. Bryant Drive, and Bryant–Denny Stadium are all named in his honor at the University of Alabama for the late great “Bear” Bryant.
The man’s signature hat still impacts wardrobe in the state today.
Bear was a good coach before arriving on the campus of Alabama. He won at Kentucky and Texas A&M. But he reached legendary status in Tuscaloosa. During his 25-year tenure with the Tide, he won six national championships and 13 SEC championships. When he retired from coaching in 1982, he was the all-time leader in wins with 323.
If College Football had a mascot or one man had to be the official logo, Bear Bryant is that man. He has so many trademarks from his voice to his leaning on the goal post during warm ups. Coach Bryant should be on every Mt. Rushmore of College Football coaches.
1. Bobby Bowden
Samford (1959–1962), West Virginia (1970–1975), Florida State (1976–2009)
Every man on this list has exemplified overall greatness in coaching college football players. And they also have special characteristics like building a program, winning titles, coaching professional players, revolutionize the game or are identified with that university. Bobby Bowden has done all those things. And unlike Bryant and Paterno who died just days after coaching their last games, Bowden went on to have a life after college football.
He raised his boys to following in his footsteps. Several of his players still contribute to the game and he was an ambassador for FSU until he couldn’t physically do it anymore.
Over his career he won 304 games and only drop 97 decisions. He won two National titles and coached Heisman Trophy winners Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke.
But more importantly, Bowden had a spiritual impact on many of his players. He was the father many of them needed at that point of their lives. It came natural to Bowden. He could sense my nervous energy in meeting him but like one of his recruits, he won me over with humor, honesty and humility.
“The Old Riverboat Gambler” has earned my No. 1 spot of Greatest College Football Coaches of All Time.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Magic Valley Publishing. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to [email protected].
