Top 3 College Football Coaches Of All-Time

Throughout the long history of college football, many great coaches have roamed the sidelines for respective programs. They left an unforgettable impact that made them campus legends. From the groundbreaking contributions of Paul Bryant to the sustained excellence that Nick Saban instilled at Alabama, college coaches are essential to the product the student-athletes can put together on the field.

But some coaches have created legacies for themselves that are so big they are still being talked about. Programs today are hoping to reach the same standards that these legendary coaches were able to achieve. Let’s look at the top three college football coaches of all time.

Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

A six-time national champion, Bryant turned the Alabama Crimson Tide into college football’s most dominant team for decades. Starting his coaching career off as the head coach of Maryland before moving on to Kentucky and Texas A&M, Bryant was hired to take over his alma mater ahead of the 1958 season. Only three years later, he led the program to its first National Championship title in 20 seasons. In addition to his six national title wins, Bryant led the Crimson Tide to 13 SEC titles and won a dozen SEC Coach of the Year Awards.

Bryant’s impact stems far beyond success on the field. While Alabama was a majorly segregated state during Bryant’s earlier years with the Tide, that did not stop him from promoting change in 1969. He was able to convince the university administration to allow him to begin recruiting African-American players. That led to the program signing Running Back Wilbur Jackson ahead of the 1970 season. He was the first African-American player to be offered a football scholarship at Alabama.

Nick Saban

First came Bryant, then came Saban. Having won a record seven national titles as a head coach throughout his career, some consider Saban to be the greatest coach, college or pro, ever. While Saban spent a year at Toledo in 1990 and a few seasons as Michigan State’s head coach from 1995-1999, it was not until he got to LSU in 2000 that Saban really made a name for himself.

After guiding the program to a national title win, his first in 2003, Saban left for the NFL to coach the Miami Dolphins ahead of the 2005 season. After the Alabama job opened up, he immediately became the school’s top choice and left for the job ahead of the 2007 season.

Under Saban, Alabama was once again a perennial national championship team, winning its first title with Saban as the coach in 2009– the first of six. Saban and the Tide then went back-to-back in 2011 and 2012, followed by titles in 2015, 2017, and finally in 2020. During his tenure, the Tide churned out numerous NFL draft picks that have become superstars. Most notably players such as Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts, Derrick Henry, Amari Cooper, Julio Jones, DeVonta Smith, and Marlon Humphrey among many others.

Urban Meyer

Everywhere Meyer has gone in the college football world turned to gold. Meyer is the definition of a winner. After seeing major success with his first head coaching job at Bowling Green and turning that program around, Meyer went to Utah where he went 22-2 in two seasons. He went 12-0 in 2004 and helped Quarterback Alex Smith evolve into the first overall pick. Meyer didn’t see real success until he took over Florida’s program where he won national titles in 2006 and 2008, coaching college football great, Tim Tebow, in the process.

Following a very successful stint at Florida, where he not only turned the Gators into a college football powerhouse but arguably one of the most iconic programs in recent college football history, Meyer went to Ohio State where he won a national title in 2014. During his seven-season tenure at Ohio State, the Buckeyes won 10 games or more every single season. Throughout his career, Meyer coached many players who would go on to have successful NFL careers, most notably Ezekiel Elliot, Michael Thomas, Joey Bosa, and Terry McLaurin.

Final Thoughts

There have been many great coaches, but Saban takes the cake as the greatest college football coach ever. Winning seven national championships is a record, and even though he was coaching at the sport’s highest level with the Dolphins, he willingly left for the chance to restore glory to a college program. When Saban was in charge, Alabama was always a contender and even in the years where they did not look as good, they somehow managed to get it done. That is the true sign of greatness.