Best College Football Coach of All Time?

Bear Bryant is an easy choice and you mentioned Tom Osborne who was a good one as well. Another one that was really good was Bud Wilkinson for the University of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1963. He had an unbelievable 47 game winning streak from 1953 to 1957 (a record that still stands today) Sadly, nobody remembers him very well because he kind of ruined his legacy by coaching in the NFL for the Cardinals and he did a terrible job there but still he was a great college coach.

Hands down Joe Paterno.

What other coach coaches his team to the Rose Bowl and gets a 3 year extension at age 82?

Most all-time wins

Most all-time bowl wins

2 National Championships

.747 career winning %

What is not to get?

Since when do you have to go undefeated to be a great coach? Any team can win on any day and it is nearly impossible to go undefeated each year.

Don't get me wrong. Bryant is right up there, also, in my opinion.

I just think that the cuthroat competition for scholarships these days makes it more difficult for 1 program to remain consistently good.

Paterno still gets it at 82. I just find it amazing.

Just my 2 cents.

Bear Bryant, without a doubt. Second is Joe Paterno. He has as many national titles as Osbourne, and had 3 teams go undefeated and not win a title. 1994 was a joke.http://www.nittanyanthology.com/1990-99.html Arguably the best college team of all time, and it didn't get a share of the title.

Until the end of his career, Osbourne didn't have to deal with scholarship limits. LSU just won a championship and lost 4 or 5 games this season, and Florida wedged a 4 loss season in between 2 national championship appearances. It's a different game than it was. As for your knock of playing against 1 good team a year, what do you think the big 8 was? Nebraska would play OU every single year for the title. The rest of the big 8 was horrible for most of Osbourne's career. As for your knock on the big ten, he has to play Ohio State every year, and they are 28-4 against the big 12, and beat two big 12 teams in BCS bowls this decade. It's not near as weak as you think it is. 3 missed field goals and a dropped pass in the endzone are the only reason Texas won the championship in 05.

As for Lawrence Phillips, his first charge of assault against a woman was his sophomore year. And I remember a nose tackle going to jail for a serious offense around the same time.

Joe Paterno.

To address your additional details:

Paterno removed 3 key players from the team over the past 2 years for off-the-field disciplinary reasons (one based on a false rape accusation). He puts up with no bs from his players. As far as the academic comment, please check your sources.

"The 2007 NCAA Graduation Success Rate Report for Division I institutions revealed that the Penn State football program's 76 percent GSR was No. 3 in the nation among teams ranked in the final 2007 USA Today Coaches Top 25 and well above the national average of 67 percent. The NCAA data also showed that Penn State posted a 74 percent federal graduation rate among freshmen entering in 2000-01, second-highest among Big Ten institutions. The national Division I-A average was 55 percent."

Although those statistics are from 2007, Penn State consistently ranks near the top as far as academics and graduation rates are concerned.

Bias is one thing. Having your facts horribly wrong is another.

Look there is no way you can start talking about the great college coaches without talking about the OSU great Woody there is no other coach that ment that much to a single team other than the mentioned Wooden

Bear Bryant. You can't argue with 6 National Championships.

Definately JoPa

Bryant

Paul "Bear" Bryant hands down

Kentucky wildcats Mr. Rump.