Search the Community

"Talk about an impossible task. How could anyone whittle down a list from more than a century of greatness to only four people? David Ubben and Ari Wasserman tried anyway." "There are multiple ways to answer a question this big. Who is the greatest? Who epitomizes the sport to you individually?" Part of the article: "Ari Wasserman’s list: "1. Nick Saban: I don’t care how funky you want to get with this list, Saban has to be on it. Outside of what Bill Belichick did with the New England Patriots — winning six Super Bowls in a league full of teams with relatively equal talent — there is no coach I admire more. I can list off the win totals and the national championships Saban won or the countless other mind-blowing stats. But Saban is bigger than that. He won during one of the most competitive eras of college football, and he did so by evolving and influencing the sport every step of the way. He’s the epitome of what college football coaching should represent. (Note: Bear Bryant didn’t make my list because I didn’t want two Alabama coaches, though he’s unquestionably worthy.) 2. Pete Carroll 3. Woody Hayes 4. Dabo Swinney David Ubben's list: 1. Nick Saban: He’s the single greatest coach in the history of college football. His sustained success at Alabama during the most competitive era of the sport shouldn’t be possible, and he captured national titles at two SEC schools, further validating his status as the all-time great. For all the coaches who preceded him and might have a higher win percentage, none of them did it in an era when it was as difficult as it was for Saban. 2. Bill Snyder: The simplest case for Snyder is this: No other coach in college football history could have been planted in Manhattan, Kan., in 1988 and done what Snyder did. The Hayden Fry disciple made The Little Apple his†mi home. In two separate stints, he turned a program that appeared in one bowl game and never finished ranked prior to his arrival into a conference champion and perennial power, sustaining success at a place where even a single dream year seemed impossible. Go back and read the iconic Sports Illustrated story “Futility U,” penned before his first game. Excellence at K-State is somehow taken for granted, which is the greatest possible compliment to a coach who captured a pair of Big 12 titles and won 11 games in six of seven seasons at one point. 3. Knute Rockne 4. Eddie Robinson Honorable Mention, Most Entertaining: Steve Spurrier Barry Switzer Lee Corso Mike Leach: The Hal Mumme disciple is almost single handedly responsible for the proliferation of the spread offense in high school and college football. His offense was simple but effective and his coaching tree has all put their own spin on many of those principles as the Air Raid has evolved into something more balanced in many stops under coaches like Lincoln Riley, Sonny Dykes, Dana Holgorsen and Kliff Kingsbury. His penchant for well-considered thoughts on anything from dating advice to mascot brawls and the countless stories of his idiosyncrasies are legendary. And he somehow found time to write a book on Geronimo while being an active college football coach in addition to being an expert on pirates. It’s still crushing he left us too early in 2022 at age 61." Here's the full article unfortunately probably behind a paywall: https://theathletic.com/5376238/2024/03/29/best-college-football-coaches-mount-rushmore/?source=freeweeklyemail&campaign=602288&userId=11012542 03_28_mtrushmore_CFB-1024x683.avif