Which college football coaches make your Mount Rushmore? Saban is easy … but who else?

[Greenrex]

 

"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

[Glory to the Green]

Darrel Royal?

[jtm0097]

Dickey, Dodge, McCarney, and Littrell are on mine.

[Mean Green 93-98]

1 hour ago, Greenrex said:

Note: Bear Bryant didn’t make my list because I didn’t want two Alabama coaches, though he’s unquestionably worthy.                                         

That's pretty weak reasoning.  I'm not an Alabama fan, but Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are both no-brainers for the Mt. Rushmore of college football coaches.  After that, it's tough.  You have your others topping all-time winningest, like Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden.  You have your undeniable legends like Knute Rockne, Bo Schembechler, and Tom Osborne.  Like the argument for Bill Snyder above, you have others who did more with less, like Hayden Fry and Frank Beamer.

The pick for Pete Carroll above is interesting.  USC while he was HC was about as dominant a program as I've seen in my lifetime, along with Nebraska with Tom Osborne and Bama with Saban.  But his college coaching career was just too short to think about putting on the "Mt. Rushmore."  And Dabo Swinney is crazy.  Yes, he's been one of the top 2 or 3 coaches over the past 10 years, but of all time?  Hardly.

[NT80]

Hayden Fry, of course!   

Bill Snyder wouldn't have done what he did without being part of Hayden's coaching tree...

 

Edited April 7 by NT80

[Cr1028]

Ed “Straight Arrow” Genaro

[Graddean]

Bud Wilkinson

[GrandGreen]

Not even sure Sabin is the best coach Alabama has had, anyone remember Bear Bryant?

[DeepGreen]

Ara Parseghian

170–58–6

[DeepGreen]

5 hours ago, jtm0097 said:

Dickey, Dodge, McCarney, and Littrell are on mine.

Edited March 31 by DeepGreen

[UNTLifer]

Woody Hayes?  Seriously?  The man was a timebomb waiting to go off and was fired for striking a player. 
 

Bear Bryant

Nick Saban

Eddie Robinson 

Bud Wilkinson/Tom Osborne 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

Bear

Saban

Spurrier 

Osborne 

[NT93]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Bear Bryant

Nick Saban

Eddie Robinson 

Bud Wilkinson/Tom Osborne 

 

1 hour ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Bear

Saban

Spurrier 

Osborne 

I could go with either of these.  It’s really Bear and Saban and then argue over the other two spots.

Also, surprised to see no mention of Urban Meyer.  He was elite at both Florida and Ohio St.

[greenminer]

2 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Spurrier 

Osborne 

1990s CFB was so, so incredible.  Miss them.

[MAX KOCH]

LOU HOLTZ 

[jtm0097]

13 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

I meant to post this on April 1st, my bad.....

[MrAlien]

My list:

1.. Knute Rockne

2.  Bear Bryant

3.  Tom Osborne

4.  Nick Saban

[Ken14]

Odus Mitchell

 

[ipd054]

Here are my overal picks,  I kept in mind that this is a carved in stone list of the most infunential leaders in the game not just a hot name

1. Bear Bryant (6 national championships - 14 SEC championships) 323 wins, 3rd most all time.  - Bryant's coaching philosophy centered on discipline, toughness, and attention to detail. He emphasized hard work and demanded the utmost dedication from his players. Under his guidance, Alabama developed a reputation for physical, hard-nosed football that overwhelmed opponents. Bryant's innovative tactics and strategic acumen often left rival coaches scrambling to keep up. The 1960s and 1970s marked the peak of Bryant's coaching career. He led Alabama to six national championships, in 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, and 1979, cementing his place among the coaching elite. Beyond the championships, Bryant's teams captured 13 Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles and achieved an unprecedented level of dominance during his tenure.
2. Knute Rockne  - Rockne created modern coaching. He was a brilliant tactician, to be sure, but he also created the coach as CEO. He marketed his small, Midwestern Catholic institution in America's biggest cities, taking his team to where the immigrant Catholics could root for them. He applied his motivational skills to business as a top executive for Studebaker cars -- while he coached. And Notre Dame kept winning. He had five unbeaten seasons and won four national titles (1919, 1924, 1929 and 1930). Rockne's winning percentage of .881 remains first among FBS coaches nearly a century after he died in a plane crash in 1931 at age 43. (imagine if he coached in to his 70's like Saban)
3. Glenn "Pop" Warner -319 wins, 4th most all time. - Was a highly influential figure in the world of college football. Known for his innovative coaching techniques, commitment to player safety, and emphasis on academic success, Warner will forever be remembered for what he did for the sport and its development.One of Warner's most significant contributions to football was his emphasis on player safety. He implemented strict rules and techniques to protect players, including the use of helmets and padded equipment. Warner's commitment to the well-being of his players helped establish safety standards that have become integral to the sport.In addition to his coaching career, Warner played a key role in the establishment and development of youth football programs. He founded the Pop Warner Little Scholars organization, which aimed to promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of young athletes. Today, the Pop Warner youth football and cheerleading program is one of the largest and most respected youth sports organizations in the United States.
4. Blank Rock - I think I am leaving space here to give some time for a future great coach  (I can not put Nick Saban on up because he just retired, and while he is deserving for his tenure at Alabama I am not sure his overall contrbutions to the game rise to the level of the other 3 yet.  I think he gets there with his coaching tree but want to give it 5-10 years before ensrinement)

Bust to be put in the visitors center:

• Tom Osborne
• Charles "Bud" Wilkinson
• Joe Paterno
• Eddie Robinson
• Bobby Bowden
• Frank Leahy

 

[ADLER]

"The Grand Old Man of Football" Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965)

Stagg was a member of the first "All American Team" in 1889 when he played at Yale. He then coached from 1890 to 1946 at the University of Chicago and the University of the Pacific and won the 1905 and 1913 National Championships. He designed much of the game of football during his career.

Amos Alonzo Stagg with North Texas coach Odus Mitchell the night before the 1946 Optimist Bowl. The bowl game, a 14-13 loss to North Texas, was the final game of Stagg's legendary college football coaching career.

[97and03]

7 hours ago, ADLER said:

"The Grand Old Man of Football" Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965)

Stagg was a member of the first "All American Team" in 1889 when he played at Yale. He then coached from 1890 to 1946 at the University of Chicago and the University of the Pacific and won the 1905 and 1913 National Championships. He designed much of the game of football during his career.

Amos Alonzo Stagg with North Texas coach Odus Mitchell the night before the 1946 Optimist Bowl. The bowl game, a 14-13 loss to North Texas, was the final game of Stagg's legendary college football coaching career.

Even back then losing to North Texas was a career killer. 

[southsideguy]

I think Holtz belongs on the list.