ESPN staffJan 11, 2024, 04:47 PM ET
Few coaches can have a greater impact on their team than those in college football, where the duties of a head coach read more like that of a CEO: recruiting and developing personnel, constructing weekly and yearlong game plans, working with key stakeholders inside and outside the university and generally serving as the face of the program. It's a demanding job, which makes each win all the more impressive. It's also why many of the winningest coaches across college football history have literal statues built in their honor -- including many coaches on this list. Here's an inside look at the 25 best college football coaches of all time ranked by wins. Active coaches are denoted with an asterisk.
1. Joe Paterno, 409 wins
In his 46 years at Happy Valley, the longtime Penn State boss finished his career with a 409-136-3 record (.749). He led the Nittany Lions to a record 37 bowl appearances and 24 wins -- including two national championships (1982, 1986) and five undefeated seasons.
2. Bobby Bowden, 346 wins
Bowden spent the first six years of his FBS coaching career at West Virginia (42-26), but he's best known for his 34 years at Florida State, where he led the Seminoles to a 304-97-4 record (.756) with two national championships (1993, 1999) and 12 ACC titles. They also finished in the top five of the AP poll in a record 14 straight seasons.
3. Bear Bryant, 323 wins
Long considered the greatest college football coach of all time, Paul "Bear" Bryant was the winningest coach in the sport's history when he retired in 1982, and his six national championships at Alabama were the most all time until Nick Saban won his seventh in 2020. Bryant's all-time win percentage (.780) still ranks in the top 20.
4. Pop Warner, 318 wins
Few coaches have had a greater impact on football than Warner, who helped advance the fundamentals of the sport in the early 20th century and was key to the development of the youth program named after him. He also did plenty of winning: Warner claimed four national titles at Pittsburgh and Stanford, and his teams won at least 60% of their games in 35 of his 44 seasons.
5. Amos Alonzo Stagg, 314 wins
In 41 years at Chicago, Stagg led his team to four undefeated seasons and two national championships (1905, 1913; the NCAA site lists Harvard as the champions, but the school claims the championship). His entire coaching career lasted 71 years -- the longest in college football history -- and he's one of only four people elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. He was also elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959.
6. Nick Saban, 292 wins
While Saban may not be first on this list, he's considered by many as the greatest college football coach of all time. In 28 seasons, Saban has won a record seven national championships -- six at Alabama and one at LSU -- and he leads all active coaches in wins (292), win percentage (.804) and bowl wins (19). Incredibly, his teams have never finished with a losing record.
7. Mack Brown*, 276 wins
The winningest active coach in college football, Brown was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018 before returning to North Carolina, where he ranks as the school's all-time leader in wins (107). He also ranks second in all-time wins at Texas (158), where he led the Longhorns to their fourth national title in 2005.
8. LaVell Edwards, 257 wins
Edwards spent his entire 29-year career at BYU, where he led the team to a 257-101-3 record (.716) and coached the Cougars to their only national championship in 1984. He also coached the school's lone Heisman Trophy winner (Ty Detmer) in 1990, and he remains the only 100-win coach in BYU history.
9. Tom Osborne, 255 wins
While other coaches on this list have won more games, none have been more efficient than Osborne, whose .836 win percentage is the sixth best in college football history and by far the best of any FBS coach with at least 200 wins. The Hall of Fame coach led Nebraska to three national titles in 25 years and posted a 60-3 record over his final five seasons.
10. Lou Holtz, 249 wins
Holtz is best known for his 11 seasons at Notre Dame, where he led the Fighting Irish to a stellar 100-30-2 record (.765) and a perfect 12-0 record in 1988 to earn consensus national championship honors. Yet that was just one stop across 33 seasons for Holtz, who remains the only coach to lead six different teams to bowl games.
11. Frank Beamer, 238 wins
Beamer spent his entire FBS coaching career at Virginia Tech, where his brand of "Beamer Ball" -- which emphasized contributions in all three phases -- helped turn the program around after his arrival in 1987. Beamer led the Hokies to seven conference titles and their lone national championship appearance in 1999, one of 25 winning seasons in his 29-year tenure.
12. Bo Schembechler, 234 wins
It's hard to find a more beloved coach than Schembechler, who remains the winningest coach of college football's all-time winningest program. In 21 seasons at Michigan, the legendary coach led the Wolverines to 13 Big Ten titles and finished ranked in the AP Poll in all but one season. He also won 11 games against Ohio State, the second most by any Michigan coach.
13. Hayden Fry, 232 wins
Fry may not have the name recognition of some of the other coaches on this list, but the Hall of Fame coach made his impact felt across 37 seasons at SMU, North Texas and Iowa. Fry helped integrate the Southwest Conference in 1965 and turned around the Iowa football program in 1979. His coaching tree was one of the most prolific of all time.
14. Steve Spurrier, 228 wins
One of four people elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as a player and coach, Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy in 1966 and posted a winning record in 23 of 26 seasons at Duke, Florida and South Carolina. "The Head Ball Coach" led the Gators to a national championship in 1996 and was a nine-time conference coach of the year -- seven times in the SEC and twice in the ACC.
15. Woody Hayes, 219 wins
While Hayes' coaching career was marred by his infamous punch in the 1978 Gator Bowl, it's hard to dispute his accolades on the field. In 28 seasons at Ohio State, Hayes won three major poll national champions and 13 Big Ten titles with four undefeated seasons, and his Buckeyes finished ranked in the top 10 a whopping 15 times.
16. Bill Snyder, 215 wins
Nobody is more synonymous with Kansas State football than Snyder, who turned around arguably the worst team in college football history in his 27 seasons in Manhattan. After 13 seasons as an assistant under Hayden Fry, Snyder inherited a Wildcats team riding a 27-game winless streak and led them to a 215-117-1 record (.647), including two Big 12 titles and their first nine bowl wins in program history.
17. Don Nehlen, 202 wins
After serving as an assistant under Bo Schembechler in the late 1970s, Nehlen went on to become one of just 18 coaches to win 200 games at the FBS level. Much of that came in his 21 years at West Virginia, where he led the Mountaineers to a 149-93-4 record (.614) and two undefeated regular seasons.
18. Vince Dooley, 201 wins
Georgia is currently in the midst of its greatest run in program history. No coach has led the Bulldogs to more wins than Dooley, who posted just one losing record in his 25 years in Athens. He also guided the school to six SEC titles and a national championship in 1980, earning him national coach of the year honors and his 4th SEC Coach of the Year award.
19. Dan McGugin, 197 wins
It's hard to win at Vanderbilt, a school that has enjoyed a winning record in just four of the past 48 seasons. That makes it all the more impressive what McGugin was able to accomplish in his 30-year run with the Commodores: winning 76.2% of his games -- and 11 conference titles, before being inducted in the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame class in 1951.
20. Kirk Ferentz*, 196 wins
While Fry helped establish a winning culture at Iowa, Ferentz has since surpassed the legendary coach atop the school's all-time leaderboard and is currently the third winningest active coach in the sport. He's also the longest-tenured at any program, having led the Hawkeyes to two Big Ten titles and 10 bowl wins in 25 seasons -- tied for the 15th most bowl victories by any coach.
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