The Best NCAA Coaches

NCAA football, particularly Division I-A, is one of the most competitive collegiate sports. Many coaches have had winning seasons, but only the greatest are remembered by fans. Bobby Bowden, forty four years after coaching his first college game and after twenty nine years with Florida State, is the winningest coach in NCAA history. His Seminoles were ranked in the Associated Press (AP) Top Five for fourteen consecutive seasons. His 1999 team was the first ever to go from opening game to the championship while maintaining their number one AP ranking the whole time. He is ranked second in most bowl wins. When he took over in 1976, the Seminoles had won a total of only four games in three seasons. His career record with the Seminoles, playing some of the league's toughest teams, is 278-70-4.

Also considered a NCAA coaching great is Joe Paterno. As he prepares for his fortieth year with Penn State, he is in second place for all time victories, only behind Bobby Bowden. He led the Nittany Lions to national championships in 1982 and 1986 and had five unbeaten/untied seasons. Oh, and he is the one Bobby Bowden is chasing for all time bowl wins with a record of 20-10-1.

If NCAA football was a religion in Alabama, Paul