So after seeing a post on Facebook, I got to thinking, whos the Greatest Of All Time coach?

 

Nick Saban? Bear Bryant? Someone else?

Saban and it’s not even really close.

Hard to go against Bear Bryant. The next group would include Rockne, Paterno, Robinson and Saban.

Hard to go against Bear Bryant. The next group would include Rockne, Paterno, Robinson and Saban.

It’s an absolute travesty to include Saban and Paterno on the same list.

Saban is such an interesting case. As a young coach, he did fine at Michigan State, but no more than fine. By any measure, Mark Dantonio has been more successful with the Spartans.

 

He did great at LSU once he got there. No question.

 

It wasn’t until he got to Alabama that he became the Destroyer of Worlds he is now.

 

in this era of supercharged, high-dollar football programs, Alabama is the perfect pairing of program and coach. If I were looking for an analog, it’s basically Pep Guardiola in soccer. He’s at the point where the best players want to play for him. He has the best staff and facilities for training that money can buy. He is absolutely the man for this moment in college football.

 

But does that make him the greatest?

 

What about John Heisman, who basically brought the game to the South in the first place, created the modern game of football as we know it, and went on a three-year unbeaten run that culminated in the 1917 national Championship while he was also coaching the basketball and baseball teams, working as GT’s athletic director and serving as president of a pro baseball team in Atlanta?

I would nominate Barry Switzer for consideration.

 

157-29-4 at OU. Three National Titles but would have been interesting if there had been a playoff in those days to see what the Sooners might have done to others. Eight seasons of 1 loss or less. Didn't lose a game til late in his third season.

Before he went to the NFL, John McKay at Southern Cal won 4 national titles ('62, '67' '72 and '74) from 1960 to 1975 and won 8 conference championships. I don't say he is the GOAT but he is among the best.

Getslow will know this.....what about Gagliardi at St. John's in Minnnesota. I think he has the most wins of any coach at any level.

Another coach - again not the GOAT - but IMO an extremely good coach who gets it done every year (should I say decade?) is Bill Snyder at Kansas State.

It’s an absolute travesty to include Saban and Paterno on the same list.

 

Why is that?

Some great names being thrown in for consideration.

Why is that?

Paterno was at PSU for 46 years and won two titles. Saban has been at Bama for 11 years and has 5. It’s no debate.

Paterno was at PSU for 46 years and won two titles. Saban has been at Bama for 11 years and has 5. It’s no debate.

 

It's hard to compare different era though since the titles are given out by different methods. Lou Holtz got one title at Notre Dame, but whose to say that if a playoff existed in 1993 that the Irish wouldn't have beat FSU a 2nd time. It used to be possible for a team to go undefeated and not win a championship (And yes, I haven't forgotten about Central Florida)

 

Let's not forget that Alabama won a title last year as a 4 seed in the playoff. A few years ago they wouldn't have had the opportunity to play for the championship in that position.

 

Penn St was undefeated in '68, '69, '73, & '94. While that doesn't necessary mean that they were the best team that year and should have been the national champions, at least in the present time those teams would have almost certainly made the college football playoff and would have had the opportunity to win or lose the championship based on what they did on the field and not due to whether or not they got enough votes.

It's hard to compare different era though since the titles are given out by different methods. Lou Holtz got one title at Notre Dame, but whose to say that if a playoff existed in 1993 that the Irish wouldn't have beat FSU a 2nd time. It used to be possible for a team to go undefeated and not win a championship (And yes, I haven't forgotten about Central Florida)

 

Let's not forget that Alabama won a title last year as a 4 seed in the playoff. A few years ago they wouldn't have had the opportunity to play for the championship in that position.

Mythical national championships definitely make it harder to compare eras, but Saban coaching in an era where there is a criteria to decide the national champion and it’s not just people’s opinion makes what he’s doing even more impressive.

Saban brought LSU from the grave. Before Saban LSU had Billy Cannon to talk about and that was about it as far as being nationally relevant. His fingerprint was on that program til about 2 years ago.

 

During Bryant and even to an extent Switzers time there was only a handful of schools that could remotely get the best players. In this day and age of 24/7 exposure coaches can find talent everywhere. Kids can go anywhere they want to go. Nick Saban is different, and he is a dying breed....he can be old school and stubborn because he has the titles to get away with it and he has the NFL pipeline to sell to kids. I think he's the best. My entire family are Bama fans. My kids don't remember the Mike Dubose, Mike Shula, etc etc years of losing. I tell them to enjoy this run while it's here. It won't last much longer.

Saban brought LSU from the grave. Before Saban LSU had Billy Cannon to talk about and that was about it as far as being nationally relevant. His fingerprint was on that program til about 2 years ago.

 

During Bryant and even to an extent Switzers time there was only a handful of schools that could remotely get the best players. In this day and age of 24/7 exposure coaches can find talent everywhere. Kids can go anywhere they want to go. Nick Saban is different, and he is a dying breed....he can be old school and stubborn because he has the titles to get away with it and he has the NFL pipeline to sell to kids. I think he's the best. My entire family are Bama fans. My kids don't remember the Mike Dubose, Mike Shula, etc etc years of losing. I tell them to enjoy this run while it's here. It won't last much longer.

 

LSU had some great years and more than you seem to recall in the 60's, 70's and 80's. I won't argue that they didn't win a National Title in those eras but they had many one or two loss seasons.

Mythical national championships definitely make it harder to compare eras, but Saban coaching in an era where there is a criteria to decide the national champion and it’s not just people’s opinion makes what he’s doing even more impressive.

 

I would agree. Except that in this modern era it also gives a coach and team a chance at redemption despite a bad performance. How many titles has Saban won because there was a "2nd chance" under this system? Two? Three?

 

In the old system an upset loss at home to LSU or at Auburn would put them out of contention even if they were the best team in the land. In the current playoff structure there is more room for error or a bad game.