25 best college football coaches never to win a national title
- Head Coaching Record: 169-109-1 at Air Force
- Closest He Came to Winning a National Championship: 1985; 12-1 Bluebonnet Bowl Champions, No. 8 final ranking
- Notable: Three WAC Championships (1985, 1995, 1998), 1985 AFCA, Bobby Dodd, Walter Coach of the Year Award, Three WAC Coach of the Year Awards, College Football Hall of Fame (2011)
A native of South Carolina who spent the first seven years of his coaching career in the state as a high school coach before joining the coaching staff at Wofford (his alma mater) for a two-year stint as an assistant from 1969-1970, and then working for a nine-year stretch at Appalachian State in North Carolina, Fisher DeBerry travelled across the country to Colorado Springs, Colorado to join Ken Hatfield’s staff at the US Air Force Academy as quarterbacks coach in 1980. He was quickly promoted to offensive coordinator, and when Hatfield left to become the head coach at Arkansas, DeBerry was promoted to head coach of the Falcons in 1984.
Over the next 23 seasons, DeBerry established Air Force as the dominant football program among service academies by winning the three-team Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy series 14 times. DeBerry also led the Falcons to 12 bowl games in 17 winning seasons that included three WAC championships.
The closest DeBerry and the Air Force program has come to a national championship was his second season as head coach, when the Falcons finished 12-1, won the Bluebonnet Bowl and were ranked No. 8 in the final AP Poll (No. 5 in the coaches poll). Air Force also earned a spot in the final rankings in 1991 and 1998.
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