Fansided

25 best college football coaches never to win a national title

By Nicholas Ian Allen

Oct 25, 2014; Manhattan, KS, USA; Kansas State Wildcats head coach Bill Snyder waits to lead his team onto the field before the start of a game against the Texas Longhorns at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 25, 2014; Manhattan, KS, USA; Kansas State Wildcats head coach Bill Snyder waits to lead his team onto the field before the start of a game against the Texas Longhorns at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports /
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  • Head Coaching Record: 232-178-10 at SMU 1962-72, North Texas State 1973-78, and Iowa 1979-98
  • Closest He Came to Winning a National Championship: 1985; 10-2, lost the Rose Bowl, No. 10 final ranking
  • Notable: 1966 Southwest Conference Championship, 1973 Missouri Valley Conference Championship, Three Big Ten Championships (1981, 1985, 1990), 1963 SWC Coach of the Year, 1973 MVC Coach of the Year, Big Ten Coach of the Year (1981, 1990, 1991), 1981 Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year, College Football Hall of Fame (2003)

A quarterback at Baylor from 1947-1950, Hayden Fry coached high school football in Texas before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach. After two seasons coaching defensive backs in Waco, Fry spent one season coaching quarterbacks at Arkansas before he was hired as the head coach at SMU in 1962.

In 11 seasons with the Mustangs, Fry posted a modest record of 49-66-1 that included one Southwest Conference championship, but was fired following a 7-4 season in 1972. Fry landed at North Texas State in 1973, and won a share of the Missouri Valley Conference title in his first season. After a disappointing 1974 campaign, Fry led the Eagles to four consecutive winning seasons from 1975-1978, pushing his record to 40-23-3 at the school before leaving for Iowa.

Fry found his greatest success as the head coach of the Hawkeyes, and helped turn around a program that had suffered through 17 consecutive non-winning seasons before his arrival. In Fry’s third season in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes won a share of the Big Ten title and made it to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1959. Fry led Iowa to the Rose Bowl again in 1985, a season in which the Hawkeyes spent part of the season as the nation’s top ranked team, and finished No. 10 in the final AP Poll. Iowa won the Big Ten again in 1990, and in 1991 finished 10-1-1 and were ranked No. 10 at the end of the season – tying the highest finish under Fry’s direction.

In 1998, following a 37-year head coaching career in which he compiled a 232-178-10 record, including a 143-89-6 mark across 20 seasons in Iowa, Fry retired. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

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