Best college football coach in history from each state

Illinois: Amos Alonzo Stagg

Before dropping down to the Division III level, the University of Chicago was a major college football power, with Stagg leading the way.

A defensive end at Yale during the Camp era, Stagg was named to the first-ever All-American team in 1889 before beginning his collegiate head coaching career in multiple sports. After a quick stop at Springfield College, Amos moved to Chicago, where he would put together a dominant run spanning three decades.

Following a middling stretch in the first four years under Stagg, the Maroons improved to 11-2-1 in 1896, their first season in the Big Ten. Stagg broke through with his first national title nine years later with a perfect 11-0 mark, his fifth double-digit win season.

The Maroons lost one game or fewer in seven of the next eight years, and Stagg earned his second national championship in 1913. While Chicago would decline in the mid-1920s before Stagg moved on to Pacific in 1932, his 244-11-27 record with the Maroons remains the most impressive head coaching accomplishment in Illinois college football history, and his 314 career victories are still top 10 all time.

Stagg was the only player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a coach and a player until the 1990s and was also an early innovator in the sport of basketball. Chicago disbanded for 22 years shortly after Stagg’s departure, while other major football programs in the state like Illinois and Northwestern haven’t enjoyed such a dominant period.