Best college football coach in history from each state

Wyoming: Bob Devaney

Before becoming a national champion at Nebraska, the aforementioned Devaney enjoyed a strong if brief stint with the Cowboys to become the top head coach in Wyoming history.

Devaney attended college at Alma in Michigan, where he played defensive end, before jumping straight into the high school coaching ranks. Fifteen years later, Devaney was hired for his first college gig at Michigan State, where he would spend three seasons learning under Munn.

Wyoming gave Devaney his first head coaching job at the collegiate level in 1957 in an effort to replace Phil Dickens, who went 10-0 the previous year before bolting to Indiana. After a 4-3-3 debut campaign, Devaney led Wyoming to an 8-3 record and Sun Bowl win over Hardin-Simmons, its third postseason victory in school history.

The Cowboys lost two games or fewer in each of Devaney’s remaining three seasons, including a 9-1 mark and No. 16 finish in the AP Poll in 1959. Devaney went 35-10 overall with Wyoming and captured four straight Skyline Conference titles to close out his career in Laramie.

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That success with Wyoming helped Devaney earn the job at Nebraska, where he became a college football legend. Others like Dickens, Bowden Wyatt and Lloyd Eaton had stronger individual seasons at Wyoming, but Devaney had the program playing at a high level for a more extended period of time.