Best college football coach in history from each state

Connecticut: Walter Camp

Beyond inventing a few key rules of the sport, Camp was nearly unbeatable as a head coach at Yale to earn the top spot in the history of The Constitution State.

A native of New Britain, Camp enrolled at Yale in 1875 and was involved in several developments in the early history of the sport as a member of various rules committees during his collegiate career. Nicknamed the “Father of American football,” Camp is credit with several innovations such as the line of scrimmage, the system of downs and hiking the ball from the center, helping the sport separate itself from rugby.

After playing as a halfback at Yale from 1876-1882, Camp took over as head coach of the Bulldogs six years later. Yale went 13-0 in Camp’s first season to claim its first of three national titles over a span of five years.

Following a pair of disappointing one-loss campaigns, Yale was perfect in each of Camp’s last two seasons in 1891 and 1892 to win two more titles, helping set up a dominant run of 26 titles in 38 years. Camp finished his career with an absurd 67-2 record before moving out west to coach at Stanford, where he went 12-3-3 in three seasons.

College football in Connecticut has since dropped off, and Yale moved to the FCS level in 1981, with just four Ivy League titles since. The state’s flagship program at UConn has yet to take off, as the Huskies haven’t finished ranked in the AP Poll since being promoted to the FBS in 2000.