20 best college football coaches without a national championship
By Brad Weiss
John Cooper
, Tulsa, Arizona State, Ohio State
The Ohio State Buckeyes football program has had more than its fair share of incredible head coaches. From Woody Hayes, to Earle Bruce, and most recently Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer, the list includes some of the best head coaches in the history of college football. Not to be excluded from that list is John Cooper, who led the program for 13 seasons.
Cooper started his college football coaching journey at Tulsa, where he won the Missouri Valley Conference five times. He then spent a couple of seasons at Arizona State, winning the Pac-10 title in 1986. In 1988, Cooper took over the football program at Ohio State, and would quickly become one of the best coaches in program history.
During his time with the Buckeyes, Cooper won three Big Ten titles, with his final championship coming in 1998. A member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Cooper his fair share of chances to win a national title, but struggled during his career against Michigan. Still, he is a member of the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, and won an incredible 111 games for the Buckeyes against only 34 losses.
In 1996, and again in 1998, the Buckeyes finished No. 2 in the country. Throughout his entire career, Cooper nearly racked up 200 wins, winning five bowl games. He certainly was a good enough coach to win the big game, but never could quite get over the hump and put it all together when he had the teams to do it.