20 best college football coaches without a national championship
By Brad Weiss
Frank Beamer
, Murray State, Virginia Tech
When it comes to winning college football games, there have been few men who have done it on a more consistent basis than Frank Beamer. From his start at Murray State, Beamer has become a legend in college football, and when he retired in 2015, he had collected 280 wins. That is an incredible number of wins, though he never won that one single game that would make him a national champion.
Beamer coached Murray State from 1981-86, before taking the head coaching job at Virginia Tech. It would be at Virginia Tech that he would really put his stamp on college football, finishing in the top-25 16 times during his career. The winner of 10 bowl games, Beamer won four ACC titles, and was named the 1989 AFCA Coach of the Year.
A Paul “Bear” Bryant Award winner, Beamer had to take over a program that needed to be cleaned up following the dismissal of Bill Dooley. Dooley was the winningest coach in school history, but Beamer went in and rewrote the record books. When he retired, Beamer was the winningest active coach in college football, and he reached the postseason every season from 1993 on.
Beamer’s best chance at a national title probably came with a freshman at quarterback. In 1999, Michael Vick captavated the college football landscape, leading the Hokies to an undefeated regular season. They would lose their shot at the title with a Sugar Bowl loss, but that team is regarded as one of the best offensive units in the history of college football.