30 best college football coaches of all time, ranked

15. Amos Alonzo Stagg, Chicago 1892-1932

This one is going way, way back. This is the first great football coach on record. Amos Alonzo Stagg was a man of his time. He was hard-working, stoic in his demeanor, and he won football games. His work started at the YMCA Training School, which later became Springfield College. He eventually got a job at the University of Chicago, and that’s where he made his legacy.

Stagg took UC to a dominant run which included seven Big Ten conference championships and turned the university into one of the first powerhouses in the history of the sport. He’s known for innovating the game back at the turn of the 20th century. Reports say he created the tackling dummy, he was the first person to tell his players to huddle, and he even came up with the “reverse” play.

Stagg was a man of many talents. He coached football at Chicago for 40 years, but he was also the school’s track coach, baseball coach, and basketball coach at different times. He was also an Olympics coach for track athletes.

Stagg would coach for basically his entire life. After leaving the University of Chicago, he signed on to coach the College of the Pacific at the age of 70. He continued coaching in different capacities until he was 96 years old. He would live another six years, as the game continued to grow into the 60s. He is now honored with a bunch of different trophies and awards, including bearing his name on the Big Ten Championship Trophy.