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30 best college football coaches of all time, ranked

By Nick Villano

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney and Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban smile on the field before the 2019 College Football Playoff Championship game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney and Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban smile on the field before the 2019 College Football Playoff Championship game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Urban Meyer, Ohio State Buckeyes
Urban Meyer, Ohio State Buckeyes. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

8. Urban Meyer, Utah 2003-04, Florida 2005-10, Ohio State 2012-18

Urban Meyer is undeniably one of the best college coaches ever, but he was always surrounded by controversy. He did, however, win three national championships, three Big Ten titles, two SEC titles, and two Mountain West titles. Meyer won everywhere he went. He created stars at every position. Meyer just always found a way to get the best out of his players, and it led to a winning program at every stop (well, except for the Jaguars).

Meyer brought a version of the West Coast Offense to Utah, and it led to a 10-win season right off the bat. He only coached there for two seasons, after spending just two seasons at Bowling Green, before he took the head coaching job at Florida. Most coaches need a year to get their recruits in and put the team in a position to win. Not Meyer. He got nine wins in his first season with Florida.

Meyer became a big-game coach pretty quickly. He won the national championship in his second season, bouncing back from a loss to Auburn to win the SEC in dominant fashion and taking down his future school Ohio State 41-14. He would win the national championship again two years later with Tim Tebow putting up one of the best seasons we’ve seen in a long time. He went undefeated the next season despite a ton of problems with the team, but they lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, and they were left out of the BCS National Championship.

Meyer took a leave of absence and eventually left the Florida program. After a year in media, he joined the Ohio State Buckeyes. He went undefeated in his first year at OSU. They weren’t eligible for the postseason due to NCAA violations of the previous regime, but they still got the right talent to win every game that season. He eventually won the national title with Cardale Jones, his third-string quarterback at the time. Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett both got injured and were lost for the season. It’s probably his greatest accomplishment as a coach.

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