30 best college football coaches of all time, ranked

5. Woody Hayes, Ohio State 1951-1978

Woody Hayes is a man who never left Ohio, and he might be the most successful person to stay in his place of birth for his entire life. He was born in the town of Clifton. In the latest U.S. Census data, the town has 152 people in it. Hayes started his coaching career in high school. He’s one of the rare high school coaches that eventually becomes an all timer in the college ranks. He took a job as the head coach of Denison University, his alma mater, and eventually moved on to Miami University of Ohio.

His run as a college football legend started when he went to Ohio State in 1951. Hayes’ play calling was famously boring. His style was described as “bread and butter”. Well, that bread and that butter led to three consensus national championships and two other non-consensus national championships.

Hayes’ willingness to recruit Black players and put them in prominent roles allowed him to take on a larger talent pool than other coaches of this era. He was able to start Archie Griffin, the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner.

Besides his on-the-field accomplishments, Woody Hayes’ coaching tree might be the best ever. He has three coaches who worked under him on this list; Schembechler, Holtz and Parseghian. He also helped lead five other highly-successful head coaches in his quarter of a century at Ohio State. Hayes’ also really ramped up the rivalry with Michigan. He even steered recruits to go to Notre Dame so they wouldn’t end up becoming Wolverines. Now, that’s what we call a rivalry.