30 best college football coaches of all time, ranked

2. Bear Bryant, Maryland 1945, Kentucky 1946-53, Texas A&M 1954-57, Alabama 1958-82

When it comes to the top two coaches in the history of the sport, Alabama is where you have to go. Bear Bryant is the name everyone thinks of when someone asks who the best coach ever is. He was so great for so long. Bryant was a staple in college football coaching for over 45 years. He got his first head coaching job at Maryland in 1945, but he had disagreements with the university president and he left the next season for Kentucky.

Let’s fast forward to Bryant’s time at Alabama. He returned to his alma mater in 1958 after a successful stint with Texas A&M. By 1961, he won his first national championship. Then, he went on the best run with Alabama. With Joe Namath at quarterback, he won another national championship in 1964. They beat some of the greats in bowl games during that era, including Bud Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma team in the Orange Bowl in 1962.

Bear Bryant would go on to dominate the South for more than two decades. He did that because he was willing to make changes with the times. He eventually recruited African American players once his governor, who was famously anti-segregation, got out of the way. He completely changed his offense when the wishbone became famous. He even provided his own variations of it.

What more can be said about Bear Bryant? He was dealing with some serious health issues in the final years of his life, but he still was able to lead Alabama to two national championships in his final five years of coaching. About a month after he retired in 1982 at the age of 69, he suffered a heart attack and passed away. Bear Bryant was college football. He changed with college football. He was everything that represents Alabama, both the good and the bad.