30 best college football coaches of all time, ranked

24. Vince Dooley, Georgia 1964-1988

Vince Dooley needed one head coaching job to become an iconic head coach. He started his career at Auburn, and his accomplishments there led to him being hired as the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. He would stay in that job for the next 25 years. Dooley led the Bulldogs to six SEC titles and the national championship in 1980.

Dooley started his career going head to head with Bobby Dodd. The Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry was off to the races. Dooley actually won the first three matchups in the series. Ironically, he ended up winning the first-ever Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award back in 1976. Dooley got Georgia to the fourth-ranked team in the country after a Cotton Bowl win in his third season at the helm.

Dooley had a chance to go to Auburn after his 1980 national championship, but he decided to stay with Georgia and coached for the next eight years before retiring to focus on being Georgia’s athletic director. He led Georgia sports for the next 25 years, helping build Georgia into the powerhouse it is today. Dooley is one of the few coaches on this list who’s legacy was more than just being a great coach. He changed sports for the Georgia brand during his time.

This is clearly one of the greats. People loved playing for Dooley, he’s won some big games and lost some big games (the No. 1 vs. No. 2 loss to Penn State in 1982 still hurts), and he was someone who had longevity because people came to Georgia for him.