Has a college football coach ever won a national championship in his first season?

Sonny Dykes has the chance to win the CFP National Championship in his first year as head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs. Here are the other coaches to win a national title in their first season with their team.

Midway through the 2021 season, Gary Patterson resigned as head coach of the TCU Horned Frogs. The university didn’t have to look far for a head coach, as they decided to hire Sonny Dykes, the sideline boss for the SMU Mustangs from 2018 until 2021. The move turned out to be the right one, as Dykes has the Horned Frogs one win away from winning the College Football Playoff National Championship.

On Monday, Jan. 9, TCU will take on the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in the CFP National Championship Game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. TCU reached the big game after winning all but one game (the Big 12 Championship Game vs. Kansas State), and by defeating the Michigan Wolverines 51-45 in the Fiesta Bowl.

It would be quite the feat if Dyke were to win the National Championship in his very first season with TCU. Has any coach ever done this before?

Has a college football coach ever won a national championship in his first season?

The answer to this question is yes. In fact, there have been three head football coaches to win a national championship in their first season with a team.

Bennie Oosterban was the very first football coach to win a national title in his first season. Oosterban took over as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines in 1948 and watched as the team go 9-0 on the season and outscored their opponents 252-44. They were named the national champions by the AP Poll.

Dennis Erikson also holds the distinction of winning the national title in his first season with the Miami Hurricanes. Back in 1989, Erikson took over for Jimmy Johnson, who left the program to coach the Dallas Cowboys. That season, the Hurricanes went 11-1, with their lone loss being against the Florida State Seminoles. Despite that, Miami made it to the Sugar Bowl, where they defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide, 33-25. The Hurricanes were voted the consensus national champions.

There was another Miami football coach to accomplish this feat, and that was Larry Coker in 2001. After taking over for Butch Davis, Coker led the Hurricanes to a 12-0 record on the year, where they won the Big East title, and defeated Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl, which served as the BCS National Championship Game.

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