Bobby Bowden started head coaching in 1959. From 1959-2020 where does he rank all time.

Bobby Bowden a great dude and coach, but he isn’t above Tom Osborne. Tom Osborne has a much better winning percentage, more national championships, and more conference championships in a lesser time frame. Osborne also did it at Nebraska with absolutely no in-state talent or much around him (although this was not as big of a deal then as it is today) Bobby was in Florida a massive hotbed. You could probably put him above all the other guys you mentioned like Paterno, Spurrier, etc. but Bobby was not as good as Osborne. Just coached for a longer time period.

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Osborne also did it at Nebraska with absolutely no in-state talent or much around him (although this was not as big of a deal then as it is today) Bobby was in Florida a massive hotbed. You could probably put him above all the other guys you mentioned like Paterno, Spurrier, etc. but Bobby was not as good as Osborne. Just coached for a longer time period.

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You realize Nebraska was already an elite program when Osborne got there and FSU was a complete nobody when Bowden took that job? Nebraska had won b2b national titles just a year before Osborne was hired. Everything FSU has become is 100% because of Bowden. He built them into a powerhouse from the ground up

Yes you’re absolutely right Florida State was a horrendous program before Bowden got there, and Osborne took on a torch that was starting to burn very bright. I still give the edge to Tom Osborne.

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You realize Nebraska was already an elite program when Osborne got there and FSU was a complete nobody when Bowden took that job? Nebraska had won b2b national titles just a year before Osborne was hired. Everything FSU has become is 100% because of Bowden. He built them into a powerhouse from the ground up

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That makes Bowden's 6-2 record versus Osborne even more amazing.

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You realize Nebraska was already an elite program when Osborne got there

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In fairness, Osborne helped make it elite. He was hired by the man who got them on the map (Bob Devaney) early in his tenure and became Nebraska's offensive coordinator in 1969. They won their first two national championships with Osborne's offensive system in 1970 and 1971. He then took over the head coaching job in 1973.

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1. Saban
2. Bryant
3. Switzer
4. Osborne
5. Paterno
6. McKay
7. Bowden
8. Royal
9. Tressel
10. Meyer

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Why is Urban behind Tres?

#1 Bowden had pretty soft schedules so had he been in a Power Conference he probably has 1 or 2 more losses a year. Still a good coach but would not have been in the MNC hunt with that extra loss or two

#2 Leaving out some great coaches by limiting time frame is short sighted. Imagine Neyland without time off for WWI and WWII. Bernie at was a beast. If U of Chicago does not give up football for academics would Ohio State ever gotten a space to excel?

I’m factoring in Tressel’s National Championship success at Youngstown State since no parameters were set. If we are solely going by what coaches did in FBS, then Meyer would be above.

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After Nebraska's S&C "advantage" was negated in the 80's they lost like 8 bowls games.His mid 90's teams took partial qualifiers while most everybody else couldn't and the guys he signed weren't exactly model citizens

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All true.

If you want to put Osborne on the list, you should have Switzer ahead of him. Switzer owned Osborne.

And if you want to put Bowden high up on the list for building a program out of nothing, Bill Snyder should be right behind him. No NC's but built a strong program and imagine recruiting to Manhattan, KS.

People just assume because he was in acc the schedule was soft.

Dude played Miami and Florida every year in out of conference.


Played notre dame etc every year.

Absolutely only behind Saban and bear. Name me someone better and I'll tell you why he isn't.

Paterno.....longer coaching at Penn state but BB played tougher schedule and had to compete with Florida and Miami in their hey day for recruits. That 15 year run of top 5 finishes was better than any thing paterno could put together. 2 national championships vs 2 national championships.

Osborne....yea took over a Stacked program, had guys juiced to the gills, then used partial qualifiers when nobody else could.

6 and mother frickin 2 against Osborne. 6 and 2 baby!!


Tell me who was better other than Saban and bear.

8-5-1 vs ole ball coach

John McKay is an argument you could make. Nobody really else.