| Top 10 Active Coaches
by Winning Percentage Here is a list I recently came across on a website with the top ten active coaches in Division I college football ranked by winning percentage. With no surprise Pete Carroll of USC is at the top of the list with a slight lead over Urban Meyer. Bob Stoops of Oklahoma is third but no other active coach has a winning percentage over 80% which tells you how tough it is to win over the long run in college football.
Note: The list only includes active coaches with minimum five years head coaching at the NCAA Division I level. The data is through the end of the 2006 football season. Impressively Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno make the list as well in 6th and 9th place respectively with a winning percentage of roughly 75% in both cases. Both of these giants have been head coaches for 41 years at the time this list was compiled. Interestingly the top four coaches on the list have been college Division one coaches for only 6-8 years. It will interesting to see if they can sustain the momentum moving forward over the long haul. One name that surprised me on the list was Paul Johnson of Navy. When I double checked the details over half of his wins came from his tenure at Georgia Southern where his teams were national champions in 1999-2000 at Division I-AA. I guess the list includes active coaches at Division I currently but counts their wins from Division I-AA as well. Just at Navy alone he is a more pedestrian 37 Wins and 25 Losses over the past five years. There were a few coaches not on the list that I was curious about and did some further digging to check their records. Jim Tressel - Ohio State Currently Jim Tressel has a lifetime record of 197 Wins 71 Losses and 2 Ties for an overall winning percentage of 73.7%. That includes his years at Youngstown State University where he won four national Division I-AA titles. Interestingly if you just take his true Division I years at Ohio State he is an impressive 62 Wins and 14 Losses for an 81.6% winning percentage and would rank 4th on the list. Larry Coker - Formerly of Miami Although no longer active at the moment as a head coach Larry Coker was the leader on this list at the start of the 2006 football season. After several years and a national title in 2001 he was fired after a disappointing last two seasons. Despite the 7 Win and 6 Loss campaign in 2006 Larry Coker still left Miami with a record of 60 Wins and 15 Losses for an overall mark of 80% winning percentage. Mack Brown - Texas A name I thought might be on the list but is not is Mack Brown of Texas. At Texas Brown has presided over an impressive run with one national championship and compiled an overall record of 93 Wins and 22 Losses for an 80.8% winning percentage. Overall however his record from North Carolina and other programs brings his total to 180 Wins 96 Losses and 1 Tie for roughly a 66% winning percentage Nick Saban - Alabama Nick Saban is currently the highest paid head football coach in Division I at Alabama. He has one national championship to his credit in 2003 at LSU before leaving for the pro ranks. His overall winning percentage in college is just over 68% including his time at Michigan State with a total of 91 Wins 42 Losses and 1 Tie. Frank Beamer - Virginia Tech Year in and year out the Virginia Tech Hokies are one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the nation under Head Coach Frank Beamer. Overall Coach Beamer has a record of 188 Wins 102 Losses 1 Tie for about a 65% winning percentage. Rich Rodriguez - West Virginia Under Rich Rodriguez West Virginia has turned into a legitimate contender for the national championship. At West Virginia Coach Rodriguez has 50 Wins and 24 Losses for about a 67% winning percentage. Including his time at Salem and Glennville State his record is an overall 95 Wins 60 Losses and 2 Ties which dips down to about 62% winning percentage. Charlie Weis - Notre Dame A couple of people have asked about Charlie Weis of Notre Dame since I originally posted this list. Charley has only coached two years at Notre Dame and hence does not have enough years to qualify of the 5 minimum mentioned above. After two years he is 19 wins and 6 losses for a 76% winning margin. There are of course many retired coaches (Paul "Bear" Bryant, Bud Wilkinson, Tom Osborne, Darrell Royal, etc.) that probably would alter the shape of this list above but I did not find a way to check it easily. In terms of fairly recent USC history here are a couple of coaches to compare Pete Carroll to for historic reference John McKay Under Head Coach John McKay USC won four national championships (1962, 1967, 1972, 1974). During his tenure Coach McKay compiled a overall record of 127 Wins 40 losses and 8 Ties for roughly a 76.0% winning percentage. John Robinson Under Head Coach John Robinson USC won one national championship (1978) and was twice #2 in the country in 1976 and 1979. During his tenure which included two stints at USC Coach Robinson compiled an overall record of 104 Wins 35 Losses and 4 Ties for roughly a 74.8% winning percentage. If Pete Carroll stays at USC for a few more seasons he should easily catch both of these coaches in terms of wins and possibly just might match John McKay for national championships. At least let's hope so. |