Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Oops. Must have read the data wrong. Where is FTBobs and what did he do with cfbtrivia!?! (Seriously--where did it go?)

I cannot believe the site logged me out when I hit "post" for my ND lineup...sigh.


Curiously, since Rockne, Kelly is next in winning percentage (.670), and has the fourth longest tenure (going on nine seasons, which puts him ahead of Devine, and behind only Leahy, Parseghian, and Holtz). He is one Alabama whupping (and an angry face) away from ND's pantheon...And there's little doubt he plays in both a more competitive era and with higher academic standards than any of the above (though Holtz will always smart over the administration rejecting Randy Moss).

Interesting maybe to me, but two names already shown up in Duffy Daugherty and Frank Kush grew up in coal country PA, about 30 minutes from each other.  Obviously a decent gap in age between the two, but interesting that they are both from such a small area.

I'm wondering if maybe that's specifically why Duffy recruited him.  Probably still had contacts in the area.  Granted you wonder what would have happened if Duffy had thought to offer him an assistant coaches position when he got the MSU job in '54?  Instead, his top assistant, Dan Devine, left a year later for the head job at Arizona State, called up his former player, Kush, and then three years later when Devine left for Missouri, Kush got promoted.  By the time Duffy stepped down in 1972, Kush would have only been in his mid 40s.  I wonder if MSU ever actually reached out to him?  I believe he accepted the job at Pitt, to return home, in the late 60s, then changed his mind and went back to ASU, so who knows if they called, and he wasn't interested.

With Osborne's longevity of twenty five seasons, .823 winning percentage, three national titles, three undefeated seasons and three more 1-loss seasons, as well as only losing three games in five years at the end, never lost more than three games or won fewer than nine--in 25 seasons!!--and his contribution to both of Devaney's national title teams as the offensive coordinator...whoa.

Devaney was great, no question; I would put Osborne as #1--but that's a nice argument to be able to have if you're a Nebraska fan.

I never gave Osborne's record all that much thought, but looking at it now, he's got to be one of the top, what..., 3(?) head football coaches ever. What's the knock against him? Took a while to win the MNCs? Played in a weaker conference (I suspect Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas State fans might take exception to that)? I don't know...

Saban because of all his national titles, but who else? Bowden and Paterno have longevity, but nothing close to that kind of consistency. Nor Woody Hayes nor Bo Schembechler. Maybe Fielding Yost in the Michigan era (he made it the Michigan era, after all)? None of the Notre Dame coaches have that kind of longevity. Urban Meyer has had a great run (and, of course, it continues), but looks more like the famous ND coaches when you look at longevity and accomplishments. Bud Wilkinson had neither the consistency nor the longevity. Bear Bryant didn't quite have the consistency, but he had more national titles.

I'm sure there are others I'm leaving out, but based on my faulty memory and a quick perusal of their records, I'm thinking the list looks something like Saban, Bryant, Osborne, Yost, and then the rest.