Factoid 12 - The Top Five College Coaches by National Championships

Bear Bryant (10), Woody Hayes (9), Tom Osborne (9), Field H. Yost (8), and Howard Jones(8) have the most NCAA Football Championships. These championships may not necessarily be what one would consider the accredited championships, but nonetheless some wire service or organization voted them in as national champs.

Bear Bryant leads the list with ten, the majority of which came while he was the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Tom Osborne and Woody Hayes are tied in second with nine a piece. Coach Osborne earned all as coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, while Woody’s were earned with The Ohio State Buckeyes. Fielding H. Yost’s victories were with the Michigan Wolverines, and the majority of Howard Jones’s were with the USC Trojans.

Some of these were awarded before the Bowl Games were played, which led to some dubious distinctions because sometime they lost in the bowl game; so while crowned champs, did it really count if they lost their last (bowl) game?