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Top All-Time College Football Coaches by Total Ranking Points

Here are the top college football coaches of all time by total ranking points (25 points for each 1st place finish, 24 for 2nd, etc., down to 1 point for a 25th place finish). The top 25s for this list come from the following sources:

1) My fixed AP polls for the seasons 1936-2024
2) My fixed hypothetical AP polls for the seasons 1901-1935
3) Partial rankings I have put together expressly for this list for the seasons 1891-1900

The partial rankings (#3) are hypothetical AP polls, fixed to make logical sense, but instead of ranking 25 teams for each season, I just ranked enough teams to cover the coaches relevant to this list. Prior to my finishing these partial rankings (January 2020), this list only covered the years 1901-present. But now the list covers all years for all eligible coaches, and the following coaches have now received the ranking points they're due for the teams they coached 1891-1900: #2 Pop Warner (he had been #3 before I added the points for his 19th century seasons), #7 Fielding Yost, #9 Amos Alonzo Stagg, #11 Henry Williams, #32 Percy Haughton, and #34 George Woodruff.

Longevity is a big key to finishing ranked highly in this list, much like it is in a list of top coaches by total wins. But I like total ranking points better than total wins, because it makes for a better comparison across differing time periods (teams play more games these days), and it also accounts for strength of opponents faced. Active coaches are in bold.
1 Joe Paterno 572.5 Penn State 1966-2011
2Pop Warner552Georgia 1895-1896; Cornell 1897-1898; Carlisle 1899-1903; Cornell 1904-1906; Carlisle 1907-1914; Pittsburgh 1915-1923; Stanford 1924-1932; Temple 1933-1938
3 Paul "Bear" Bryant 512.5 Maryland 1945; Kentucky 1946-1953; Texas A&M 1954-1957; Alabama 1958-1982
4 Bobby Bowden 473.5 West Virginia 1970-1975; Florida State 1976-2009
5 Tom Osborne 469 Nebraska 1973-1997
6
Nick Saban451.5Toledo 1990; Michigan State 1995-1999; Louisiana State 2000-2004; Alabama 2007-2023
7 Fielding Yost 434 Ohio Wesleyan 1897; Nebraska 1898; Kansas 1899; Stanford 1900; San Jose State 1900; Michigan 1901-1923, 1925-1926
8 Woody Hayes 398 Denison 1946-1948; Miami-Ohio 1949-1950; Ohio State 1951-1978
9Amos Alonzo Stagg379.5Springfield 1890-1891; Chicago 1892-1932; Pacific 1933-1946
10 Howard Jones 355 Syracuse 1908; Yale 1909; Ohio State 1910; Yale 1913; Iowa 1916-1923; Duke 1924; Southern Cal 1925-1940
11Henry Williams349Army 1891; Minnesota 1900-1921
12 Bo Schembechler 330 Miami-Ohio 1963-1968; Michigan 1969-1989
13 Steve Spurrier 321 Duke 1987-1989; Florida 1990-2001; South Carolina 2005-2015
14 Barry Switzer 298 Oklahoma 1973-1988
15 Darrell Royal 288 Mississippi State 1954-1955; Washington 1956; Texas 1957-1976
16 Lou Holtz 285 William & Mary 1969-1971; North Carolina State 1972-1975; Arkansas 1977-1983; Minnesota 1984-1985; Notre Dame 1986-1996; South Carolina 1999-2004
17 Bud Wilkinson 284 Oklahoma 1947-1963
18 Robert Neyland 283.5 Tennessee 1926-1934, 1936-1940, 1946-1952
19 Earl "Red" Blaik 277 Dartmouth 1934-1940; Army 1941-1958
20 Bernie Bierman 274.5 Montana 1919-1921; Mississippi State 1925-1926; Tulane 1927-1931; Minnesota 1932-1941, 1945-1950
21 John Vaught 273.5 Mississippi 1947-1970, 1973
22Urban Meyer272Bowling Green 2001-2002; Utah 2003-2004; Florida 2005-2010; Ohio State 2012-2018
23 Jock Sutherland 271.5 Lafayette 1919-1923; Pittsburgh 1924-1938
24 Fritz Crisler 268 Minnesota 1930-1931; Princeton 1932-1937; Michigan 1938-1947
25Bob Stoops266Oklahoma 1999-2016 and 1 game 2021 (Note: no points given for this last game)
26 Ara Parseghian 264 Miami-Ohio 1951-1955; Northwestern 1956-1963; Notre Dame 1964-1974
27 Frank Leahy 260 Boston College 1939-1940; Notre Dame 1941-1943, 1946-1953
28Mack Brown255Appalachian State 1983; Tulane 1985-1987; North Carolina 1988-1997; Texas 1998-2013; North Carolina 2019-2024
29 John McKay 253.5 Southern Cal 1960-1975
30 Robert Zuppke 251.5 Illinois 1913-1941
31 Vince Dooley 251 Georgia 1964-1988
32Percy Haughton241.5Cornell 1899-1900; Harvard 1908-1916; Columbia 1923-1924
33 Ralph "Shug" Jordan 236 Auburn 1951-1975
34
 George Woodruff
 234
 Penn 1892-1901; Illinois 1903; Carlisle 1905
35 Knute Rockne 229.5 Notre Dame 1918-1930
36 Bobby Dodd 226 Georgia Tech 1945-1966
37
 Dabo Swinney
 225
 Clemson 2008-present
38 Phillip Fulmer
 216 Tennessee 1992-2008
39 Frank Broyles 208 Missouri 1957; Arkansas 1958-1976
40 Frank Thomas 207 Chattanooga 1925-1928; Alabama 1931-1942, 1944-1946
41 Gil Dobie 205.5 North Dakota State 1906-1907; Washington 1908-1916; Navy 1917-1919; Cornell 1920-1935; Boston College 1936-1938
42 Dan Devine 204 Arizona State 1955-1957; Missouri 1958-1970; Notre Dame 1975-1980
43 Don James 202.5 Kent State 1971-1974; Washington 1975-1992
44
 Mark Richt
 201.5
 Georgia 2001-2015; Miami (Florida) 2016-2018
45 Andy Smith 200.5 Penn 1909-1912; Purdue 1913-1915; California 1916-1925
46
 Brian Kelly
 200
 Grand Valley State 1991-2003; Central Michigan 2004-2006; Cincinnati 2006-2009; Notre Dame 2010-2021; Louisiana State 2022-present

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