Top 10 College Sports Coaches Ever: Where does Mike Krzyzewski Stand?
6. Knute Rockne, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 1916-1930
Record: 105-12-5
4 National Championships
Sticking with our theme of changing the game, Knute Rockne followed Yost’s tradition of breaking schools into the college football elite that were not Ivy League schools. Notre Dame followed Michigan, which is why that rivalry was such a great one.
Rockne made college football even more competitive after Yost, and then he took it to another level.
Rockne decided to innovate the sport by taking advantage of the forward pass. This one decision is what turned football from a gentleman’s game into a phenomenon. The entertainment skyrocketed, and as more schools became successful, college football became THE sport.
Thanks to Yost breaking into the mold and Rockne following by adding some flare, college football dominant programs began propping up across the country.
USC, Alabama, Tennessee, and so many other schools broke onto the national scene. Then came the expansion of bowl games. Then came the irrelevance of Ivy League schools.
And then came college football and the sport as we know it.
When you have Rockne’s record and change the game like that, you belong on any list of elite coaches. And here he is.
Next: No. 5 Ranked College Coach Ever