Ranking the 25 best head coaches in college football history
By Zach Bigalke
11. Tom Osborne
Right on the cusp of the top ten sits Tom Osborne. The Cornhuskers won three national titles in four years from 1994 to 1997 before Osborne retired, allowing the longtime Nebraska head coach to leave the sport at the pinnacle of his career. We remember him as an all-time great. But until that first title in 1994, Osborne was one of those coaches who seemed forever doomed to come close but never attain a title.
Osborne’s entire career was spent in Lincoln. He got his start in 1964 as an assistant to Bob Devaney. Working his way through the ranks on the staff, he was Devaney’s offensive coordinator when the Huskers won back-to-back national titles in 1970 and 1971.
For his first eight seasons, he kept Nebraska at a 9-to-10 win pace every year. He never could return the team to the top of the national polls, though. That nearly changed in 1983 at the Orange Bowl. After scoring a potential game-tying touchdown, Osborne elected to go for two against Miami. The plan backfired, and the Hurricanes won the national title.
Then the team returned to its 10-win plateau for another decade. The Huskers came within a missed 45-yard field goal of winning the national title against Florida State in 1993, setting up the streak that vaulted Osborne’s career from Bo Pelini-esque to a three-time national champion.