Ranking the 25 best head coaches in college football history
By Zach Bigalke
6. Howard Jones
Howard Jones starred for Yale on their 1905 through 1907 teams. After graduation he spent one year coaching at Syracuse before returning to Yale in 1909. Jones went 10-0 that season, winning his first national championship as a head coach. Then he left to manage Ohio State in 1910 for just one year. Jones returned to Yale after a two-year hiatus, but an unsuccessful return led to two more years out of coaching. Finally, Jones moved on to Iowa in 1916.
It was with the Hawkeyes that Jones began to make his mark among head coaches. He led Iowa to back-to-back 7-0 records and conference titles in 1920 and 1921, but after eight seasons wanderlust grabbed Jones once again and he departed for Duke. The move proved ill-fated, as he went 4-5 in his one season with the Blue Devils. From there Jones left for the opposite side of the country. There he would find his greatest success in the sunshine of southern California.
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Jones started at USC in 1925 and won his first national title with the Trojans three years later. Two more titles followed in 1931 and 1932 as USC developed into a West Coast powerhouse. The Trojans suffered a lull through the mid-1930s, but Jones rebounded to win the Pacific Coast Conference in 1938 and a fifth national title in 1939.