Ranking the 25 best head coaches in college football history
By Zach Bigalke
2. Fielding Yost
Fielding Yost put Michigan football on the map. He arrived in Ann Arbor in 1901 in his fifth season as a head coach. He learned the sport as a tackle for West Virginia and Lafayette between 1894 and 1896 and immediately jumped into coaching. Prior to taking over the Wolverines, Yost had successfully coached at Ohio Wesleyan (7-1-1 in 1897), Nebraska (8-3 in 1898), Kansas (10-0 in 1899), and both Stanford (7-2-1) and San Jose State (1-0) in 1900.
Once with the Wolverines, Yost quickly built a national powerhouse. Michigan went 43-0-1 in Yost’s first four seasons in charge, winning four straight national titles in the process. Yost helped inaugurate the Rose Bowl game, beating Stanford 49-0 in the 1902 contest to cap a 1901 season where opponents had not scored once. Over that four-year stretch, opponents scored just 40 points total in the 44-game streak.
A ten-year period as an independent did Michigan no favors between 1907 and 1916, but once returning to what is now the Big Ten the Wolverines returned to national prominence. Yost won two more national titles with Michigan with perfect seasons in 1918 and 1923. After winning two more conference titles in 1925 and 1926, Yost stepped down to focus on athletic director duties.