College Football’s 10 greatest back-to-back coaching duos

Yes, this might feel like a bit of cheating for the final team on this list. Ultimately, though, it is an acknowledgement that Miami is the only school in modern college football history to win national titles under three straight head coaches. (Yale did it as well, but it constitutes a string of one-year team managers rather than what we not think of as coaching.)

Miami never really embraced its position as “The U” until Howard Schnellenberger arrived for the 1979 season and started building a sustainable juggernaut from the talent-rich schools of South Florida. By 1983, Schnellenberger brought Miami their first-ever national title with an Orange Bowl upset of Nebraska. Then Schnellenberger left Miami to chase an ownership and pro coaching opportunity with the never-off-the-ground USFL team that was planned for Miami.

Up stepped Johnson, who came from a five-year stint at Oklahoma State and struggled to keep Schnellenberger’s creation progressing. The Hurricanes lost three straight bowl games and were not in the hunt any of his first three years in Coral Gables, but Johnson’s 1987 team locked down the national title with a 20-14 win over top-ranked Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

Johnson eventually also pursued a pro opportunity with the Dallas Cowboys, and the Hurricanes looked west once again for their new coach. They landed on Washington State coach Dennis Erickson, who led Miami to national titles in 1989 and 1991 and a .875 winning percentage.

What the Hurricanes were able to accomplish, landing not just back-to-back elite head coaches but a trio of national title winners, might never be replicated. For that reason Schnellenberger, Johnson, and Erickson landed joint ownership of the top spot, as each was instrumental in turning Miami from an afterthought to a champion.