The college football coaches with the most national championships will always be an interesting list and a fond walk down memory lane. With a recent dominance over the college football landscape, no coach has won more recently — and in history — than Alabama’s Nick Saban. Who else makes the list?
College Football Coaches With the Most National Championships
1. Nick Saban – 7 National Championships
2. Bear Bryant – 6
3. Woody Hayes – 5
3. Bernie Bierman – 5
5. Frank Leahy – 4
5. John McKay – 4
7. Walter Camp – 3
7. Howard Jones – 3
7. Urban Meyer – 3
7. Tom Osborne – 3
7. Knute Rockne – 3
7. Barry Switzer – 3
7. Glen “Pop” Warner – 3
7. Darrell Royal – 3
7. Bud Wilkinson – 3
16. Red Blaik – 5
16. Bobby Bowden – 2
16. Pete Carroll – 2
16. Bob Devaney – 2
16. Dennis Erickson – 2
16. Ara Parseghian – 2
16. Joe Paterno – 2
16. Dabo Swinney – 2
What Coach Has the Most NCAA Football Championships?
Leading the pack thanks to his 2020 National Championship, Nick Saban has won the most NCAA National Championships as a head coach, winning seven total, including six at Alabama.
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Saban’s six national championships match Bear Bryant’s six at Alabama though Saban’s sixth title broke the tie between the two all-time coaching greats.
What Coach Has Won the Most Consecutive Championships in College Football History?
Multiple coaches have won back-to-back national championships. However, only Bernie Bierman at Minnesota has won three consecutive national championships in the history of the sport.
Winning national titles in 1934, 1935, and 1936, Bierman became the first and only coach to break the back-to-back-to-back national championship mark. A record that still stands.
Head Coaches With the Most National Championships
Nick Saban – 7
The pinnacle of excellence in this generation of football, Saban clinched his seventh national championship in 2020, breaking the outright tie for first place between him and his famed predecessor. Saban is the only coach with four or more titles to do so at multiple institutions, and his six national championships at Alabama tied Bear Bryant for most at one school.
Saban’s Titles: LSU (2003), Alabama (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020)
Bear Bryant – 6
Dominating the 1960s and 1970s, the Bear Bryant-led Alabama Crimson Tide teams were some of the best football programs the world has ever seen. Preseason favorites in seemingly every season with Bryant on the sidelines, his record of six national championships stood until 2020 when Saban set the new bar.
Bryant’s six titles at one school are still the most by a single coach at one university.
Bryant’s Titles: Alabama (1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979)
Woody Hayes – 5
A name synonymous on the Ohio State campus with football, Woody Hayes needs no introduction to even the most casual of fans. Sure, his tenure ended a bit prematurely, but his impact on the game will forever be left as he became just the second coach to ever reach five national championships in 1970.
Hayes’ Titles: Ohio State (1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970)
Bernie Bierman – 5
There were two dynasties in the early stages of the poll era and in the early 1900s: Notre Dame and Bernie Bierman’s Minnesota Golden Gophers. Bierman took the mantle of Knute Rockne as the most famous coach in the country when his Gophers teams won five national championships in a span of seven years.
Bierman’s Titles: Minnesota (1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941)
Frank Leahy – 4
Rewind the clocks back a few years, and you’ll find the dominance of the Notre Dame program in the early portions of the 1900s. Frank Leahy became just the second coach to win four national championships, putting Notre Dame back on top of the college football world in the 40s.
Leahy’s Titles: Notre Dame (1943, 1946, 1947, 1949)
Walter Camp – 3
Helping bring the sport into the spotlight of the nation, Walter Camp’s coaching record includes three national championships. Though the game Camp coached back in the 1800s is far different than the game is now, his record remains intact, and his legacy lives on.
Camp’s Titles: Yale (1888, 1891, 1892)
Howard Jones – 3
Ushering in a new era of West Coast football, Howard Jones led the USC Trojans to three national championships in the post-war era. Jones’ USC teams still stand as the lone West Coast teams with three or more national titles.
Jones’ Titles: USC (1928,1931, 1932)
Urban Meyer – 3
Nabbing national championships at two different spots, Urban Meyer’s coaching career includes two titles at Florida and another at Ohio State. Though marred with his exits from each program, Meyer’s place in the history books is forever sealed with the dominance he put forth at each stop, dating as far back as his days at Utah.
Meyer’s Titles: Florida (2006, 2008), Ohio State (2014)
Tom Osborne – 3
Riding the Nebraska dominance of the 1990s, Tom Osborne’s teams struck fear into every opponent they faced. Carrying a rich legacy of pride, passion, and deep fanhood to new heights, Osborne’s Nebraska tenure is one of the best coaching performances of all time.
Osborne’s Titles: Nebraska (1994, 1995, 1997)
Knute Rockne – 3
The Notre Dame dynasty that began in the early stages of the 1900s was taken to the promise land by Rockne on three occasions. Rockne’s teams changed the game and the way we viewed football — and the way it was played. Rockne’s advancement of the forward pass is just one of his many accomplishments.
Rockne’s Titles: Notre Dame (1924, 1929, 1930)
Darrell Royal – 3
Darrell Royal’s legacy is carried on in the state of Texas, and in the city of Austin, as the Texas stadium is named after him. His three national championships changed the way the college football world viewed the Longhorns as a program, and he’ll forever be etched in the folklore of modern football.
Royal’s Titles: Texas (1963, 1969, 1970)
Barry Switzer – 3
Bringing the Oklahoma Sooners into the national spotlight yet again, the Barry Switzer-led teams were famous for their overall dominance, week in and week out. Before his success at the NFL level, Switzer left his mark on college football with three national championships and the highest-ever winning percentage for a coach.
Switzer’s Titles: Oklahoma (1974, 1975, 1985)
Pop Warner – 3
Far before the youth football league was named in his honor, Glen “Pop” Warner changed the way the game was seen and helped usher in the new era of football as we know it. Warner became the first coach to win national titles at multiple schools as success followed him everywhere he went.
Warner’s Titles: Pittsburgh (1916, 1918), Stanford (1926)
Bud Wilkinson – 3
Before Switzer, there was Bud Wilkinson. Leading the Oklahoma program to the highest of highs, Wilkinson won three national championships and was the pinnacle of excellence during the 1950s.
Wilkinson’s Titles: Oklahoma (1950, 1955, 1956)
