Joe Paterno has won a record 394 major college football games heading into this season, his 45th as Penn State’s head coach.
With Bobby Bowden retired, Paterno’s record is in no danger of being passed any time soon. In fact, a case could be made that it’s a record that will never be broken. In these days of multimillion dollar contracts and 24/7 responsibilities, why would a guy want to coach until he’s 80?
How safe is the record? Here are six of the best coaches and why they don’t have a shot.
Mack Brown, Texas. The 59-year-old has 208 major college wins and no coach has more job security. Unless something strange happens, he’ll leave when he wants to leave _ and when he does it won’t be for another job. But he’d need 10 wins per season for the next 20 to have a shot to pass Paterno.
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma. Turns 50 a few days after this season starts. He has 117 victories in 11 seasons with the Sooners (almost 11 per season). At that rate he’d still be short after 25 more seasons. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Stoops give the NFL a shot one day.
Urban Meyer, Florida. In nine seasons with three schools, the 46-year-old Meyer has won 96 games with an .842 winning percentage. But considering he resigned for about 24 hours in December because of health issues, it’s unfathomable to think he’d go 30 more years.
Jim Tressel, Ohio State. A year younger than Brown, he’s got almost as much job security and 229 victories. But only the 94 he has won at Ohio State count as major college wins. The rest came when he was ripping up I-AA with Youngstown State. So even if Tressel was inclined to stick around for another 20 years or so he couldn’t track down JoePa.
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech. Similar situation to Tressel. He also has 229 victories, but only 187 came in I-A. And he’s 63 years old.
Nick Saban, Alabama. Turns 59 this season and has 124 victories. To get to 410 before the age of 80, he’d have to average 14.3 wins per season over the next 20. And you know there’s at least a few Alabama fans who will read that and say, “I think he’s got a shot.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.