In honor of the 150th season of college football, ESPN ranked the 150 greatest coaches the game has ever seen.
Georgia, which has been playing football since 1892, has had a number of great ones in its storied history, and ESPN included them on its list.
At No. 1 on the list is Alabama’s Bear Bryant, followed by Nick Saban at No. 2.
If you’re a fan of college football who enjoys the history of the game, I recommend reading through ESPN’s article. There’s a lot to learn in it.
Multiple Georgia coaches made the rankings, but there were three who made it solely for what they accomplished as head coach at Georgia.
Here is every coach with Georgia ties that made the list.
No. 11: Glenn “Pop” Warner
The first Georgia coach to make the list is Glenn “Pop” Warner, who is No. 11. Don’t be fooled, though, Warner is not on this list for what he accomplished at Georgia, as he was only in Athens for one year, accumulating a record of 7-4.
ESPN:
Under Warner, Carlisle Indian Industrial School rose to national prominence on the athletic prowess of Jim Thorpe. Warner is credited with three national titles, two at Pittsburgh and one at Stanford. He is also credited with creating the double-wing formation, three-point stance, the hidden-ball trick and many other innovations.
No. 24: Vince Dooley
Legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley, who coached the Bulldogs from 1964-88, checked in as the 24th greatest collegiate coach ever.
Dooley was Georgia’s head football coach for 27 years. His record of 201-77-10, included a bowl record of 8-10-2. He won SEC Championships in 1966, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1981, and 1982 and the the National Championship in 1980.
On Dooley, ESPN had this to say:
He arrived in Athens in 1964 to no fanfare, a 31-year-old freshman coach from Auburn who did nothing to lift the spirits of the dispirited Dawg fans. A year later, when Georgia upset defending national champion Alabama 18-17, they realized that Dooley may know how to coach. He retired after a quarter-century in which he won six SEC titles and, thanks to a magical freshman tailback named Herschel Walker, won the 1980 national championship.
His tenure at Georgia included 25 years as athletic director — 10 years while head coach of the football team and for an additional 15 years after he stepped down as football coach. Georgia won 23 National Championships and 78 SEC Championships in all sports during his time as athletic director, though that obviously did not go into consideration in the ESPN rankings. He oversaw major upgrades and expansions of the athletic and student-athlete facilities.
After head Georgia football coach Johnny Griffith stepped down following the 1963 season, in stepped Coach Dooley to assume the position in Athens.
It did not start out great, but did not take long for Dooley to win his first SEC Title in 1966. In 1968, he won his second conference championship after an 8-1-2 season that saw the Litkenhouse poll name Georgia as national champions. In 1976, Dooley won his third SEC title since taking over as head coach.
And then, a few years after, Dooley pulled off the greatest recruiting win in the history of college football when he secured a commitment from Herschel Walker. From 1980-to-1983, Georgia had a record of 43-4-1, won three straight SEC Championships and won the program’s second consensus national championship in 1980.
Dooley retired from coaching following Georgia’s 1989 Gator Bowl victory over Michigan State. He remained on as athletic director for an additional 15 years and in 1994 Dooley was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
No. 100: Erk Russell
Erk Russel made the list for what he accomplished as head coach at Georgia Southern, but before he took over in Stateboro he was the mastermind behind a number of ferocious Georgia defenses.
From ESPN:
Russell left his long-time perch as defensive coordinator for Vince Dooley at Georgia to restart the dormant program in Statesboro, Georgia. From nothing, the Eagles quickly became a dominant force in Division I-AA football. In five seasons (1985-89), they made it to four national championship games, winning three.
No. 111: Wally Butts
At No. 111 is Wally Butts, who was responsible for bringing Georgia its first national championship in 1942.
ESPN:
Butts led the Bulldogs to four SEC titles and five bowl wins, including victories in the Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls. He coached Frank Sinkwich to the Heisman Trophy in 1942, when the Bulldogs went 11-1 and beat UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Frank Leahy called Butts “football’s finest passing coach.”
Wally Butts coached at Georgia from 1939-60. In 1938, Butts – a native of Milledgeville and graduate of Mercer – came to Georgia as an assistant under then-head coach Joel Hunt. Butts was hired at Georgia after only losing 10 games in 10 years coaching high school football at Georgia. Following Georgia’s 5-4-1 season in 1938, Hunt left UGA to become head coach at Wyoming, leaving Butts as the new head coach at Georgia, a post he would hold for 21 years. Butts’ first two seasons at Georgia did not yield much success, going a combined 10-10-1. However, in 1941, Butts and the Bulldogs began to take a step in the right direction, finishing with a mark of 9-1-1.
After that came 1942. Georgia had two players by the names of Frank Sinkwich and Charley Trippi, regarded as the two best players in college football at the time. Behind Sinkwich and Trippi, Georgia was able to finish 11-1, including a Rose Bowl win over UCLA. The Bulldogs were named national champions of the 1942 season – a season that includes Georgia’s largest margin of victory of Florida, 75-0.
World War 2 resulted in a depleted Georgia roster that struggled to win many games over the course of the next few seasons. Trippi returned during 1945, and he and quarterback Johnny Rauch led the Bulldogs to an 11-0 record in 1946 that saw the Williamson poll name the Dawgs national champions.
In 1959, Butts, helped out by quarterback Fran Tarkenton, guided Georgia to another SEC Championship, his fourth of his career. He retired after the 1960 season, leaving Georgia with a record of 140-86-9. In 1973, Butts passed away in Athens, Georgia, and in 1997 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
No. 136: Mark Richt
The most recent Georgia coach to make the list is Mark Richt, who found his way onto the list at No. 136.
In 2001, Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley took a shot on Florida State quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Mark Richt to become the new head coach in Athens. Richt, a former Miami quarterback, had been at Florida State for 15 years, taking one year off to coach at East Carolina in the late 1980s. Brought back by legendary Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden, Richt guided the FSU offense to the top of college football. Richt coached six FSU quarterbacks to the NFL, including Heisman winners Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke.
ESPN had this to say on the former Bulldog coach:
Longevity in the SEC is hard to come by, but Richt earned a long run at Georgia by going 145-52 in 15 seasons. In that span, he won two conference championships, made five SEC title game appearances, posted nine 10-win seasons and developed 14 first-round picks.
In 2001, Richt’s first season at Georgia, the Bulldogs were only able to win 8 games, yet it was obvious things were trending upward in Athens. Richt’s first season at Georgia featured a win over a top-five Volunteers team on the road (Hobnail Boot).
In 2002 under Richt, Georgia began its ascension towards becoming a consistent college football powerhouse. The Bulldogs finished the year 13-1, which included an SEC Championship win over Arkansas and a win over his former Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl.
In 2005, Georgia won yet another SEC Championship. With star quarterback D.J. Shockley under center, the Bulldogs delivered a beatdown over LSU in Atlanta. Richt had won two SEC titles in his first five years at Georgia.
Richt came close to returning to the top of the SEC on a couple more occasions as well. In 2011, Georgia rebounded from an 0-2 start to finish the regular season with 10 straight wins. The Dawgs jumped out to a great first half vs LSU in the SEC Championship but were unable to finish the drill in the second half. The following year, Richt produced maybe his best team while at Georgia. The 2012 Bulldogs featured Aaron Murray, Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall, Tavarres King, Arthur Lynch, Jarvis Jones, Alec Ogletree, Shawn Williams, Bacarri Rambo, etc. However, the Dawgs fell just short to Alabama in the SEC Championship, a game that had Georgia won, the Bulldogs would have likely cruised to a national title win over an overrated Notre Dame.
Following the 2015 season, a year that saw Georgia finish with 10 wins, Richt was let go from his post at Georgia. He returned to Miami to assume to the position of head coach at The U. Richt is currently retired from coaching football and enjoying life in South Florida.
