The Sporting News came out with a poll rating the greaterst coaches of all time, regardless of sport. Here are the Top 10:

1. John Wooden
2. Vince Lombardi
3. Bear Bryant
4. Phil Jackson
5. Don Shula
6. Red Auerbach
7. Scotty Bowman
8. Dean Smith
9. Casey Stengel
10. Knute Rockne

As with players, it's hard to compare coaches of different eras and different sports. But all in all, the list is a pretty good one.

I would take off your list Don Shula and Knut Rockne
and add two indiviual sports manager - Bob Kersee, women's track and Lou Duva - boxing Manager

Equally deserving are
1. Joe McCarthy
2. Fielding Yost
3. Woody Hayes
4. Bo Schembechler
5. Joe Paterno

There are some guys coaching today who may deserve to be on a list like this at some future point.

-- Modified on 7/30/2009 9:58:16 AM

Paterno is ranked 13th, McCarthy is 22nd, Hayes is 27th, Schembechler is 36th, Yost is not in the top 50.

Hmmm ... Pat Summitt comes in at #11.  While she is the only woman on the top 50 list, she deserves a spot in the top 10.

Yeah, I would put her ahead of Rockne.

Complete article in link.  Take the time to breeze thru the comments.

The absense of coaches like Dan Gable (Iowa westling) and Al Scates (UCLA volleyball) as highlighted by some of the posters really call to question the accuracy of this kind of list.

Yost's record speaks for itself - check it out!  In addition to starting the Michigan tradition, he was also an architect who designed and created Michigan Stadium.  While he and Rockne disliked each other, he nevertheless gave Rockne the plans for Michigan Stadium, which Notre Dame copied when they built Notre Dame Stadium (i.e., Michigan Stadium lite).  The only difference is the placement of the tunnel - Notre Dame follwed the original plan and put it in the endzone, whereas Yost altered his original plan and put it at midfield.  Other than that, the two stadiums are virtually identical, at least they were before Michigan started to reburbish the Big House a year ago.

But Yost's teams between 1901-1905 were amazing, particularly the 1901 team.  Yeah, it's a long time ago, but it did an incredible amount to popularize football in this country.

who made up the list!

But lets be honest, that era did not even have the forward pass.  It the difficulty of comparing era

-- Modified on 7/30/2009 10:37:58 AM

I AM a Michigan fan, but you have to compare what a guy did in his era.  True, there was no forward pass back then, and the football they played resembled Rugby League more than the current day American football.  But Yost's Michigan teams back then were ASTOUNDING.  In 1901, Michigan was 11-0 and scored 550 points.  Their opponents scored ZERO!  At the end of the season, Michigan was invited out to California to play Stanford, at the time regarded as the best team in America.
This was the FIRST Rose Bowl.  Michigan was winning 49-0 in the third quarter when Stanford asked to end the game.  Michigan's victory was so dominating that they didn't play another Rose Bowl until 1916, and Michigan wasn't invited out there again until 1948, when they beat USC 49-0.  The headline in the Michigan Daily (a very good student newspaper, I might add) after that Rose Bowl said "MICHIGAN WINS 49-0.  SHOWS NO IMPROVEMENT!"  After the 1948 Rose Bowl, the AP held another vote for college football rankings, and Michigan was a clearcut choice for #1.  Notre Dame had been voted #1 before the Rose Bowl was played, and to this day both schools claim they won the National Championship in 1947.  

At any rate, to continue a bit more with Michigan history, Yost's teams did not lose a game until 1905.  Michigan that year scored 495 points, and their opponents scored 2.  Unfortunately, Michigan lost the final game of the year 2-0 to Chicago, which ended an incredible run.  Those teams did a lot to popularize college football, and among other things developed the concept of a linebacker in football.

-- Modified on 7/30/2009 12:58:49 PM

Don Shula should be replaced on the list by Chuck Noll.  Losing four Super Bowls doesn't earn you a spot in the top 10.

There never was (or probably will be) a dynasty close to Wooden's.

Chuck Noll wouldn't be successful today in the era of drug testing.