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Eddie Robinson had "only" 154 wins as a Division I head coach. At least that's as far as I can tell. As far as I can tell the Tigers were Division II, college Division, etc., until 1977 when they spent one year as Division I before I-AA was born. Then I assume they became I-AA. Anyway Grambling won 154 games 1977 - 1997 (Robinson's last year).

I just don't think it's right to call him the all time winningest Division I coach when 36 of his 57 years as a coach and 254 of his 408 wins came before Grambling competed in Division I for the first time. Calling him that because of his Division II and such wins is like this would be:

The University of Minnesota decides to engage in a publicity stunt so it hires John Gagliardi, the winningest college football coach of all time, away from Division III St. Johns of Minnesota to be head coach. As soon as they hire him he's the "winningest" Division I coach of all time by the standards people are using to declare Robinson as such. But if they want to make sure they can let him coach one game then give him a nice big retirement package. Then they can for sure lay claim to the University of Minnesota having had the winningest Division I college football coach of all time!

Calling Eddie Robinson the winningest Division I coach of all time is ridiculous. Without looking it up I'm very confident that he's not even in the top 10 in terms of wins as a Division I coach and I'd be surprised if he's in the top 20. This nonsense has got to stop.

And if you count the wins Bobby Bowden had at non-D1 schools he has 411 victories (even after the NCAA took some form him at FSU)

clenz wrote:And if you count the wins Bobby Bowden had at non-D1 schools he has 411 victories (even after the NCAA took some form him at FSU)

Wow I didn't know that. Can you provide a reference?

JohnStOnge wrote:

clenz wrote:And if you count the wins Bobby Bowden had at non-D1 schools he has 411 victories (even after the NCAA took some form him at FSU)

Wow I didn't know that. Can you provide a reference?

Bobby Bowden....on the Dan Patrick Show (I believe, may have been on ESPN)....Yesterday

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I checked around today and it wasn't hard to find coaches that have more wins as Division I head coaches than Robinson does. Let's say Robinson has 154 like I think. It's going to be close to that.

Bobby Bowden has 346. Mac Brown has 227. Frank Beamer has 209. Steve Spurrier 197. Bear Bryant 323. Joe Paterno still has 298. Tom Osborne 255. Bo Schembechler 234. Woody Hayes 219. Barry Switzer 157.

On the I-AA/FCS level Jerry Moore has 207 wins as coach of a I-AA/FCS program. He's also got 234 total as a Division I coach because he coached at North Texas when they were Division I in the 70s and at Texas Tech. Tubby Raymond has 172 wins as a I-AA coach.

It's just ridiculous to call Eddie Robinson the winningest Division I coach in history. I'm sure I can keep looking other coaches up. But if you do it in an "honest" way Bobby Bowden is the winningest Division I coach in history and Eddie Robinson is well down in the pack. WELL down.

It's making him out to be something he wasn't. And it'd be the same if we were calling ANY coach that spent the majority of his career in lower divisions, rang up a bunch of wins in those lower divisions, then got them counted towards what he did as a Division I coach (which is effectively what's happening).

Again...somebody hires St. Johns of Minnesota's coach at a Division I school and that school instantaneously has the "winningest Division I coach of all time" by that reckoning even before he coaches his first Division I game because, well, now he's a Division I coach.

It's nuts. I mean, heck, why not count the games they won as high school and elementary school coaches too? Really. When I hear someone say "winningest high school coach" I'm thinking they're talking about wins while he was a high school coach. If they say "winningest NFL coach" I'm thinking they're talking about wins while he was a NFL coach. And when someone says "winningest Division I coach" it's reasonable to think they're talking about...and they SHOULD be talking about...wins while he was a Division I coach.