In an earlier era and different times.....Knute Rockne. In more recent times.......Bud Wilkinson it's interesting that almost everyone thinks about Bryant but only one mentions Royal. Yet Bryant never beat Royal.
That doesn't make him anything close to the best collegiate football coach ever. Sure he's had some good seasons, but he'd have to stick around a little longer to get that accolade. Same with Nick Saban.
I do think that if Nick Saban would have stayed throughout his career, he would have been better than ol' Bear.
Just a comment, not intended to be critical. One of my best friends is a former captain of bama's FB team under Bryant and one of Bryant's all time favorites. He told me that CB was a great recruiter and motivator but did not do much coaching during games. He said CB got to excited and out of control on the sidelines so Coach Stallings was the real game coach. I didn't believe that and thought my friend was pulling my leg. So he took me to a bama game and we sat on bama's bench right on the 50 and just a few yards behind CB's metal chair. During warmups and right up to kickoff, CB was as calm as any coach could be. I told my friend he had been lying to me. He said just wait until they kick off. Sure enough, the minute they did the opening kickoff, CB flung that metal chair, not even looking where it was going. He pranced the sideline the whole game like a wild man, holding a rolled up playbook in his hand but rarely looking at it. Meanwhile Coach Stallings was clearly running the show. I remember thinking that I hoped Stallings would never be the HC when Bryant retired. I wish I knew CB's record without Stallings and not including some of his earlier years at Maryland when he played some Athletic Clubs and even one or two high schools.
