So we might’ve rustled some feathers with a social media post regarding the top college football coaches to come out of West Virginia. The fun part? It was an opinion. Read more: Best of the rest: Mountain State coaching tree.
Here you’ll find some recognition for the best of the rest, including a handful of legends who helped shape college football.
The Bowdens
Bobby Bowden is remembered as one of the all-time greats in WVU lore, and especially at Florida State. Despite roots in Alabama, Bobby, as well as his sons Tommy and Terry, cut their teeth in the greater Morgantown area.
Tommy played wide receiver for the Mountaineers (1973-1976) before serving as a graduate assistant under his father, Bobby, for a year.
Related: Ranking WVU’s five biggest games on the 2026 schedule
He finally took a head coaching job in 1997-98, leading Tulane to a Conference USA title. He won C-USA Coach of the Year for his efforts. Tommy is best remembered in coaching for his stint at Clemson, where he won ACC Coach of the Year honors in 1999 and 2003.
Terry Bowden played running back for WVU (1977-1978) and went on to have a respected coaching career in his own right. Terry picked up three bowl wins in five appearances across several stops, most notably at Auburn.
That’s a football family.
Ben Schwartzwalder
The Point Pleasant native is a legend in Syracuse Athletics.
Schwartzwalder led the Orange to victory in the 1959 National Championship and developed some of football’s greatest running backs along the way. He coached the likes of Jim Brown and Larry Csonka, among others.
The College Football Hall-of-Famer’s greatest contributions came off the field, however. Schwartzwalder parachuted into Normandy on D-Day in World War II, ranking as a US Army Captain by the end of his time in the military.
John McKay
Sticking with the College Football HOF trend, McKay led USC to four National Championship wins. The Trojans took home the gold in 1962, 1967, 1972, and 1974.
McKay is responsible for one of the great runs in college football history, making USC a giant in the game’s landscape. Winning four titles in any sport is no small feat, especially with the same program (1960-1975).
The Everettville native also played for and coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Fielding Yost
The Godfather of Michigan Sports.
Fielding Yost should be on the Mount Rushmore of coaches in the sport. The six-time national champion and innovative mastermind was the catalyst for the Wolverines on the gridiron.
The WVU grad won the inaugural Rose Bowl in his first season in Ann Arbor, if that tells you anything. Winning 10 Big 1o/Western Conference titles and 198 games in the process helps, too.
Yost went on to become Michigan’s Athletic Director in 1921 after two decades of coaching. The Elkview native was posthumously inducted into the CFHOF in 1951.
Sideline excellence
This is the fun part of sports media. Opinions are up for interpretation, after all. What can’t be denied, however, is the impact these coaches made.
What they have in common, if I were to guess, is the grit that is buried in every West Virginian. It’s part of the Mountain State and the people within it.
Total the success between the coaches listed in the first “top five” video and this article…
Related: Nick Saban’s Mountain State coaching tree and the rise of Curt Cignetti
There are 19 national championship wins with roots running throughout the rolling hills of West Virginia.
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