Since national polling began back in 1934, [strike]seventeen[/strike] eighteen head coaches have won multiple national championships as recognized by the sports writers (AP) or college football coaches (UPI, BCS, etc.):
Bear Bryant (Alabama): 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979
Bernie Bierman (Minnesota): 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941
Frank Leahy (Notre Dame): 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1953
John McKay (Southern Cal): 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978
Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma): 1950, 1955, 1956
Woody Hayes (Ohio State): 1954, 1957, 1968
Darrell Royal (Texas): 1963, 1969, 1970
Barry Switzer (Oklahoma): 1974, 1975, 1985
Tom Osborne (Nebraska): 1994, 1995, 1997
Red Blaik (Army): 1944, 1945
Ara Parseghian (Notre Dame): 1966, 1973
Bob Devaney (Nebraska): 1970, 1971
Joe Paterno (Penn State): 1982, 1986
Dennis Erickson (Miami): 1989, 1991
Bobby Bowden (Florida State): 1993, 1999
Pete Carroll (Southern Cal): 2003, 2004
Urban Meyer (Florida): 2006, 2008
Nick Saban (LSU, Alabama): 2003, 2009
On thirteen occasions, the multiple NC coaches won back-to-back championships, and on another five occasions, they won NC's separated by only one year. On [strike]seventeen[/strike] eighteen occasions, the NC's were separated by more than one year. This means that half of the time, coaches who won multiple NC's did so with "dynasty" teams.
The largest period from first NC to last NC is Bear Bryant (19 years, from 1961-1979).
The average period from first NC and last NC is less than eight years [strike](7.82)[/strike] (7.78), which means that head coaches have a very small window in which to achieve greatness.
Only eight of the [strike]seventeen[/strike] eighteen coaches who have won multiple NC's have done so during a period of eight years or longer ... and three of those eight won all of their NC's within a period of exactly eight years. Only five head coaches have been able to win multiple NC's over the course of a decade or more - Bryant (19 years), McKay (17 years), Hayes (15 years), Switzer (12 years), and Leahy (11 years) - and each of those head coaches won at least three national titles.
The largest period between any two NC's by the same coach is Woody Hayes (11 years, from 1957-1968).
The average period between any two NC's by the same head coach is less than four years [strike](3.31)[/strike] (3.39).
Only four times has a head coach gone seven or more years between NC's - Woody Hayes (11 years, see above), Barry Switzer (10 years, from 1975 to 1985), Bear Bryant (8 years, from 1965 to 1973), and Ara Parseghian (7 years, from 1966 to 1973) ... while the other 31 periods between NC's was seven years or less, with 18 of those 31 periods being only one year (back-to-back) or two years.
The largest period between first NC and second NC is seven years for Ara Parseghian (1966-1973), while the average period between first NC and second NC is just over three years [strike](3.06)[/strike] (3.22).
The 2009 season will be the seventh since Jim Tressel won his lone national championship. So, if Jim Tressel is going to win another national championship at Ohio State, he is probably going to have to do it soon, because at this point, the historical trends are decidedly starting to turn against him - (1) no coach has ever won his second NC more than seven years after his first NC, with the average gap being three years; (2) only four coaches have gone seven or more years between any two NC's, with the average gap being under four years; and (3) only eight coaches have gone eight or more years between their first NC and their final NC, and the average window during which coaches win NC's is about eight years.
2009 could be an interesting season in Columbus....
