In the wake of Joe Paterno's 400th win at Penn State yesterday afternoon -- I thought it was time to compare his 45-year career as a head coach, versus Knute Rockne's 13-years as a head coach at Notre Dame. So here we go:
Both are the all-time winningest football coach at their respective schools. Paterno's 400 wins are the most all-time for a head coach at a FBS school. Surprisingly, Rockne's 105 career wins are still the most for a head coach at the University of Notre Dame.
Paterno's overall winning percentage is .748 compared to Rockne's .882 -- which is still the all-time record for head coaches at FBS schools.
Both coaches have had five undefeated seasons, Paterno has 5 perfect seasons in his 45 seasons at Penn State while Rockne had 5 perfect seasons in his 13 seasons at Notre Dame.
Paterno has had five losing seasons in his 45 at Penn State. Rockne had only two seasons where his team lost more than one game in his 13 seasons at Notre Dame -- he never had a losing season.
In Paterno's 45 seasons at Penn State he's won two national championships -- Rockne won five national championships in his 13 seasons at Notre Dame.
Both are members of the College Football Hall of Fame; Paterno was inducted in 2007, Rockne was inducted in the Hall of Fame's charter class in 1951.
Rockne is credited with bringing the "forward pass" and the "shift" to college football. Paterno is credited for coaching the longest at one school.
So, there you have it -- a comparison of the coach with the most wins in college football history versus the greatest coach in college football history.
Please note -- to be fair, I didn't play the following cards in this comparison: "one had a President of the United States play him in a movie" or "one has his own US postage stamp" or "one had an automobile named after him" -- etc. Penn State fans -- I truly tried to play nice in this comparison! Here are the "wiki's" for these two coaches -- you'll enjoy reading up on both:
LINK: KNUTE ROCKNE -- WIKI
LINK: JOE PATERNO -- WIKI
