Why I Was Wrong in Saying that Joe Pa is the Winningest Coach

Some may remember a few months ago that I wrote an impassioned argument as to why Joe Pa should retain the crown as winningest Division IA coach. This argument had everything to do with 21 wins Bobby Bowden had at Howard College (now Samford) and the injustice of counting those toward his overall win total. Well, while I may still find it unjust, I cannot say any longer that it was against the rules.

Upon trolling the Internet and researching this issue further, I found that the NCAA does indeed have a rule to cover this (and my questions about either Eddie Robinson or John Gagliardi coaching a Division IA game to get the record). The NCAA rules allow all prior wins to be counted if the coach coaches ten years at the Division IA level. Therefore, if ER or JG ever had coached/will coach a DIA program for 10 years, all of their prior wins would be counted toward their overall DIA win total.

While I may debate the fairness of this rule, and its future applicability now that there are clear divisions in college football (which there were not when Bobby Bowden was at Howard), the fact remains that the rules do indeed explaign why Bobby gets credit for those 21 wins.

All that's left to me is to say I was wrong, and that I hope Penn State keeps moving up and FSU keeps moving down. A couple more 1 loss seasons for my boys balanced by a couple more 5 loss seasons for the Seminoles will catapult JoePa back into first place again.