The 12 Best College Football Coaches Never To Win a Title and Their 2011 Chances

Call them "wannabes," "almosts" or whatever you want: This list runs down the guys who have never quite reached the pinnacle of college football coaching success.

Oh yeah, they have enjoyed tremendous success within their respective conferences, and some have even come so close to making a title game they could taste it.

Unfortunately, they have all fallen short.

While none of them have quite gotten over the hump, this season presents new challenges and opportunities for them to try and climb to the very top of the heap.

This list runs them down, from 12 to one, with one slide dedicated to honorable mentions, and forecasts the prospects each one has of taking a title home next season.

Honorable Mention

Bronco Mendenhall, BYU

Kyle Whittingham, Utah

Tom O' Brien, N.C. State

Mike Riley, Oregon State

Bret Bielema, Wisconsin

Jeff Tedford, Cal

12. Pat Hill, Fresno State

Pat Hill has led the Bulldogs to a WAC title and a 108-71 record since taking over in 1997.

They have appeared in bowl games 11 times since he arrived, and his "Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime" mentality is definitely one that gained him a ton of respect.

While he has never even sniffed a national title, he is still a great coach, consistently getting his team a considerable amount of wins.

Besides, any coach with a 'stache like that deserves as much face time as he can get.

No chance for the Bulldogs in 2011, but a bowl game is a lock.

11. Butch Davis, North Carolina

Davis was so close to a shot at the title he could taste it in 2000. The Hurricanes finished 11-1 that season, and were snubbed by the BCS.

This was his last season with the 'Canes, after successfully navigating the mess created by previous coach Dennis Erickson.

He led Miami to four bowl wins, including a Sugar Bowl victory in that controversial 2000 season.

He has been head coach at UNC since 2007, leading them to bowl games in three of his four seasons.

This year's edition will threaten for the ACC title, but a championship is way out of reach for this team, even with the advantage of somewhat shady tactics...

10. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame

The annual Notre Dame hype-fest has been under way for some time now.

And people are not happy about it.

But cry all you want to—the Irish are legit.

Brian Kelly probably has more pressure on him than any coach in the country (except maybe Brady Hoke), and he has improved college football's most recognizable team to a position where a shot at the title is not unrealistic.

After winning two Big East titles at Cincinnati, and one MAC title at Central Michigan, it's pretty clear he knows how to recruit a winning squad and get the right performance out of them on the field.

His meteoric rise to college football's premier coaching job might be too dazzling for lesser men to handle, but Kelly is to handling pressure what "Willy Wonka" is to candy—he just knows how.

This year will test his mettle, and give him the opportunity to live up to inflated expectations.

The Irish are very good, and while a title shot is a realistic possibility, a one-loss appearance in a BCS game is more likely, but it won't be long before Kelly has his title.

9. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas

The guy may be the most hated man in Atlanta and Louisville, but he's a solid coach.

From '92-98, his fingerprints can be seen all over the most prolific offenses in the nation as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

From Arizona State to Nevada, and Utah State to Louisville, his offenses were electrifying.

After a brief stint in the NFL, he returned to college in 2002, taking over as offensive coordinator at Auburn.

He then took over as head coach at Louisville, leading the Cardinals to two conference titles, and an Orange Bowl triumph in '07.

Then came the whole "less than a year with the Atlanta Falcons" fling.

After that debacle, he returned to the college ranks. Arkansas has since been on the cusp of breaking out as a new player in the SEC power struggle.

A horrible call contributed to a loss to the top-ranked Gators in 2009, but 2010 saw the Razorbacks make a move toward college football's elite with their first BCS appearance.

Petrino finally has a team that can play some defense to balance his incredible offense, but trips to LSU and Alabama will derail any hope he has of winning a title in 2011...

8. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa

Ferentz takes solid players and churns out NFL material on a routine basis.

He consistently has the Hawkeyes in the thick of the Big Ten race, and has had to do so under the shadow of the legendary Hayden Fry.

Ferentz's Hawkeyes faltered last season after huge preseason expectations, but that is no reason to keep him of this list.

Since taking over as head coach in 1999, Ferentz has led Iowa to two Big Ten titles, a 6-3 record in bowl games and has earned National Coach of the Year honors once.

All that appears to be missing from this man's resume is the big one.

With the pressure off in '11, don't be surprised if the Hawkeyes make a run at the conference title yet again, but a national title is just a mite ambitious.

7. Mark Richt, Georgia

Ah, Coach Richt.

There are few coaches that cause such a defined division in fan opinion as this man.

Yet, if one stops to think about it, there are few more successful coaches in the country over the last 10 years not named Mayer, Saban, Miles, Urban or Tressel.

The Dawgs have won two Sugar Bowls and finished in the Top Three of the rankings twice during his tenure. They are 7-3 in postseason play, and have enjoyed incredible success during his time in Athens.

Unfortunately, he has never quite gotten over the hump that is that ever-elusive title.

In 2011, the Dawgs have a good shot coming out of the SEC East, missing conference juggernauts Alabama and LSU, but they will be exposed if they make it to the SEC title game.

No championship in Athens this season.

6. Chris Ault, Nevada

Chris Ault has led his teams to nine different conference titles.

He is 213-95-1 for his career. He is respected as an offensive scheme inventor and the man that took Nevada from D-II to D-I status.

His team was six points away from a shot at the BCS last season. He has been coaching since 1977, with a gap in 1993 and from 1996-2003.

And yet, he hasn't been able to guide his team to a championship.

The man commands respect, and if he continues to coach for a while longer, he may finally break through and take a title, but not this season.

5. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech

As evidenced in the picture, Johnson gets fired up about who is ordering the pizza after the game.

But seriously, the guy is a very good coach.

Georgia Tech has some violations to deal with, and you can read about them here.

All that being said, Johnson is a guy that will bring success to this football program. He won four I-AA championships at Georgia Southern, two as offensive coordinator and two as head coach.

He is one of only four coaches to achieve 50 wins in his first four seasons at that level.

He became head coach at Navy in 2002, going 11-1 in Commander-in-Chief competition play against other service academies, and posted Navy's first victory over Notre Dame in 44 years.

He won the "Bobby Dodd" Coach of the Year award in 2004, leading Navy to their first 10-win season since 1905.

He led Georgia Tech to a bowl game in each of his three seasons as head coach. However, the national title manages to stay just out of his grasp.

He may get one in time, but the chances are slim to none in 2011...

4. Chris Petersen, Boise State

No, that A&H title does not count.

And some of you may not agree with this one, but come on, give the man his due.

Whether you are a fan of the non-AQ schools and their agendas or not, Petersen has set himself apart as a great coach.

Petersen took over for Dan Hawkins at BSU in 2006, and since then has been tremendously successful.

Come on, the man is 61-5 in that time span—61-5! That's almost 94 percent of games ending with a "W" for the Broncos.

Pretty impressive.

That includes two Fiesta Bowl wins, three WAC championships and two Coach of the Year awards.

This season, the difficulty facing Petersen and the Broncos lies in a slightly tougher schedule.

While the MWC is definitely no "Murderer's Row," Air Force, TCU and San Diego State all have the talent and potential to knock off Boise State.

It's tough to see them running the table in '11.

3. Bill Snyder, Kansas State

Snyder, the "Old Man" of college football, took the school Sports Illustrated once dubbed "Futility U," and turned it around.

He has since coached the Wildcats from 1989-2005, then again from 2009 until the present.

During his time at KSU, he has taken the hapless Wildcats and won as many conference titles as they had in their entire existence to that point.

He took them to the Fiesta Bowl, enjoyed a string of seven straight bowl appearances and then retired. In his first season back, the Wildcats missed out on a bowl game, but he had them right back in 2010.

On a more personal note, he has five times won conference Coach of the Year honors, as well as the "Wlater Camp" and "Bear Bryant" Coach of the Year awards back in '98.

And still, a title manages to evade him.

2011 offers more of the same for Snyder: a decent team with a shot at a bowl game, and not much else.

2. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech

Does anyone hate Frank Beamer?

The man seems to be a stand-up guy, leading a tremendously successful program year after year.

He's consistent. But he is consistently one step below the elite in the college football world.

Beamer took over the Hokies program back in 1987, and over the last 18 seasons the Hokies have finished inside the Top 25 16 times.

He has led them to seven conference titles, and he boasts a career record of 240-118-4.

Virginia Tech has appeared in 18 consecutive bowl games with Beamer at the helm, and yet, he still can't bring home a title.

With the resurgence of Florida State and the talent at schools such as Maryland, Clemson and Miami, he will have a difficult time getting one in '11—but hey, stranger things have happened...

1. Gary Patterson, TCU

What does this guy have to do to get noticed?

There was very little national buzz around Patterson prior to the 2010 season, and you still rarely hear him talked about after going undefeated in 2010 and winning the Rose Bowl.

That's two BCS bowls in a row for the Horned Frogs.

Patterson is not only one of the best, but one of the most underrated coaches in the country.

He has a taken a sub-par, non-AQ squad from the MWC, and turned them into a serious contender for the title, while winning numerous honors and leading the Frogs to a 98-28 record.

So what are his chances this year?

Not very good.

The Frogs have to travel to Boise State, where almost nobody wins, and Air Force and San Diego State are both better than they have been in a long time.

The losses on the offensive line and of star QB Andy Dalton will be too much to overcome this season.