Pac-12 Football: The Best Coaches in Conference History

They say the Pac-12 Conference is the "Conference of Champions." With numerous national championships and storied seasons throughout the conference's history, there is no doubt about it.

Many head coaches, especially at USC, have made the Pac-12 Conference the success it is today.

Here are the greatest Pac-12 football coaches of all time.

Honorable Mention: Glenn "Pop" Warner

Record at Stanford: 71-17-8

Okay, this is maybe a little before the Pac-8/10/12 days, but one can't ignore how significant Glenn "Pop" Warner's coaching career was.

Among Warner's numerous stops was Stanford, where he spent nine seasons from 1924 to 1932.  Warner won three Pacific Coast Conference titles in Palo Alto, along with a national championship in 1926.

Warner finished his coaching years with an incredible 319-106-32 record from 1895 through 1938.

No. 5: John Robinson

Record at USC: 104-35-4

John Robinson was the head coach at USC for two separate tenures, from 1976 to 1982 and from 1993 to 1997.

With the Trojans, Robinson went 8-1 in bowl games, which included four Rose Bowl victories. USC also won the national championship under Robinson in 1978.

After his career at USC, Robinson became the head coach at UNLV from 1999 to 2004. He is currently the defensive coordinator at San Marcos High School in San Marcos, Calif.

No. 4: Don James

Record at Washington: 153-57-2

After a four-season tenure at Kent State, Don James became one of the longest-tenured coaches in conference history at Washington, staying for 18 seasons from 1975 to 1992.

James won six conference titles and one national title, in 1991, with the Huskies. He was also the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year in 1991.

Additionally, James had a 10-4 bowl record in Seattle, with four of those victories in Rose Bowls.

No. 3: Terry Donahue

Record at UCLA: 151-74-8

In contrast to the quick tenures in Westwood by Karl Dorrell and Rick Neuheisel, it has not always been that way at UCLA. Terry Donahue coached the Bruins for 20 seasons from 1976 to 1995.

Donahue wasn't short of success at UCLA either. He won five conference titles along with three Rose Bowl victories. He was also the Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1993.

Donahue was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

No. 2: Pete Carroll

Record at USC: 83-19

The most recent coach on the list, Pete Carroll led the USC Trojans to become one of the most dominant teams in the 2000s.

Carroll won seven conference titles and two BCS national championships, in 2003 and 2004, and he finished in the Top Four of the final AP poll each season from 2002 to 2008.

However, Carroll's legacy at USC took a hit as a result of the Reggie Bush scandal.

Carroll is currently the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

No. 1: John McKay

Record at USC: 127-40-8

The third and final USC coach on the list, John McKay, is a two-time Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year who brought the program unprecedented consistent success matched by very few other programs in college football.

Under McKay, the Trojans made eight Rose Bowls, winning five of them. McKay also led USC to four national championships in only 16 seasons in Los Angeles, along with nine AAWU/Pac-8 titles.

McKay also took over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976 to 1984.

With these huge accomplishments, there is no doubt John McKay is the greatest to ever coach in the Pac-12 Conference.