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Dan Devine
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Dan Devine is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
In addition to coaching the Green Bay Packers for four seasons in the 1970s, Devine also won the 1977 national championship while coaching at Notre Dame and the 1952 national championship as a Michigan State assistant under Clarence “Biggie” Munn.
Devine reportedly earned his first high school coaching job in Michigan via public bus travel and hitch-hiking. Devine then spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Michigan State and three years coaching Arizona State before traveling to Columbia to lead the Tigers from 1958-70.
Devine led Missouri to a Top 20 final ranking in nine different seasons and is the third-winningest coach in school history behind Don Faurot and Gary Pinkel.
In 1960, Devine led Missouri to the first of his two Big Eight championships, earning a No. 1 ranking late in the year. In line for a national championship, the Tigers lost in a big upset to Kansas. The Jayhawks later forfeited the game due to the fact that Bert Coan received ineligible benefits, but after winning the Orange Bowl, the Tigers finished the season 10-1 and ranked No. 5.
Devine’s teams also won the Bluebonnet Bowl (1962), Sugar Bowl (1965) and Gator Bowl (1968), never losing more than three games from 1960 to 1969. Devine finished 93-37-7 at Missouri, and his .704 winning percentage is by far the best in school history for any coach with more than 25 games.
Devine also served two stints as Missouri’s athletic director (1967-70, 1992-94).
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
