The Best College Football Books: A Comprehensive Guide
College football boasts a rich and complex history, filled with iconic moments, influential figures, and compelling narratives. While the internet offers a wealth of information, the depth and context found in books remain unparalleled. Whether you're a casual fan or a die-hard enthusiast, there's a college football book out there to captivate you.
Understanding College Football History
For those seeking a comprehensive understanding of the sport's evolution, "Forward Progress: The Definitive Guide to the Future of College Football" by Bill Connelly stands out. It is set to be released on Sept. 2. Connelly's book examines the major forces and conflicts that have shaped college football, with particular attention to the most important issues from the birth of the game to World War II and beyond.
Another valuable resource is "From Interstate to Television: A Political History of the NCAA" by Jim L. Dunnavant. This book delves into the profound impact of television on college football, exploring the unintended consequences of its rise, from the creation of the NCAA investigative arm to conference realignment. Dunnavant's work is both compelling and accessible, making it a must-read for anyone interested in the modern era of college football.
Integration and Social Change
College football's history is intertwined with the broader social and political landscape of the United States. Several books shed light on the struggles and triumphs of integration in the sport.
"The Right Thing to Do: The True Pioneers of College Football Integration" by Tom Shanahan addresses the official racial quota system in the 1960s college football world and the "Conspiracy of Silence" in the sports press, avoiding any mention of racial politics. Shanahan compiles the stories of groundbreaking college football pioneers and the coaches who fought for integration.
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Michigan State's role in integrating college football is highlighted in multiple works. Michigan State’s Underground Railroad led college football integration in the 1960s. The chief engineer was Willie Ray Smith Sr., a Texas high school coach and father of Bubba Smith, Michigan State’s College Football Hall of Fame player. Willie Ray Smith drives the Underground Railroad, winding through the segregated South as he picks up players for Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty. His peers considered Michigan State’s Duffy Daugherty a pioneer, but the true extent of his impact on college football integration is still being discovered. Michigan State players represented an overwhelming 41 percent share of Black players throughout the nation to win a 1960s national championship ring, according to the titles voted upon by AP (writers) and United Press International.
"Raye of Light" is the first book to fully explain Duffy Daugherty’s Underground Railroad and its impact on college football. History has not accorded Daugherty, Raye, and the Spartans proper credit for their roles in the integration of college football. In his junior season in 1966, Raye was Michigan State’s first black starting quarterback and the first black quarterback from the South to win a national title. It’s been 50 years since Raye and his teammates made history, and issues of race still reverberate in college and pro football, both on the playing field and on coaching staffs. Bubba Smith is the most famous of Duffy Daugherty’s Underground Railroad passengers,” but Jimmy Raye was the most socially significant. He was a pioneer black college quarterback, a pioneer black college assistant coach, a pioneer black NFL assistant coach and one of the first black coordinators in the NFL in 1983 as the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator.
The story of Jerry LeVias, Warren McVea and Leon Burton are major figures in college football history, but their accomplishments aren’t widely celebrated these days, even at their alma maters. The stories of these groundbreaking college football pioneers and the coaches who fought for integration-led by Michigan State’s Duffy Daugherty and his coaching tree, featuring the likes of Dan Devine, Chuck Fairbanks and Bill Yeoman-are compiled for the first time in The Right Thing to Do: The True Pioneers of College Football Integration.
Student activism was key to progress in the Civil Rights Era, and that trend was reflected on the college football front-even when coaches did not respond well to activism. Sportswriters were unwilling to report on such efforts, such as when Colorado’s 1961 Big Eight champions declined an invitation to the Orange Bowl, wanting assurances that every player-Black and white alike-would be staying at the same hotels and eating at the same restaurants, practices not taking place in the segregated South.
HBCU Football History
Many college football history books tend to tell the history of the sport, especially in the early years of the sport, primarily through the eyes of the players, coaches, journalists, and administrators at the biggest profile programs. That means there can be some real treasure of the contributions, and struggles, of black college football players. There weren’t too many of them suiting up for Princeton and Yale back in the day, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t playing, weren’t watching, weren’t innovating, and weren’t struggling with some of the same arguments and scandals that the rest of college football battled with.
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For a deeper understanding of the history of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) football, consider reading "Jake Gaither: America's First Black College Football Coach" by George White. White’s book is a great premier on some of the greatest minds and teams in HBCU football, particularly Florida A&M’s Jake Gaither. Gaither didn’t just build a powerhouse program, he built an institution, one that trained coaches, grew HBCU football, and struggled with the best way to participate in the civil rights movement. The teams in most of this book are pretty old. But the struggles and questions? Very contemporary.
Program-Specific Histories
For fans who want to delve into the history of specific programs, there are numerous options available. One example is "Miami Hurricanes: The Rise and Fall of the 'U'" by Bruce Feldman. Miami has one of the most fascinating histories of any college football program. The school’s history is loaded with huge personalities, from their head coaches to the players. They’ve been enormously influential, both on the field and off. They’re sort of like college football plus. Whatever trend is happening across the sport, it’s happening three times as powerfully and passionately at Miami. When the stands are empty, whoo, they get empty at Miami. When there is a scandal, there’s a scandal. But when the team is rocking on the field, there aren’t many other places where the meld between city and school has been more powerful. Which is interesting, because unlike a lot of powerhouses, Miami kind of became a national power on accident. Nobody is better equipped to tell that story than Feldman, one of the most connected and insightful voices in college football media. I’ve enjoyed several of Feldman’s books, but this one might be my favorite. It’s a real page-turner that is technically about the Miami Hurricanes…but you can’t really talk about the Canes without talking about a bunch of other really fascinating stuff too.
Feldman, one of the most connected and insightful voices in college football media, explores the program's unique culture and its impact on the sport.
Statistical Analysis and Modern Approaches
In recent years, statistical analysis has become an increasingly important tool for understanding college football. Bill Connelly's "Study Hall" is an entry point to what those stats are, and most importantly, how they can be used to tell stories and better understand what we’re seeing on the field. There are great interviews and great essays in here, and despite some math, it’s a very accessible book that you can finish in just a few days.
Anecdotal and Entertaining Reads
For those looking for a more lighthearted and entertaining read, consider "College Football's 50 Greatest Games" by Robert Weinreb. Weinreb does a great job tying personal essays together with college football history, weaving a compelling, funny narrative that’s hard to put down. I mean this with great praise…this book feels like a long, excellent, blog post. Blogs are good! You like them too! So you’ll probably like this book.
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The Need for Central Leadership
The absence of a central authority in college football has been a recurring topic of discussion. In "Forward Progress," Bill Connelly explores whether the sport needs central leadership like professional leagues.
Throughout the decades the only thing everyone has seemingly agreed on in this sport is the need for a commissioner figure."Charley Trippi, one of the all-time greats in college and professional football … said college football today needs a national commissioner to direct the game on a national basis. Trippi … charged that the National Collegiate Athletic Association is 'controlled by the Big Ten.' He said he felt no conference in the nation should have any kind of monopoly in the game." -- Macon News, 1958"You don't think we need a commissioner and a set of rules to make things even? We're the only sport in America that doesn't have the same set of rules for everybody that plays … Everybody goes to their own neighborhood and makes their own little rules." -- Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher, 2016"I think there's a perception with the public that perhaps college football doesn't have its act together because there are so many different entities pulling in different directions." -- former Baylor head coach Grant Teaff, 1994"… If you're biased by a specific conference or if you're impacted by making all your decisions based on revenue and earnings, then we're never going to get to a good place." -- Penn State head coach James Franklin, 2024"What this business needs is a commissioner who has the best interest of the game in mind. There needs to be somebody who creates a structure in which people just don't cannibalize each other. … The NCAA president doesn't have any legal authority to do much, in his defense, because they've given away that authority over the course of the last 60 years." -- West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck, 2011"I think we need to have a … commissioner. I think football should be separate from the other sports. Just because our school is leaving to go to the Big Ten in football … our softball team should be playing Arizona in softball. Our basketball team should be playing Arizona in basketball. … And they'll say, well, how do you do that? Well, Notre Dame's independent in football, and they're in a conference in everything else. I think we should all be independent in football. You can have a 64-team conference that's in the Power 5, and you can have a 64-team conference that's in the Group of 5, and we separate, and we play each other. You can have the West Coast teams, and every year we play seven games against the West Coast teams and then we play the East -- we play Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia -- and then the next year you play against the South while you still play your seven teams. You play a seven-game schedule, you play four against another conference opponent, division opponent, and you can always play against one Mountain West team every year so we can still keep those rivalries going. … But I think if you went together collectively, as a group, and said there's 132 teams and we all share the same TV contract, so that the Mountain West doesn't have one and the Sun Belt doesn't have another and the SEC another, that we all go together, that's a lot of games, and there's a lot of people in the TV world that would go through it. … But I think if we still do the same and take all that money … that money now needs to be shared with the student-athletes, and there needs to be revenue sharing, and the players should get paid, and you get rid of [NIL], and the schools should be paying the players because the players are what the product is. And the fact that they don't get paid is really the biggest travesty. Not that I've thought about it." -- UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, 2023
The idea of a college football commissioner is not new. In 1920, professional baseball was in crisis. The Black Sox scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox -- star outfielder "Shoeless Joe" Jackson; co-aces Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams; four other starters (first baseman Chick Gandil, shortstop Swede Risberg, third baseman Buck Weaver, and outfielder Happy Felsch); and a key backup infielder (Fred McMullin) -- were indicted and accused of throwing the 1919 World Series, had, along with allegations of other fixed games, shaken the sport to its core. Baseball had been governed by a National Commission consisting of three parties with extreme self-interest: National League president John Heydler, American League president Ban Johnson, and Garry Herrmann, president of the Cincinnati Reds team that had beaten the White Sox in the World Series. Its leadership proved lacking in this moment, and its questionable independence severely damaged perceptions. Herrmann resigned from the commission in 1920, and the commissioners couldn't agree on a new third member.
In early October 1920, days before the start of that season's World Series between the Brooklyn Robins and Cleveland Indians, leaders of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates proposed a tribunal of, in the words of the New York Times, "three of America's biggest men, with absolute power over both major and minor leagues." A letter sent to every major and minor baseball club said, "If baseball is to continue to exist as our national game (and it will) it must be with the recognition on the part of club owners and players that the game itself belongs to the American people, and not to either owners or players."The letter stated that "the present deplorable condition in baseball has been brought about by the lack of complete supervisory control of professional baseball," that "the only cure for such condition is by having at the head of baseball men in no wise connected with baseball who are so prominent and representative among the American people that not a breath of suspicion could be ever reflected." It concluded, "The practical operation of this agreement would be the selection of three men of such unquestionable reputation and standing in fields other than baseball that the mere knowledge of their control of baseball, in itself, would insure that the public interests would first be served, and that, therefore, as a natural sequence, all existing evils would disappear." This tribunal would have the power to punish players, strip owners of their franchises, "establish a proper relationship between minor leagues and major leagues," you name it.
This proposal, first discussed by Cubs shareholder A.D. Lasker, became known as the Lasker Plan. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a number of clubs -- particularly, those in the American League still loyal to the strong-willed Johnson -- initially balked at the idea, to the point where the National League considered beginning an entirely new league with a few insurrectionist AL clubs, including the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. But all necessary parties eventually came to the table, and figures as grand as former president William Howard Taft, General John J. Pershing and former treasury secretary William G. McAdoo were under discussion for the tribunal.
The search pretty quickly began to revolve around a single figure: Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. A known baseball fan and an occasional showman on the bench, the 54-year-old Landis was known primarily for his antitrust judgment against Standard Oil, issuing the corporation a $29.2 million fine in 1907, equivalent to almost $1 billion today. Court of Appeals would eventually strike down the verdict.) He was regarded as tough but thoughtful, a grand figure but a supporter of the everyman. He would go on to serve as the sport's first commissioner, a one-man tribunal, until his death in 1944.
Landis proved ruthless and uncompromising when he felt he needed to be. Despite all of the indicted "Black Sox" being acquitted in a criminal trial, Landis still banned them from baseball for life, stating, "Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ball games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball." For better or worse, he stuck to that decision through the years despite both legal and emotional appeals.
Landis wasn't a ruthless traditionalist, however. The All-Star Game was created under his watch in the early 1930s and proved to be a big hit, and while he didn't seem to approve of the development of farm systems, in which minor league clubs developed affiliations with major league clubs to develop and promote their talent through the ranks, he also didn't stop it, choosing only to step in on a case-by-case basis. He was far from infallible -- you can certainly find inconsistency in some of his decisions, and Lord knows baseball didn't exactly speed toward integration under his watch. (Jackie Robinson's major league debut came two and a half years after Landis' death. He might not have stopped that from happening had he still been in charge, but he certainly wasn't pushing owners to become more progressive in this regard.) But he provided as steady a hand as possible, and both the trust in and popularity of baseball grew under his watch.
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