This is an interesting perspective. I never thought about it before, either.
And you really have to look at players and coaches whose public life extended beyond football, so that non-football watchers could get to know them. Because, I mean, everyone in the football world would know tons of the players and coaches, anyway. To get real fame, you have to find the ones who all of America became familiar with.
And that small group fall into two tiers. The ones who just made commercials, that's the bigger group. And the ones who entered American consciousness in bigger ways than just commercials. That's the smaller, more elite group.
Joe Namath, Peyton Manning (not the whole Manning clan, mainly just Peyton--with Eli joining him once or twice on a commercial), and Tim Tebow definitely went beyond the football world in big ways. Joe got into film. Peyton was a guest star on TV shows. Tim was an icon for faith.
I can't off the top of my head think of any others. Sure, Phillip Fulmer, Tommy Tuberville and some other coaches had cameo appearances in The Blind Side (as themselves), but face it: most folks who watched that film were in the football fan crowd or were married to it.
Married: that is my personal litmus test for this question. Would my wife (who could care less about college football, except for my benefit she plays along sometimes like she cares), would she know who these people are?
She knows Peyton, mostly from the commercials and Saturday Night Live. She thinks he's a comedian, doesn't fully understand his massive contributions to the sport. She knows Tim Tebow and the "Tebow Kneel," mostly from her students at school (they went through a phase). And she knows about Joe Namath, of course.
She wouldn't know Steve Spurrier, Phillip Fulmer, Bo Jackson, or Hershel Walker, or any of the other folks on this list even if shown a photo. She might say, "Oh, haven't I seen him before?" because of some commercial or such, but that'd be all we'd get out of her. And yes, she watched The Blind Side with me, hehe.
Hmm, would she know anyone other than Joe, Peyton and Tim? Robert Neyland, but only the name and only because (a) I talk about him frequently, (b) we have Football as a War Game sitting on our coffee table, and (c) the stadium is named after him. So that doesn't really count as fame so much as osmosis from being near a football fan.
No, I think those three are it for the top tier. Not even Johnny Majors is famous outside the sporting community. Not Even Reggie White. Not even Eric Berry. Not even Bear Bryant. You have to be a football fan to know who they are.
Joe, Peyton, and Tim, you win.
Go Vols!
