I love Howard and know him personally so he will always be my favorite. He won the first and opened the floodgates for those that followed. For me he is GOAT but we did get in trouble with ncaa and were sanctioned. Coker won a title but got us in ncaa jail also. Dennis grabed two NCs and played havoc on everyone but in his reign we gut the worse ncaa sanctions we ever got. You could easily dirt should knock a coach down on the list. JJ had some issues but no sanctions but was one for three in NC games. Butch was clean guided us through virtual death penalty and only produced the greatest team in history and 1st round picks record that Saban is still just chasing. Had he got one NC he would have to be the greatest. But he didn't.
I was around for Andy and have very few fond memories other than certain players and a couple years. I would have to consider Lou Saban for the 6th spot because he did set the table for Howard with some decent recruiting. I would take out Andy and only go with top five.
Everything considered, it has to be Howard for number one. Without him we might have never even heard of those who followed. Right now we heed another Howard and none of the others except MAYBE Butch will do. It is that bad.