Legends Poll The Legends Poll is a college football poll that rates the Top 25 teams weekly during the college football season . Its aim is to identify the two best teams in its opinion by the end of the season to compete in the BCS national championship game . The group is currently made up of 17 retired football coaches , most of whom are members of the College Football Hall of Fame . The Legends Poll was founded by Andy Curtin in 2005 as the Master Coaches Survey , but changed its name in 2008 to better reflect the make - up of its voting members . Curtin and his partner , Pete Wolek implemented the original plan and have operated the Legends Poll since its inception . The Legends Poll appears in the Sporting News each week and is published by other media web sites such as ESPN . com . Legends Poll Members History . The Legends Poll started in July 2005 when Andy Curtin and four partners convened a three - day conference in Thomasville , Georgia that was attended by fifteen retired college football coaches , all with impressive career records as head coaches . These coaches were introduced to a polling system that was quite different than any previous poll . The main differences in the proposed poll were threefold . The voters in the new poll would be provided game DVDs to watch each week , the voters would discuss the recent games on an hour - long conference call each week , and there would be no pre - season poll . The first poll wouldn ’ t take place until after the voters had seen three weeks ’ worth of games . After unanimously approving this new polling idea , the coaches agreed to become the Master Coaches Survey and began voting in the 2005 college football season . They have continued to faithfully vote for four consecutive seasons . Prior to the 2008 season , the poll name was changed to the Legends Poll to reflect the legendary status of the famous coaches involved , and to replace the word “ Survey ” with “ Poll ” to reduce confusion with the fans as to what was actually taking place . The basic idea of the poll was that one would get the best poll results by utilizing the most expert talent to vote , especially when they had no current ties to college football programs , and they had the time to watch all the relevant games played each week . The weekly conference call allowed the coaches to point out to each other the strengths and weaknesses of the various teams . Each coach was assigned one or two teams to follow and become an expert on . During the conference call each coach would present his synopsis on his assigned team , and the other coaches would comment on or question what had been presented . This system thus allows all of its voters the shared expertise of the entire group . As the season progressed and more teams dropped from contention for the top spots in the poll , coaches who lost teams from that process would be assigned new teams to follow , which allowed the Legends Poll to have multiple experts looking at the top teams as the season wound down . The ultimate goal of the Legends Poll is not to get the exact 25 teams in exactly correct numerical order each week , but to get the correct two teams listed as # 1 & 2 at the conclusion of the season , after watching the entire body of work of all the contending teams throughout that season . No other poll operates like the Legends Poll . The original 16 members of the poll in 2005 were : John Cooper , Vince Dooley , Pat Dye , LaVell Edwards , Hayden Fry , Don James , Frank Kush , Dick MacPherson , Bill Mallory , Don Nehlen , John Ralston , John Robinson , Bo Schembechler , R . C . Slocum , Gene Stallings and George Welsh . Bo Schembechler died in November 2006 . He was replaced by Tom Osborne in the 2007 season . Due to prior commitments , Terry Donahue , an original invitee , was unable to join the group until 2006 . When Tom Osborne became the Nebraska Athletics Director after the 2007 season , he was replaced by Bill Snyder in 2008 . Hayden Fry asked to be relieved of his voting duties in 2008 and he was replaced by Frank Broyles . Fisher DeBerry was also added to the group in 2008 . Bill Snyder left the group after returning to coaching in 2008 . In March 2010 , Bobby Ross became the group ' s newest member . Bobby Bowden was added to the group in April 2010 , mere months after coaching his final game at Florida State . The Legends Poll and its predecessor have received publicity through being published on the group ’ s website www . legendschannel . com along with picking up more newspaper distribution each season . Also ESPN . com runs the Legends Poll weekly on its web site , and Sporting News Today publishes the Legends Poll along with coach commentary each Monday during the season .