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With the changes happening in college football over the last half decade, most notably NIL and the transfer portal, the proliferation of talent in the game has been as balanced as ever.
With that, you could make the argument that coaches mean more than they ever have before, since it requires more strategy than just rolling the ball out and letting your 22 five-stars “talent” their way to victory.
Despite legends like Nick Saban calling it quits a few years ago, college football is in great hands with some phenomenal coaches among its ranks.
Speaking of which, I thought today would be as good a day as any to rank the ten best coaches in college football right now.
This list is obviously subjective, but some of the factors I’m weighing are: total resume, recent success, and whether they have overachieved or underachieved relative to the resources they’ve been given.
With that said, let’s dive right in.
10. Lincoln Riley (USC)
We start this list off with a man who, five years ago, probably would have been comfortably within the top five: Lincoln Riley.
The USC head coach is heading into his fifth season in Los Angeles, and if you asked most Trojan fans, they would probably admit he has underperformed with regard to the expectations they had when he arrived.
Ironically enough, his first year at Southern Cal was his best, as the Men of Troy won 11 games and were a fourth quarter collapse away from making it to the College Football Playoff.
Since then, it’s been tough sledding for Riley, but last year should provide some hope to fans of the program, as the 42-year-old pulled off what was perhaps his best coaching job since leaving Oklahoma and guided USC to a nine-win season while unlocking the potential of quarterback Jayden Maiava.
Heading into 2026, Riley and Maiava will look to finally send USC to the CFP, and it seems like the pieces are in place for that to happen.
If it does, I expect Riley to shoot back up this ranking come next season.
9. Clark Lea (Vanderbilt)
When it comes to “doing more with less,” there are few who can top what head coach Clark Lea has done while at Vanderbilt (I can think of one other, but we will talk about him later).
When Lea arrived in Nashville in 2021, he proclaimed that he would have Vandy competing for SEC and national championships.
The whole college football world pointed and laughed, and rightly so, because the Commodores had long been a doormat in the SEC save for a few seasons with James Franklin at the helm.
Fast forward just five short years, and Lea has done exactly what he said he would, giving Vanderbilt its first ten-win season in school history and having the ‘Dores within a stone’s throw of the College Football Playoff.
For all his accomplishments on the field, he’s done just as well on the recruiting trail, landing the program’s first five-star in quarterback Jared Curtis.
Kind of unbelievable for anyone who knows anything about Vandy, and if he’s able to repeat his success over the next couple of years without Diego Pavia as his quarterback, it will only strengthen my belief that Lea is one of the best coaches in America.
8. Kyle Whittingham (Michigan)
You could almost consider this spot for Kyle Whittingham a lifetime achievement award, but that would do a disservice to just how good of a coach he still is.
The man was an absolute machine while coaching the Utah Utes, guiding them through conference realignment and an ever-evolving college football world, racking up several of the best seasons in school history in the process.
He’s the winningest coach in Utah history, and his defensive prowess and penchant for developing unheralded recruits into NFL Draft picks is the stuff of legend.
This past offseason, Whittingham left the friendly confines of Salt Lake City and headed east to Ann Arbor, where he will hope to instill some stability to a wildly chaotic Michigan program.
It’s a testament to Whittingham that he continues to end up on lists like this year after year, and it proves that he’s a rare combination of talent and longevity.
The Wolverines should be in good hands with Whittingham at the helm.
7. Lane Kiffin (LSU)
College football fans disagree on a lot, but there may not be a more universally hated name outside of Baton Rouge than Lane Kiffin.
His antics have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, particularly regarding his most recent breakup with Ole Miss, but there is no question the man is a brilliant football coach.
Kiffin’s offensive acumen knows no equal, and he’s regarded as one of the best X’s and O’s guys on that side of the ball in quite some time, but he makes this list for more than just that reason alone.
PAUL FINEBAUM ROASTS LANE KIFFIN FOR RECENT COMMENTS: “TRYING TO WIPE OLE MISS OFF THE MAP”
The former Rebels head coach turned Ole Miss from an afterthought in the SEC to a national power, and by the time of his unceremonious exit, had them in a position to legitimately win a CFP title.
He’s such a good head coach that he had people actually believing that it was just as easy to win a championship at Ole Miss as it would be to win one at LSU or Florida.
That fact is not lost on me, but the only reason he isn’t any higher is because he hasn’t actually gone out and won the thing yet.
Few have, to be sure, but Kiffin has a chance to rocket near the top of this list should he win even one natty while on the bayou.
6. Steve Sarkisian (Texas)
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is a lot like Lane Kiffin in many ways, so the two are ranked right next to each other for a reason.
Sark has access to a lot more resources and talent at Texas than Kiffin did while he was at Ole Miss, and has been far more consistent as a result.
He is considered one of the top offensive play callers in the game and consistently has the Longhorns in the national championship conversation year after year.
It will be interesting to see how he handles the expectations this year and how he coaches quarterback Arch Manning through another year of Heisman hype, but I believe Sark will be up for the challenge.
His recruiting prowess deserves mention as well, as Texas has always had the resources to get whoever it wants, but Sark has been able to unlock that in a way that has given Texas one of the most talented rosters since he’s arrived.
5. Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame)
When Brian Kelly jumped ship for LSU in 2021, many believed it was because he had gotten Notre Dame to its ceiling as a program in the modern landscape of college football.
Marcus Freeman proved that the Irish still had room to grow, and has lifted the program to new heights, both on the field and on the recruiting trail.
Notre Dame made it all the way to the national championship game two seasons ago, and after finishing in the top 10 in the AP Poll last season is projected to be a top-five team this coming season as well, showing Freeman’s ability to keep the Irish consistently elite.
He has been lauded for his ability to coach elite defenses dating back to his days as a coordinator, and it shows in Notre Dame’s ability to keep churning out top-flight units every season.
The fact that he has the Irish recruiting in the top five is noteworthy as well, which was thought to be almost impossible in the age of NIL.
Freeman is very young, so he will only continue to improve as he gains more experience.
4. Dan Lanning (Oregon)
Another brilliant, young defensive mind, Dan Lanning has the Oregon Ducks absolutely rolling since arriving in 2022.
Hailing from the Kirby Smart coaching tree, Lanning has been aces in Eugene pretty much from day one.
The Ducks have won at least 10 games every year of Lanning’s tenure, as he has pretty much accomplished everything short of winning a national championship for them.
He is a recruiting wizard, which makes sense given his ties to Smart, and his chops on the trail coupled with Oregon’s much-publicized resources have turned the Ducks from great recruiters to full-on Death Star status.
Another underrated aspect of Lanning’s game is his ability to identify and hire elite coordinators, as he has had three move on to head coaching jobs since he donned an Oregon visor four years ago.
I firmly believe Lanning has everything in place to accomplish that as early as this season, especially with the talent he continues to assemble in the Pacific Northwest.
3. Ryan Day (Ohio State)
I was so torn between Ohio State’s Ryan Day and my number two, that their rankings might just depend on what kind of mood I’m in that day.
With that said, Day is an elite coach in every sense of the word, which sounds wild to anyone who just woke up from a coma for the last two years.
It’s amazing how a national championship can change perceptions, but Day was a phenomenal coach before he won it all just 18 months ago.
He’s an excellent recruiter, a great offensive mind, and his coordinator hires are some of the best in the business, employing the likes of Matt Patricia, Jim Knowles, Chip Kelly, Arthur Smith, and Brian Hartline among others.
That matters in this day and age, and his hiring of Knowles specifically may have been the secret sauce that propelled the Buckeyes to a natty following the 2024 season.
I can’t foresee Ohio State ever being ranked outside the top-ten to finish a season as long as Day is locked in, which says a lot about both his ceiling and consistency.
The best part (at least for Buckeye fans) is that Day isn’t even 50 years old yet, so he will be among the elites for quite some time.
2. Kirby Smart (Georgia)
If you wanted to rank Day ahead of Smart or vice versa, I really wouldn’t have a problem either way; it really was like splitting hairs between these two.
What it came down to for me were Smart’s two national championships and the fact that he accomplished that while Nick Saban was still at the top of his game at Alabama.
I also believe Smart took over Georgia when it was in a slightly worse position than Ohio State was when Day took over, though neither program was exactly in the gutter.
What could you possibly say about Kirby that hasn’t already been said?
He’s an elite defensive coach, one of the best recruiters of his era, develops NFL talent at an absurd level, and absolutely feasts on his rivals.
Perhaps an even bigger feather in his cap is the fact that one of the other coaches on this list hails from his tree (Dan Lanning), meaning he even has a penchant for developing great coaches.
I would say he’s the closest thing we have to a modern Saban if not for…
1. Curt Cignetti (Indiana)
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I mentioned it near the top of the list when discussing Clark Lea, but no one, perhaps in the history of college football, has done more with less than Curt Cignetti at Indiana.
Just think about where the Hoosiers were in their entire history before Coach Cig got there.
There have been so many “firsts” in program history it’s hard to even keep track: first 11-win season, first Playoff berth, first undefeated season, first national championship, first five-star recruit.
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It’s enough to make your head spin.
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The only knock I can think to make against Cignetti is that he hasn’t been at Indiana for long enough to rack up some of the accomplishments of the all-time greats, but I keep having to remind myself he’s at freaking Indiana.
I’ve written plenty about Cignetti’s greatness but suffice to say, he’s the king of the mountain right now and I don’t know how anyone will dethrone him outside of a guy like Kirby winning the next four national titles.
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If all that still hasn’t convinced you, just Google him. He wins.
Honorable Mention: Mario Cristobal (Miami), Mike Elko (Texas A&M), Jedd Fisch (Washington), Josh Heupel (Tennessee)
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