The top three in my annual ranking of the best coaches in college football was easy. After that, things got more complicated.
How much does recency bias factor in? For me, not as much as it does for Stewart Mandel, whose Top 25 can be found here. I’ve always given coaches more credit for what they did at their previous stops than he does, but I’ve become more of a creature of the moment than I used to be.
One caveat: Even with all of the shake-up in the sport, it’s hard to include coaches who haven’t spent at least three seasons as a head coach (that means no Kenny Dillingham, despite a fantastic second season at Arizona State). It’s just too short of a shelf life to compare resumes with other coaches.
Read Mandel’s Top 25 coach rankings here.
1. Kirby Smart, Georgia (2024: No. 1)
This was the easiest call. He’s 105-19, and aside from his debut season in 2016, he has not finished lower than No. 7 in the AP poll. Smart has won two national titles and is 30-2 in SEC play during the past four seasons.
2. Ryan Day, Ohio State (2024: No. 5)
Day makes the jump from No. 5 to No. 2 after leading the Buckeyes to the national title. The 45-year-old is 70-10 with a sterling 46-5 record in the Big Ten. In six seasons, his teams have never finished outside the top 10.
The downside: The Buckeyes have lost four in a row to archrival Michigan, including as 21-point favorites in 2024. Still, the way Day and his staff managed the longest season in college football history was impressive — especially how he got the team to bounce back from a devastating rivalry loss to go on a dominant College Football Playoff run.
3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson (2024: No. 2)
The 55-year-old has won two national titles and nine ACC titles, and Clemson has finished in the top 15 in 12 of the past 13 years. His program has slipped some but was still good enough to win 10 games, capture another ACC title and make the Playoff last year.
4. Steve Sarkisian, Texas (2024: No. 11)
Sark jumps up from No. 11 after his second consecutive season in which he guided Texas to the top four of the final poll. The Longhorns are 25-5 the past two seasons and well-positioned to make a national title run in 2025.
But he’s a tricky evaluation the more I think about it. He has been a head coach for 11 years at two blue bloods (Texas and USC) and a third program (Washington) that is arguably one. The Huskies were in terrible shape when he got that job, and he made them respectable again. Still, Sark has had only two seasons in which his teams have finished better than No. 20. Many coaches below him have produced more.
Ultimately, I think of where his program is now and where it had been in the previous decade, and my confidence that Texas is going to win a national title in the next three years has me ranking him this high.
5. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama (2024: No. 4)
After going 25-3 in two remarkable seasons overhauling a Washington program that had gone 4-8 the year before he arrived, the 50-year-old from South Dakota had a rocky debut season in Tuscaloosa as the coach who replaced Nick Saban.
Things got off to a great start as his Tide beat No. 2 Georgia in late September. But they lost to Vanderbilt a week later and were blown out by a mediocre Oklahoma squad and missed the Playoff. In the ReliaQuest Bowl, Bama played an undermanned Michigan team and lost 19-14 to end up with a 9-4 record — Alabama’s worst since Saban’s debut in 2007.
DeBoer did well in turning Fresno State around quickly, and he gave Washington a big jolt in taking it to the national title game in his second season. He had a staggering 67-3 record at NAIA Sioux Falls with three national titles. His record in big games is remarkable, as he has gone 15-3 against Top 25 opponents in the FBS. The downside from last year was his team lost to three unranked opponents, but the hunch here is he will get that part tightened up.
6. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame (2024: NR)
Freeman has put together a good staff, proven to be a terrific evaluator and grown immeasurably in his job. Last year, the 39-year-old outcoached a lot of excellent head coaches, including the No. 1 coach on this list in the Sugar Bowl.
Freeman has upgraded the talent at Notre Dame and seemed to change the vibe around the place. He’s 33-10, coming off a 14-2 season in which the Irish made it to the national title game and finished No. 2. They went 7-1 against Top 25 opponents, with five wins coming by double digits, and they are 14-5 against ranked teams in the past three seasons. The Irish were 14-15 against the Top 25 during the previous seven-year stretch.
7. Dan Lanning, Oregon (2024: NR)
The Saban/Smart protege has hit the ground running in Eugene. He has made so many shrewd moves putting together an excellent staff and has done as good a job as anyone managing the transfer portal. The 38-year-old is 35-6 and just went 13-1, finishing No. 3 with a Big Ten championship. The Ducks beat eventual national champion Ohio State before losing the rematch. In his three seasons, he has taken Oregon from No. 15 to No. 6 to No. 3.
8. James Franklin, Penn State (2024: No. 7)
Franklin often has been the most polarizing coach in my list, as I’ve been higher on him than many because I factor in the amazing job he did at Vandy from 2011-13. That program never had been good, and yet he led the Commodores to two Top 25 seasons in his three years. Then, he got Penn State back to being a top-10 program, leading the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten title in his third season.
He has had five top-10 finishes in the past nine years. Yes, he has had big headaches against Michigan and Ohio State, but he has a better track record of success than several coaches ranked above him here. The 53-year-old is 34-8 in the past three years.
James Franklin is 101-42 in 11 seasons at Penn State. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
9. Matt Campbell, Iowa State (2024: NR)
He has been a fantastic hire for the Cyclones. Last year, he led Iowa State to its first double-digit-win season, as it went 11-3 and defeated three ranked teams: Iowa on the road, Kansas State at home and Miami in the bowl game. It was his seventh winning season in the past eight years and fourth season of eight-plus wins at a program that had only one eight-win season from 1979-2016. In addition, Campbell led Iowa State to the only top-10 finish in program history in 2020. He’s still only 45.
10. Brian Kelly, LSU (2024: No. 6)
The 63-year-old is a really good coach. He has won two Division II national titles, two Big East titles and a MAC title. He led Notre Dame to six double-digit-win seasons in his final seven years there, finishing 113-40 in 12 years with the Irish.
He had a good debut season at LSU in 2022, getting the Tigers to the SEC title game, as they went 10-4 and finished No. 16. Since then, he has struggled to get the Tigers back to the top of the SEC, going 19-7 the past two years. They took a step back last season, finishing unranked thanks to a three-game losing streak that included a 27-16 defeat to a mediocre Florida team after getting hammered at home against Alabama.
Kelly’s ability to connect with his players and his fit in Baton Rouge have been legitimate questions at a place where championships are expected. Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron all won national titles at LSU, and all of them did it within their first four years. This is Kelly’s fourth year.
11. Chris Klieman, Kansas State (2024: No. 12)
Klieman is 48-28 with the Wildcats, including 28-12 in the past three years. Ask rival Big 12 coaches, and they’ll say that Klieman’s teams are consistently among the best-coached teams in the conference in how they game-plan and make in-game adjustments. Also on his resume: four FCS national titles at North Dakota State.
Klieman has three wins in games against top-10 opponents in the past three years (although the Wildcats didn’t face one of those teams in 2024).
12. Kyle Whittingham, Utah (2024: No. 8)
Whittingham drops a few spots after the Utes went 5-7 in a season in which they were ravaged by injuries at key positions. The 65-year-old is just 13-12 the past two years after he led Utah to back-to-back Rose Bowls in 2021 and 2022. The Utes have finished ranked in the AP poll 11 times, and Whittingham is responsible for eight of those teams. (He had a ninth team that went 10-3 in 2010 and finished No. 23 in the coaches poll but didn’t wasn’t ranked in the AP.)
13. Lincoln Riley, USC (2024: No. 9)
The 41-year-old seems to be following the opposite arc of Sarkisian. One has been excellent the past two seasons and enters 2025 with a ton of momentum. The other has been reeling the past two years and is trying to dig out of a hole. There are still some reasons for optimism here.
Riley has an amazing record of 81-24 at Oklahoma and USC, but 11 of those losses have come in the past two years (with a 9-9 mark in conference play) as he has struggled mightily since a fast start with the Trojans. He’s a sharp offensive mind who has made some good hires, especially getting — and keeping — defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn. But recruiting has been a mess, and you wonder who, if anyone, he listens to because there have been so many scratch-your-head moments when he tries to explain what’s going on there.
14. Lance Leipold, Kansas (2024: No. 3)
After the Jayhawks fell to 5-7, the 60-year-old dropped from No. 3. His record at KU may seem underwhelming at 22-28 and 13-23 in Big 12 play, but KU was a complete disaster before he showed up. In his third season, Kansas finished ranked and notched a top-10 win for the first time in 16 years. Before going to Kansas, he got Buffalo into the Top 25 for the first time in its history. Before that, he won six Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater.
15. Jeff Brohm, Louisville (2024: No. 13)
Because he hasn’t coached at blue blood program, his ability as a play caller and game planner often gets overlooked. But he’s an elite offensive mind. Brohm has gone 19-8 in his first two years at Louisville after winning 17 games in his final two seasons at Purdue. The Boilermakers hadn’t won that many in a two-season stretch in about 25 years and have had only one 10-win season in more than 130 years of football.
In his first season back at his alma mater, Brohm got the Cardinals to the ACC title game in 2023. Last year, all four of their losses came by a touchdown or less. Brohm has a solid 4-4 record against top-10 opponents since 2018, and he beat No. 11 Clemson on the road last year by double digits.
16. Josh Heupel, Tennessee (2024: No. 17)
The former national championship quarterback at Oklahoma has been an excellent hire for the Vols. He’s 30-9 the past three years with two top-10 seasons, including getting UT into the Playoff last year. Keep in mind, this was a Vols program that had been stuck in a rut for more than a dozen years before his arrival.
17. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia (2024: No. 25)
Rodriguez is back home in Morgantown after Jacksonville State reached a bowl game in each of its first two seasons after making the move to the FBS level. Previously, he went 60-26 from 2001-07 at West Virginia to become the second-winningest coach in program history, behind his old coach, Don Nehlen.
Rodriguez, the godfather of the spread-option, led the Mountaineers to three consecutive top-10 seasons, including a No. 5 ranking in 2005, which matched the program’s best finish ever. In six seasons, Rodriguez led WVU to the same number of top-10 finishes as the rest of its coaches combined. He won 26 games in his first three seasons at Arizona; the Wildcats had never won more than that in any three-year stretch.
18. Deion Sanders, Colorado (2024: NR)
It’ll be fascinating to see how the Buffaloes do during the next few years without Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders. Deion Sanders has earned the benefit of the doubt here for his ability to run a program. He’s 40-18 at two programs — Jackson State and Colorado — that struggled before he took over.
In his first game at Colorado, the Buffs knocked off a ranked TCU team that played in the national title game its previous game. He almost instantly made CU nationally relevant for the first in more than two decades. Last year, he led Colorado to a 9-4 mark and a Top 25 finish for only the second time in 20 seasons. He showed a keen eye for staffing by hiring defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, giving the former Cincinnati Bengals assistant his first job as a play caller, and that proved to be a brilliant move.
Sanders went 27-6 at a Jackson State program that was coming off six consecutive non-winning seasons.
Indiana made the College Football Playoff in Curt Cignetti’s first season. (Joseph Maiorana / Imagn Images)
19. Curt Cignetti, Indiana (2024: NR)
What a grand-slam hire Cignetti proved to be for Indiana. He talked big from the moment he took the job and backed it up, leading the Hoosiers into the Playoff in his first season. They opened 10-0 — the best start in program history — and notched their first 11-win season, including a win over defending national champion Michigan. They finished No. 10 in the AP poll after going 11-2, their best finish since 1967. That’s after he led James Madison to an 11-1 season in 2023.
At the Division II, FCS and FBS levels, his record is 130-37. The 63-year-old has coached in four conferences — the PSAC, the CAA, the Sun Belt and the Big Ten — and has won Coach of the Year honors in all of them.
t-20. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss (No. 21)
Kiffin, who turns 50 this spring, is 44-18 in five seasons at Ole Miss, including 21-5 the past two. That’s good considering the Rebels are not one of the SEC’s traditional powers. Kiffin had a loaded team in 2024 after the Rebels went heavy in the portal alongside returning veteran quarterback Jaxson Dart, but it felt like they underachieved, missing the Playoff thanks to a brutal home loss to a woeful Kentucky team plus losses against teams that finished outside the Top 25 in LSU and Florida.
Still, Kiffin has made Ole Miss a legit upper-division SEC program. The Rebels have had four seasons finishing in the top 12 since 1970, and he has produced three of them. His work at FAU was strong. His record against Top 25 teams, however, is lacking at 11-24.
t-20. Mario Cristobal, Miami (2024: NR)
In his third season back at his alma mater, Cristobal led the Hurricanes to their second-best finish since 2005. Miami had a lot of promise but fizzled down the stretch, squandering leads and blowing a Playoff spot. Still, make no mistake: Cristobal has dramatically overhauled the UM program and turned it back into a talent-laden group. His offensive coordinator hire of Shannon Dawson has been one of his best moves.
Cristobal has a good eye for talent, especially in the trenches. He got Oregon cranked back up after the Ducks had tailed off, leading the Ducks to a 35-13 record in four seasons, including a top-five finish in 2019. Cristobal did an amazing job in his first head coaching gig at an FIU program that had been left for dead.
22. Rhett Lashlee, SMU (2024: NR)
Lashlee, 41, is new to the list, but after going 21-3 in conference play in three seasons and leading SMU into the Playoff in its first year in Power 4 football, he has earned his way here. Lashlee’s teams are 16-0 in regular-season conference games in the past two years in the American in 2023 and the ACC in 2024.
23. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (2024: No. 15)
People will make jokes about the Hawkeyes offense, but Ferentz has been a wizard at unearthing talent and developing it. His teams are physical, smart and tough to beat. Last year was a down year in which the Hawkeyes went 8-5. But during the past decade, that’s about as bad as it has gotten for his team. Iowa has had six Top 25 finishes in the past 10 years, and Ferentz has five top-10s in his career.
24. Bret Bielema, Illinois (2024: NR)
The former Iowa nose guard is an excellent fit in the Big Ten. He has pumped much-needed life into Illinois football. The Illini won eight games in 2022 and went 10-3 in 2024, beating No. 15 South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl to post their first double-digit-win season in 23 years and their first bowl win since 2011. The Illini finished No. 16 and appear primed to be in Playoff contention in 2025.
Bielema never was able to get much traction at Arkansas in five seasons, but he was outstanding at Wisconsin, where he led the Badgers to three top-10 finishes in seven seasons.
25. Jeff Monken, Army (2024: NR)
Entering his 12th season at Army, Monken has been a truly great hire. He’s coming off a 12-2 season in which the Black Knights went 8-0 in the AAC after being predicted to finish fifth in their first season in the league. (That was coming off consecutive 6-6 seasons.) The lone defeats in 2024 were blowout losses to Notre Dame and arch-rival Navy, but their 35-14 romp over a good Tulane team in the AAC title game stands out.
Monken did well at Georgia Southern, going 38-18 in the FCS, and by his third year at Army, he got the Black Knights to 8-5 before things got rolling. He went 21-5 in 2017 and 2018, when Army finished No. 19. Overall, he’s 120-73 at Army. The previous five coaches dating back to 2000 at Army went a combined 40-166.
Dropped out: Florida State’s Mike Norvell (No. 10), Kentucky’s Mark Stoops (No. 14), Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson (No. 16, retired), Nebraska’s Matt Rhule (No. 18), Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell (No. 19), Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy (No. 20), Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith (No. 22), Auburn’s Hugh Freeze (No. 23) and Washington’s Jedd Fisch (No. 24)
Just missed: TCU’s Sonny Dykes, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Stoops, Gundy, Norvell, Rhule, Fisch, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, Fickell
(Top photo of Marcus Freeman: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6191343/2025/03/11/college-football-coach-rankings-bruce-feldman-2025/
