College Football's 25 Most Desirable Coaching Jobs

Head coaching jobs in college football aren't like most other jobs. Even football jobs, like those in the NFL, are starkly different from those in the college game.

For starters, in college, the head coach actually has control of the team. In the pros, it's the star player or the GM who really controls what goes on.

Only in college do you find the perfect mix of personnel control and absolute power on game day.

And with skyrocketing salaries for many programs, college gigs can be just as appealing, if not more so, as those in the pros.

So which jobs are the best? Here is our selection of the 25 most desirable coaching jobs in college football.

25. Michigan State

It wasn't that long ago that Michigan State's inclusion on this list would have been one at which most would scoff.

But times are a-changin' in East Lansing, and Michigan State has put together back-to-back 11-win seasons. MSU also did something it hasn't done in a decade: win its bowl game.

The win for the Spartans wasn't only a big one for head coach Mark Dantonio, and it wasn't only big for the MSU program, but it was also an important big-time bowl win for the Big Ten over the SEC.

With MSU's increase in stature under Dantonio, State is clearly deserving of a spot on our list.

24. Texas A&M

Like Michigan State, Texas A&M has had some down years. Also like MSU, A&M isn't the top program in its home state.

But unlike Michigan State, Texas A&M has seen a slide over the past few seasons in terms of its prominence.

Sure, the Aggies are moving to the SEC next season, but unless something drastic is done soon, Aggies fans shouldn't expect to do any better in the new conference than A&M did this season in the Big 12.

Texas A&M will be starting its new life in the SEC with a new head coach, Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin was hired away from Houston after this season after A&M fired Mike Sherman.

23. Washington

The Washington Huskies program has a proud tradition, and it wasn't so long ago that the Huskies were competing for trips to the Rose Bowl as champions of the conference we now know as the Pac-12.

But for now, those days are firmly rooted in the past despite the best efforts of head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Still, this job holds a great deal of upward potential—especially with annual meetings against national powers like Oregon and USC. As a head coach at Washington, you can either slowly rebuild the program into a conference championship contender or do well enough to garner some job offers for bigger programs.

22. Virginia Tech

Frank Beamer has taken the Hokies program about as far as he can, and with regular trips to the BCS, it's doubtful Beamer will leave Virginia Tech until he's ready to go.

The ACC is also one of those conferences where a national championship is a real possibility for the conference champion, although we'd probably need to see only one (or even zero) other undefeated teams from BCS-AQ conferences.

Virginia Tech also has the resources to keep the program at its current high level for the foreseeable future.

21. UCLA

The UCLA program was once considered among the best in the entire nation.

But the Bruins haven't won a national championship since the 1950s, and Rose Bowl Game invitations aren't exactly coming at a record pace.

UCLA has also had a fair amount of trouble finding the “right guy” to lead the program as head coach, and that's going to lead the administration to take very careful, deliberate steps with any new coach.

Still, if you're a head coach that can find ways to beat USC on a regular basis, you could become the next hero at UCLA. If that happens, the possibilities are endless.

20. Clemson

Dabo Swinney has proven that the Clemson head coaching job is still worth considering as one of the best in the nation.

This season's ACC champions, the Tigers fell woefully short in an Orange Bowl most thought they'd win fairly easily. Instead, Clemson watched the lightly taken West Virginia Mountaineers put up 70 points on it in the Orange Bowl. Ouch.

Even so, there was talk earlier this season of an undefeated Clemson team being in prime position to compete for a national championship.

With a loyal fanbase, decent resources, and consideration for national championships, there's no reason to keep Clemson off this list.

19. West Virginia

West Virginia gets a gift, appearing as high as No. 19 on our list.

As Dana Holgorsen realized this season, the Mountaineer faithful aren't exactly that faithful.

Still, West Virginia gets the nod at No. 19 because it is finally moving out of the abysmal Big East conference. Now, we'll finally be able to see what the Mountaineers are made of, playing a decent conference schedule.

Of course, WVU was absolutely undressed by 5-7 (1-6) Syracuse this season in the Orange's lone Big East victory in 2011. Maybe moving to the Big 12 won't be such a good idea after all...

18. Miami (FL)

The head coaching job at Miami was easily once one of the top five jobs in all of college football. But scandal after scandal after scandal has really taken a toll on the prestige of this program, and one would be hard pressed to make the case for even a top-15 ranking.

There are probably very few scenarios where someone at Miami would think this, but Al Golden in August 2011 had to have this thought on his mind: “Boy, I wish I was back at Temple right now instead of Miami.”

While we're not going to fool anyone by placing Temple anywhere on this list, and certainly not in front of Miami, at least at Temple Golden wouldn't be staring some major NCAA sanctions squarely in the face.

17. Tennessee

What has happened to the once-mighty Tennessee Volunteers?

Yes, there has been an amazing turnover rate in head coaches over the past several seasons, but enough is enough!

A program once annually considered a contender for the SEC title and a possible national championship run has been relegated to a bottom feeder in the conference, and a victory over Tennessee these days doesn't count for much more than, “yeah, so?”

If Derek Dooley can't turn things around soon, he'll likely be searching for a new job. The problem with that scenario is that the Volunteers program won't be any further ahead with more instability in the coach's office.

16. Auburn

Auburn at 16? Really?

Yes, Auburn makes our list at 16. Before Auburn fans leap to conclusions, let's take a moment and rationally think about the program.

While it's easy to look at the 2010 national championship season and instantly place Auburn in your top five, one must realize that Auburn is 35-17 over the past four seasons. Not terrible, but certainly not anywhere near the level of some other programs, even in the same conference.

Historically, Auburn isn't even amongst the top five programs, in terms of wins, in the SEC. Since World War II, Auburn has won 482 football games. Alabama leads the SEC with 528 wins since 1945, followed by Tennessee's 518, Georgia's 500, Florida's 492 and LSU's 486.

National titles have also been few and far between.

While Auburn is still a great job to have, the Tigers aren't considered an annual championship contender yet. If Gene Chizik can turn the program into one, you'll see Auburn's ranking rise sharply.

15. Penn State

How the mighty have fallen.

We could sit here and rehash all of the sickening allegations that have come out of State College, Pa., this season, but what would be the point? We all know what the allegations are, and there's no need to go over them again.

But for the first time in over four decades, Penn State has a job opening for head coach. After the firing of Joe Paterno, Penn State embarked on a process with which the university is completely unfamiliar: searching for a new head coach to lead a major college football program.

It will also be interesting to see what Penn State offers to a potential new head coach. Paterno, for all of his greatness and legendary status, wasn't a very highly paid head football coach, in relative terms. Will Penn State offer the next coach a compensation package that is attractive enough to attract a big name?

14. Florida State

The Florida State football program is another that is recovering from the loss of a living legend coach under less than favorable circumstances.

Bobby Bowden retired under immense pressure in the wake of a academic cheating scandal. Not only did the scandal cost Bowden his job, it also forced Florida State to vacate enough wins to ensure that Bowden was out of the running for the title of “winningest FBS coach of all time.”

Florida State has also fallen off a bit from its dynasty heyday of the 1990s. National championships—and even conference championships—aren't pouring in any more, and the Seminoles aren't seen in the same light these days.

But it's still a top-15 program, and if Jimbo Fisher can find a way to capture an ACC title and return FSU to the BCS, it will be an important sign to the rest of the country that the program is one opponents should still fear.

13. Georgia

After Georgia suffered its first losing season in nearly two decades in 2010, there were plenty of questions about the status of the program and its head coach, Mark Richt.

After the performance the Bulldogs had in 2011, most of those questions have been put to rest. Georgia finished with a 10-4 record in 2011, bookending the season with back-to-back losses. But 10 wins is enough to get Richt off the hot seat, and Georgia is clearly back to a point where the SEC East title is within reach nearly even season.

While the East Division is clearly the “lesser” of the two SEC divisions, things can change very quickly in the conference, especially with expansion for the 2012 season.

The loyal following of the fanbase is also hugely attractive for any head coach, and there's no bigger game in town than Georgia football.

The only thing that keeps Georgia from a top-10 ranking is the fact that the same loyal fanbase that is a benefit most years can turn on you in a heartbeat. Just ask Mark Richt.

12. Wisconsin

Bret Bielema has taken his Wisconsin program from an also-ran in the Big Ten to a perennial contender for the conference title and a Rose Bowl berth.

In fact, Wisconsin has won at least a share of the last two conference titles and has been rewarded with back-to-back trips to Pasadena—unfortunately both losses.

If Bielema can maintain the current status of the program, you can expect Wisconsin's national stature to increase as well. But the program won't ever reach top-10 status until it does something it has yet to do in its 123-year history: win a national championship.

11. Nebraska

We're inching closer to our top 10, and just outside of that is Nebraska.

There are plenty of arguments for putting Nebraska in the top 10, but with some many great programs to choose from, someone has to be left out.

While Nebraska is certainly one of the great programs in the nation with five national championships over the years with an amazingly loyal fanbase, the program just hasn't been able to get “over the hump,” so to speak.

In the Big 12, Nebraska lived in the huge shadow cast by Texas and Oklahoma. Now in the Big Ten, it remains to be seen if the Cornhuskers can emerge from the just-as-large shadows cast by Michigan and Ohio State.

Much to the consternation of Nebraska fans, the Huskers weren't able to breeze through their new conference this year, with embarrassingly lopsided losses to Wisconsin and Michigan and an upset loss to Northwestern.

But rest assured that Bo Pelini, with his unassuming, hoodie-wearing style, has a plan in place to compete every single season in the Big Ten, and it won't be long before Nebraska finds its way to Indianapolis—and Pasadena.

10. Ohio State

This list compiled last season probably would have easily placed Ohio State in the top five in the nation.

After all, the Buckeyes have been one of the most consistently successful programs in the entire nation, winning an unprecedented six straight outright or shared BCS-AQ conference championships.

Of course, that all fell apart this past offseason, as a cover-up of comparatively minor NCAA infractions was revealed and Jim Tressel was forced out. In addition, Ohio State's 12-1 record officially became a record of 0-1, as the Buckeyes vacated all 12 victories from the 2010 season, including a Sugar Bowl win and their share of the Big Ten title.

After one season under interim head coach Luke Fickell, Ohio State landed Urban Meyer to take over for the 2012 season. That alone shows that Ohio State can still attract the big names, and we can't drop the program from the top 10 if it's still big enough to convince someone like Meyer to come out of retirement.

9. Florida

Speaking of Urban Meyer, when he decided to leave Florida for “medical and personal reasons,” it appeared it was the end of his coaching career and the end of an era for the Florida Gators.

Meyer magically found his way back into the office of a head coach, and it remains to be seen what the long-term impact in Gainesville will be. But for right now, even the more ardent of Gators fans has to admit that the program isn't what it was under Meyer.

It's not that Will Muschamp isn't doing a decent job, but to go from winning SEC and BCS championships to being lucky to earn a Gator Bowl bid isn't exactly what gets Florida fans excited these days.

We're willing to give Muschamp a few more seasons before we pass final judgment on the job he's doing in Gainesville, but for right now, the prestige of being the head coach at Florida has taken a minor hit.

8. Texas

Speaking of taking a hit, the Texas Longhorns have found out the hard way what a football season is like for a good portion of the country.

Longhorns fans have been pretty spoiled over the years with Mack Brown as head coach. Big 12 championships and BCS titles aren't what many programs begin the season hoping for, and now Texas is in that same boat. After an abysmal 5-7 finish in 2010, Texas rebounded a little in 2011 with an 8-5 record.

That's still not up to Texas' usually lofty standards, but at least Brown has the Horns moving in the right direction.

Texas is the second-winningest program in college football history (behind Michigan), and its typical annual success rate makes the job in Austin one of the most attractive in the nation. In fact, the Texas head coaching job is, like every other job on the list from this point, one of the few that likely carry more prestige than nearly any NFL head coaching job.

7. Notre Dame

Back in the “golden age” of college football, there was likely no job much higher on anyone's list than Notre Dame.

In fact, since we've mentioned jobs having more prestige than NFL jobs, it's important to note that Notre Dame is one of the few programs that has been able to lure away an active NFL coach (from the mighty Green Bay Packers, no less) to take over in South Bend.

But years of disappointment for the Fighting Irish has led to a backslide in the job's importance. While still a “dream job” for many (including current head coach Brian Kelly), the position may not be what it once was.

6. Oregon

The Oregon Ducks have become one of the top programs in the nation over the past three seasons, earning BCS invites each season.

The Ducks finally posted a BCS win this season, defeating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl after losing last season's BCS National Championship Game to Auburn and the previous season's Rose Bowl to Ohio State.

Head coach Chip Kelly has instilled his trademark no-nonsense attitude in the program, and the Ducks' flashy, take-no-prisioners attitude on the field is outshined possibly by only their wardrobe.

The Ducks have yet to capture that elusive national championship, but after a Rose Bowl win (the program's first in 95 years), the stature of the Oregon head coaching job took a big leap forward.

5. Oklahoma

We've finally reached our top five, and we're going to start our list of the best of the best coaching jobs with Oklahoma.

The Sooners are easily one of the most storied programs in the nation, and this history of the program is matched or exceeded by a very select few across the nation.

Maybe the only thing that keeps Oklahoma from an even loftier position is the fact that the Sooners have had a problem lately of winning the “big one.” A “BCS curse” was the talk of many during the past decade, as the Sooners put together conference title after conference title only to fall short in January.

Oklahoma's inability to capitalize on its preseason No. 1 ranking in the polls in 2011 also hurts the ranking of its head coaching job.

But Oklahoma is a program where the sky is the limit, and it's conceivable that within the span of just a couple of seasons, it could once again be considered the top program with the top head coaching job in the entire nation.

4. LSU

LSU has consistently been one of the best programs in a conference that has consistently been one of the best in the nation.

After winning the program's first national title in the late 1950s, the program continued to succeed but was never able to recapture a national championship.

That all changed this century, when a new head coach by the name of Nick Saban led the Tigers to a BCS national championship in 2003. Saban soon left the program, but the success didn't depart with him. Les Miles led the Tigers to another BCS title in 2007 and has a shot to capture his second at LSU next week.

There are few fanbases in the nation more loyal or more rabid about their support of their team than LSU fans. LSU is also one of the best-paying jobs in the country, so it's no wonder that this behemoth of a program giving out behemoth paychecks finds its way into the top five best coaching jobs in college football.

3. Michigan

When Lloyd Carr retired after the 2007 season, the media craze created by a vacancy in Ann Arbor was pretty staggering.

Les Miles was widely rumored to be the top candidate for the job at his alma mater, but Michigan was mum on what it was thinking. The media being the media, it began to work the infamous “unnamed sources,” and it soon leaked out that Miles was indeed the top guy on the list for the Maize and Blue.

The problem was Miles was preparing for the BCS National Championship Game at LSU, and he said what any coach would likely say in that situation. Because of the stupidity of one likely low-level worker in the Michigan athletic department, Michigan was forced to settle for West Virginia country bumpkin Rich Rodriguez.

While Rodriguez may have been a good football coach, there were two major problems. First, this coach with his “aw shucks” attitude, backwoods sayings and optional grammar didn't fit in well with the academic elite Michigan establishment. The second major problem was that his style of football was completely foreign to Ann Arbor, and such a seismic change was bound to cause massive growing pains.

After the three worst football seasons in Michigan's 130-year-plus history, Rodriguez was fired. Former Michigan assistant Brady Hoke was hired and quickly led the Wolverines out of the doldrums, posting an 11-2 record complete with a BCS bid and Sugar Bowl trophy.

2. USC

Say what you will about USC—sanctions or no sanctions, it's still one of the most coveted jobs in all of college football.

In reality, it shouldn't be a surprise that the biggest college football program in the nation's second-largest city is a top job considering that city doesn't even sport an NFL franchise.

In addition, USC has dominated its conference for years and has benefited from the conference's automatic tie-in with the Rose Bowl. USC has more Rose Bowl trips (and titles) than any other program by leaps and bounds. USC is also an unrivaled recruiting power in the southwest of the country, putting the Trojans in a position to compete each and every year for a national championship.

Now that USC will be emerging from its postseason ban, expect the Trojans to be back in the preseason Top 10 and poised to make a legitimate run at the Pac-12 and BCS titles in 2012.

1. Alabama

Picking Alabama as the top college football head coaching job comes with some risks.

First, there is the perception of Nick Saban outside of Tuscaloosa. For those of you living in the Tide bubble, Saban is typically viewed as gruff, arrogant and at times downright rude.

As long as you're delivering SEC and BCS championships, that probably doesn't matter a whole lot.

But since we're looking at the job itself rather than the person currently occupying the position, there's no question that Alabama has one of the best, if not the best, head coaching gigs in the entire nation right now.

Much to the consternation of Auburn fans, the Crimson Tide are the king of football in the South, and even in years where Alabama falls short of the SEC title (like this season), the Tide are always right on the heels of the eventual champion. The program's stature has grown so rapidly in the past decade that even a non-SEC champion Alabama once beaten by LSU was magically selected by the BCS to face LSU again in the BCS National Championship Game.

Whatever that says about the BCS, it says just as much about Alabama being a monstrously important program.