Top Contenders for College Football Coach of the Year
Florida and Michigan are ranked.
This statement, by itself without any further explanation, seems hardly newsworthy. Why shouldn't Florida and Michigan be ranked? They're two of college football's best blue-blood programs. When you add in the context of what each has been through the last few years, though, that statement gets more impressive. Florida and Michigan were massive underachievers under Will Muschamp and Brady Hoke, respectively—so much so that both coaches were let go last year.
How things have changed for the better. First-year coaches Jim McElwain and Jim Harbaugh have led some miraculous early-season turnarounds. Combined, Florida and Michigan are 9-1—the Wolverines lost in Week 1 to Utah, which is now a top-10 team in both major polls—and much further ahead than many pundits would have predicted.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
But McElwain and Harbaugh are just two of the coaches who have been outstanding through the first five weeks of the 2015 season. Nearly a dozen coaches could lay claim to being the best in college football. Seeing as there are multiple Coach of the Year awards, it's likely more than one of them will be recognized in December.
We've broken down these candidates into categories. Some stand on their own, while others are grouped into similar situations. Records are a primary criteria but so are other circumstances, such as injuries, depth issues and major wins.
Dabo Swinney, Clemson: Give the Man Some Respect
Clemsoning? It's dead, provided the Tigers don't lay an egg against Georgia Tech, and head coach Dabo Swinney is the man who Dexter'd it.
It's beyond time for Swinney to get the credit he rightfully deserves for being one of the top coaches in college football. He's more than earned it after beating some of the biggest names the sport has to offer. As Dan Wolken of USA Today wrote after Clemson's victory over Notre Dame in Week 5, "Sure enough, among Clemson’s victims the last four years are Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma and now Notre Dame. There is no longer any doubt that Clemson can win games on the biggest stages against the best opponents."
Swinney now has the Tigers in clear position to make a playoff run, the one true thing missing from his resume. But it's not just that Swinney has put Clemson in this position. It's how he's done it.
He's recruited extremely well, hired fantastic assistants—former offensive coordinator Chad Morris and defensive coordinator Brent Venables are the two biggest—and shown the ability to win in a variety of ways. Yes, Clemson still has a high-powered offense, but the Tigers' completely rebuilt defensive line just dominated Notre Dame in the trenches.
In short, Swinney has done everything expected of an elite coach. 2015 could be the year he's recognized for that.
Justin Fuente, Memphis: The Up-and-Comer
Here's a quick poll: What are the odds Justin Fuente is still the coach of Memphis in three months? If the Tigers can repeat last year's success (10-3), Fuente will have officially turned one of the lowliest programs in college football from the past several years into a consistent winner.
The pinnacle of Fuente's time in Memphis, however long or short it is, will be in two weeks. That's when the Tigers host Ole Miss. If Memphis can somehow knock off the Rebels, it doesn't just become the leading Group of Five team to make a "New Year's Six" bowl—it becomes a legitimate playoff crasher.
Win or lose against Ole Miss, though, Fuente is on his way to having his name on every short list for a major job opening at season's end.
The First-Years
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
Harbaugh is known for quick turnarounds. He's done all his best work as a head coach, including taking Stanford to the Orange Bowl and the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl, in a four-year period or less. Imagine what he'll do with Michigan.
The Wolverines are 4-1. Granted, their best win is against BYU, but they've taken care of business in a way that never happened under Hoke. In their four wins, Michigan has outscored opponents 122-14. And Michigan's only loss was by one touchdown to perhaps the best team in the Pac-12. The offense has found a ground game, and the defense is playing lights out.
Things get more difficult in the next two weeks against Northwestern—more on the guy coaching the Wildcats below—and Michigan State. The Wolverines winning the Big Ten East division, or anything more, in the first year of the Harbaugh era still feels like a long shot, but Harbaugh is finally tapping into the potential that's been sitting there in Ann Arbor.
Tom Herman, Houston
Tom Herman, one of the primary engineers behind Ohio State's national championship run in 2014, is already doing great as the head coach at Houston. (Meanwhile, the Buckeyes offense looks lost, which probably isn't a coincidence.)
The Cougars are one of four undefeated teams in the American Athletic Conference. As far as Group of Five conferences go, the AAC is tops and could very well represent the "lower" grouping of FBS conferences in one of the six major bowls this year.
Former head coach Tony Levine may not have been the man to get things done at Houston, but he didn't leave the program dry, either. Houston has one of the top offenses in the AAC, and quarterback Greg Ward Jr. leads the conference in total offense (382.5 yards per game). He's a perfect fit for Herman's offense. Additionally, Herman is putting his own stamp on the recruiting trail, securing the verbal commitment of 5-star defensive tackle Ed Oliver.
The month of November will be crucial for the AAC, as Houston, Memphis and Navy all play one another. If the Cougars come out as AAC champs from that late-season slate, Herman will have a legit case to be the coach of the year in college football.
Jim McElwain, Florida
What's Florida now? The SEC East favorite? The SEC favorite? There's a lot of season left, but how many people honestly expected the Gators to be 5-0 and capable of beating Ole Miss 38-10? For that matter, did McElwain expect it?
Who knows, but McElwain is focused on the present and only the present.
Depth along the offensive line is still a major concern. It didn't always show up on the stat sheet, but the Gators did get beaten up by Ole Miss defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche. That'll continue to be an issue moving forward. Florida only so many bodies up front. But if McElwain can coach up the offense like this, one would think Florida is capable of winning at least nine games. That would be a huge step forward until McElwain can get his true recruiting classes on campus.
Big Ten West Surprises
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Who would have thought before the season that Kirk Ferentz would have a claim as the Big Ten's best coach? After all, Ferentz has mostly been on the receiving end of numerous jokes about his astronomically high buyout.
Yet, here are the Hawkeyes at 5-0 with few tests between now and the end of November. In fact, the biggest game on Iowa's schedule may be in two weeks against Northwestern.
Northwestern.
But that's not Ferentz's fault. His job is to win games, regardless of whether his schedule is the toughest in the Big Ten or the weakest. With the offense actually working this year—Iowa ranks third in the Big Ten with 32.2 points per game—Ferentz could win a lot of games. There simply aren't many offenses in the West division that can compete.
Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Speaking of the Wildcats, could it be that Pat Fitzgerald is finally leading this program to new heights never before imagined? You see, to understand what Northwestern could potentially accomplish this year, you have to consider two things. First, there's the historical significance. The last truly great year for the Wildcats was the 1995 Rose Bowl season, which Fitzgerald was a part of as a player.
But, secondly, there's 2013. That was the year Northwestern was supposed to be the Big Ten dark horse. That was the year of the Oct. 5 home showdown with Ohio State.
And that was the year of the brutal letdown, when the wheels came suddenly flying off the Wildcats hype machine. A 40-30 loss to the Buckeyes was the first of seven straight losses. 2014 wasn't any better, as Northwestern again went 5-7.
There were so many unfortunate injuries during that stretch, so many close calls and so much "m00n":
If Fitzgerald really does have Northwestern on the up-and-up, it'll be because of the defense. The season-opening 16-6 win over Stanford looks far better now, and beating Duke in Week 3 is impressive in its own right. Even though, like Iowa, Northwestern doesn't have to face Michigan State or Ohio State in the regular season, its resume could be one of the best in the country. In the next two weeks, Northwestern goes to Michigan and then faces the Hawkeyes at home.
Going 2-0 or even 1-1 could put Northwestern in the West division driver's seat.
Pac-12 Anarchists
Sonny Dykes, Cal
Remember when Cal went 1-11 in 2013? That seems so long ago now. Now in year three with head coach Sonny Dykes, the Golden Bears are irrefutably on the right track at 5-0. The key now is finishing. Cal was 4-1 this time last year but ended up losing six of its final seven games to miss out on bowl season. One more win this year would get Cal back into the postseason.
And what a game it will be: at Utah in the Pac-12 showdown of the year no one saw coming, complete with College GameDay coverage and everything.
Dykes has also put his stamp on the program with quarterback Jared Goff. The prize recruit in Dykes' first recruiting class, Goff is now one of the top quarterbacks in college football and could be a first-round selection in the 2016 draft if he declares:
For all the chatter about Stanford in the Pac-12 North, Cal could take advantage of a down year for Oregon and cement itself in the divisional title race.
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Beat Oregon in Eugene 62-20 and you'll get coach of the year consideration. That's what Kyle Whittingham has earned.
Whittingham has been with the Utes a long time. This is his 11th year. He's taken them to an undefeated season in 2008 and transitioned to life in the Pac-12 well. Despite some initial struggles in the new conference, 2015 could finally be the breakout year. Certainly, the win over the Ducks was among the most impressive, overwhelming victories of the season thus far.
Many figured Los Angeles would dominate the Pac-12 South, but if Utah can get to the Pac-12 championship game, Whittingham will have won the tougher division in the conference.
Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com. All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
