Power Ranking Top 25 College Football Coaches
Alabama coach Nick Saban claimed his fifth national championship on Monday night, the fourth with the Crimson Tide in just the last seven seasons. That puts him in elite company, as only legendary 'Bama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant has claimed more national titles.
With this latest championship in hand, Saban is sure to rank among the greatest coaches in college football history when his career is done. But what about among current FBS head coaches?
We've listed the 25 best coaches who will be on the sidelines for the 2016 season, their ranking determined by a combination of overall success, what they've done recently and how well-regarded they are in the industry. Only coaches who were in their current job in 2015 were considered, since the likes of Justin Fuente (Memphis), Bronco Mendenhall (Virginia) and Mark Richt (Miami, Florida) have yet to show what they can do in their new gig.
Check out how everyone stacked up, then give us your thoughts in the comments section.
25. P.J. Fleck, Western Michigan
1 of 25
Career record: 17-21
If P.J. Fleck is the future of college football coaching, count us in. His drive, determination and energy makes us want to “Row the Boat” with him and the Western Michigan program he's built from nothing over the past two seasons.
Fleck went 1-10 in his first year with the Broncos in 2013, then a 32-year-old first-time head coach who'd never previously been more than a position coach. That was followed by consecutive 8-5 seasons and this year included Western Michigan's first-ever bowl victory, a 45-31 triumph over Middle Tennessee in the Bahamas Bowl.
The 35-year-old Fleck figures to be hired by a bigger school soon enough, though for now he's focused on continuing the mission he's set out on in Kalamazoo.
24. Mark Helfrich, Oregon
2 of 25
Career record: 33-8
Looked at on its own, Mark Helfrich's short career as a head coach has been incredibly successful. He's won two conference titles and played in a national championship game, doing so with a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback whom he helped develop as Oregon's offensive coordinator in 2012.
But the 42-year-old Helfrich rarely gets to be evaluated based only on his own accomplishments. Instead he's compared to what predecessor Chip Kelly did with the Ducks, which included winning three Pac-12 titles, making a BCS championship game and playing in four BCS bowls in as many seasons.
Judged against that, Helfrich's two non-major bowl trips gets knocked. So, too, did the 2015 season in which the Ducks started 3-3 and then blew a 31-point lead in the Alamo Bowl.
That came just days after Kelly was fired from his NFL job, prompting some to wonder if Oregon should dump Helfrich and bring back its golden boy.
23. Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech
3 of 25
Career record: 19-19
Kliff Kingsbury has more wins as a starting quarterback in college (23) than as a head coach, but at 36 years old he's a long ways away from being done working the sidelines with a headset. And if he can assemble a defensive staff to go with the offensive mind he possesses, the wins will be coming fast and furious.
The former Texas Tech passer got his first coaching job in 2008 on Kevin Sumlin's staff at Houston, following him to Texas A&M before landing the Red Raiders gig in 2013. He stormed out of the gates by winning his first seven games, the best start ever for a Big 12 coach, but finished that year 8-5 and then was 4-8 in 2014.
A 7-6 season in 2015 saw amazing offensive numbers and dreadful defensive numbers, so there's still work to do. And if the whole coaching thing fizzles out, he's also got a future as a stand-in for actor Ryan Gosling.
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22. Chris Petersen, Washington
4 of 25
Career record: 107-24
Chris Petersen has lost as many games in the past two seasons as he did in his first eight as a head coach, yet his career is on as positive a track as it's ever been.
After going 92-12 at Boise State, with two perfect seasons and seven with at least 10 wins, Petersen finally made the jump to a power program in 2014 when he took the Washington job. The 51-year-old has gone 8-6 and 7-6 with the Huskies, records that are both worse than anything he did at Boise, though he's faced a much tougher level of competition in the Pac-12 than in the Mountain West or Western Athletic conferences.
Petersen's first two years saw him forced to play a lot of predecessor Steve Sarkisian's players, but this past season he also saw the emergence of freshmen such as running back Myles Gaskin and quarterback Jake Browning. If he can do with them what he did with less heralded players in Boise he'll continue to rise up the coaching ranks.
21. Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
5 of 25
Career record: 64-25
All Hugh Freeze has done in his four years at Ole Miss is win a little more each season than the one beforehand. If he keeps that up he'll be leading the Rebels to their first SEC title since 1963 and also have them competing for national titles.
The 46-year-old Freeze went 7-6 in his first season in Oxford in 2012, upping the tally to eight wins a year later. Last season he was 9-4, though Ole Miss slid down the stretch after a 7-0 start, and in 2015 he led the Rebels to their first 10-win season since 2003. Along the way he beat eventual national champion Alabama, the second straight season he'd accomplished that rare feat.
While he hasn't made any indication he plans to go elsewhere, Ole Miss is doing everything it can to hold onto Freeze. He just got another raise, now averaging just under $5 million per season.
20. Tom Herman, Houston
6 of 25
Career record: 13-1
Tom Herman was one of a slew of first-time head coaches who made their debut in 2015, but that's where he and those other newcomers stop being mentioned in the same sentence. That's because no one else had anywhere near as successful a first year as Herman did.
Houston was by far the best non-power conference team in FBS this past season, earning the "Group of Five" bid to a New Year's Six bowl as American Athletic Conference champions. But the Cougars didn't just dominate their league, they also beat three power teams along the way, including Florida State in the Peach Bowl.
The 40-year-old Herman has already earned a healthy raise, now making close to $3 million, but that's probably not going to keep him at his current job for long. Not if he puts together another year like the first one.
19. David Cutcliffe, Duke
7 of 25
Career record: 92-82
Duke is—and probably always will be—a basketball school, even after legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski eventually retires. But thanks to David Cutcliffe, the Blue Devils are at least acknowledged for their play on the gridiron, which was rarely the case before he got there in 2008.
The 61-year-old only won 15 games in his first four seasons in Durham, North Carolina, but that was still two more than Duke had from 1999-2007. In his last four, Cutcliffe has averaged 8.25 victories, going 10-4 in 2013 and reaching the ACC title game.
Cutcliffe's last four teams have made bowl games, quadrupling the previous-best streak for Duke, and last month's overtime win over Indiana in the Pinstripe Bowl gave the program its first postseason victory since 1961.
18. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
8 of 25
Career record: 68-37
Having led Navy to its most wins in school history, and with a record-setting quarterback set to graduate, Ken Niumatalolo would have been justified in seeking out a different challenge after the 2015 season. The BYU job was his to say no to, but instead of heading west the 50-year-old opted to stay with the Midshipmen.
"The Naval Academy has been my life for the last 18 years and I love it here," Niumatalolo said last month, per SI.com.
Niumatalolo has been Navy's head coach since the end of the 2007 season, when he took over for Paul Johnson for the Poinsettia Bowl. He's taken the Midshipmen to bowl games in six of his seven full seasons, including the last three, and in 2015 helped navigate them through their first year of conference affiliation after being an independent program since the 1800s.
17. Bret Bielema, Arkansas
9 of 25
Career record: 86-44
There's rarely a dull moment when it's come to Bret Bielema since he made the surprise move from Wisconsin to Arkansas after the 2012 season. The 46-year-old left a good thing in the Big Ten for an uncertain one in the ultra-tough SEC West, taking over a program mired in embarrassment after previous coach Bobby Petrino was forced out amid an adultery scandal.
And though he's below .500 for his time with the Razorbacks, Bielema has proved he's “all hog” and isn't afraid to show that.
Bielema is one of the more colorful coaches in the game, whether on purpose or by accident, and it's one of the many reasons he's become a media darling. How many other coaches have documentaries made about them after only three years at a job?
16. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
10 of 25
Career record: 55-35
Dan Mullen needs 21 more victories to become Mississippi State's winningest coach, though he's already well on his way to being the most successful leader in Bulldogs history.
The 43-year-old has taken MSU to six straight bowl games, double the previous-best streak in Starkville, with 19 wins the last two seasons. The 2014 team began 9-0 and spent several weeks ranked first in the country.
Part of the Urban Meyer coaching tree, Mullen was part of both of Meyer's national titles at Florida before taking over his own program.
15. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
11 of 25
Career record: 139-106
With Frank Beamer retiring, there are now only two coaches that have been at the same school since the 20th century. Nearly everyone can quickly name Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, but the other guy still holding the FBS job he landed in 1999 usually slips the mind.
Kirk Ferentz would make for a semi-tough Jeopardy! question since he's toiled in relative anonymity for 17 seasons in America's heartland. His Iowa teams only occasionally draw national attention, and usually out of nowhere, as it did this past season when the Hawkeyes went 12-0 in the regular season and nearly won the Big Ten title.
Iowa played in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1991, and though it lost handily to Stanford the 12 wins were still the most in school history. It was the 60-year-old Ferentz's fifth 10-win season, two more than predecessor Hayden Fry had in his 20 years in Iowa City.
14. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
12 of 25
Career record: 68-30
Jim Harbaugh didn't make this list a year ago because he didn't meet the ranking criteria, even though he'd already proved he could turn around a college program during his four years at Stanford. The hope was he could eventually do the same at Michigan, his alma mater, once he'd gotten reacclimated to the college game after a stint in the NFL.
So much for a slow rebuild.
Harbaugh's 10 wins in 2015 weren't the most by a first-year Michigan coach, but considering he doubled the tally that Brady Hoke managed the year before there's no denying that the former quarterback did more in his debut than anyone could have expected. There were moments during this past season when it appeared the Wolverines might vie for a national title, which hadn't been a realistic goal in a decade.
His first season wasn't just about on-the-field accomplishments, though. The 52-year-old Harbaugh has kept Michigan relevant through his actions away from the sideline as well, spearheading the satellite camp movement and becoming a social media star, while also cleaning up on the recruiting trail even before winning a game.
"A successful season on the field should only boost Harbaugh's efforts off it, as opposed to a year ago when he was selling hope and not much else," Bleacher Report's Ben Axelrod wrote.
13. Bill Snyder, Kansas State
13 of 25
Career record: 193-101-1
While the 2015 season marked the end of the line for college coaching greats such as Frank Beamer and Steve Spurrier, Bill Snyder keeps trucking along. He and his collection of windbreakers will be back in 2016, the 76-year-old's 25th overall at Kansas State and eighth since coming out of retirement in 2009.
"Bill Snyder is one of the best head coaches in college football history," sportswriter Phil Steele tweeted Wednesday. "I am very happy he is returning for another season at Kansas St."
That's pretty much a universal sentiment in regards to Snyder, who is already in the College Football Hall of Fame and who is pretty much the only reason K-State has a place at the table in major college football. He took over a woeful program in 1989, going 1-10 that season, and that was one of only five losing records he's had with the Wildcats.
The last was this past season, when K-State went 6-7 after losing to Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl. But that came after it won its final three games to earn a 17th bowl bid under Snyder.
12. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
14 of 25
Career record: 95-46
Utah has been a part of the Pac-12 since 2011, but it wasn't until this season that the Utes got recognized as something more than just one of the many moving pieces that shuffled during the mass conference realignment period earlier this decade. And in discovering the Utes, many also got their first glimpse of Kyle Whittingham and what he's achieved in 11 seasons in Salt Lake City.
The 56-year-old's first game at the helm was actually the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, completing a perfect season that Urban Meyer (and quarterback Alex Smith) started before Meyer left for Florida. Utah was the first so-called “BCS Buster” by earning a bid to a BCS bowl from a non-power conference, something Whittingham accomplished on his own with the Utes in 2008.
That was the first of three straight 10-win seasons for Utah, which upped its profile enough to warrant getting scooped up by the Pac-10 along with Colorado. Whittingham went 8-5 in that first year in the Pac-12 but then had back-to-back 5-7 seasons, though in the last two years he's won 19 games.
11. Les Miles, LSU
15 of 25
Career record: 139-53
Les Miles was nearly out of a job in late November, seemingly headed for a separation from LSU despite averaging 10 wins per season and winning a national title there. But after all signs pointed toward the regular-season finale against Texas A&M being his last game with the Tigers, cooler heads prevailed and Miles learned he'd be back for 2016.
LSU fans breathed a sigh of relief, while those associated with programs already looking for a coach—and whom might soon be doing so—threw up their hands in frustration.
Had Miles and the Tigers parted ways, there's little doubt he would have landed another job right away had he wanted to. Though 62, there's still plenty of life left in a coach whose only losing season came in his first, in 2001 at Oklahoma State.
10. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
16 of 25
Career record: 226-80-2
Brian Kelly just finished his sixth season at Notre Dame, the longest he's stayed at an FBS school since moving up from Division II Grand Valley State after 2003. Three years at Central Michigan led to four seasons at Cincinnati, then he landed one of the top gigs in college.
Does that mean he's apt to make another move soon, perhaps to the next level?
"I really feel like I'm at the level," Kelly said on ESPN on Monday (h/t Chase Goodbread of NFL.com). "I know the NFL gets that notoriety because it's professional sports. But it doesn't mean necessarily it has it right in all facets. I think college football is right for me."
That might sound like double-talk, that all it will take is the right situation and offer, but there are few jobs as big time in college as Notre Dame. And the 54-year-old Kelly has achieved enough in his time with the Fighting Irish that he's quickly rising up the ranks of the greatest coaches in that program's history.
Though he hasn't won a national title, he did make the BCS title game in 2012. And unlike some of his predecessors, he hasn't followed early success with a major backslide.
9. David Shaw, Stanford
17 of 25
Career record: 54-14
An assistant in the NFL for nearly a decade, David Shaw was part of Jim Harbaugh's staff at FCS San Diego in 2006 when Harbaugh landed the Stanford job. The Stanford alum gladly followed his job to Palo Alto, probably never envisioning he'd someday be in charge of his alma mater.
Or that he'd eventually turn the Cardinal into one of the most consistently successful programs in the country.
The 43-year-old Shaw was elevated to head coach at Stanford in 2011 after Harbaugh went to the NFL, and since then he's exponentially improved on the job that Harbaugh did. Four of his five seasons have resulted in trips to BCS/New Year's Six bowl games, including three Rose Bowls, winning two of them (including this season).
Because of this, as well as his NFL experience, Shaw's name is regularly mentioned as a possible candidate to make the jump from college to the pros. For now, though, he's in no hurry to leave what he's built at Stanford.
8. Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
18 of 25
Career record: 68-14
Jimbo Fisher had the unenviable task of replacing a legend, something new Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente will attempt to do this season in succeeding Frank Beamer. To expect anyone to achieve what Fisher has since taking over for Bobby Bowden, though, seems foolish.
The 50-year-old has won at least nine games every season, winning four ACC titles and a national championship while putting together a school-record 29-game win streak from 2012-14. His Seminoles weren't able to claim another conference crown this season, though they still made it into a New Year's Six bowl game despite having to replace a treasure trove of players who'd been taken in the NFL draft.
Fisher's success in his first head-coaching gig is among the greatest in college football history, and there's no sign this won't continue for the long term.
7. Art Briles, Baylor
19 of 25
Career record: 99-65
Art Briles has been a legend in the state of Texas for quite some time, but it took turning a bottom-feeder like Baylor for the rest of the country to discover this.
The 60-year-old spent more than 20 years coaching at the high school level before getting his first college gig as an assistant at Texas Tech in 2000. Since then it's been a continued rise through the state, first at Houston and since 2008 with the Bears in Waco.
Before Briles, Baylor hadn't been to a bowl since 1994 and in the decade preceding him it averaged 2.8 wins per season. The Bears have won at least 10 games in three straight years and four of the last five, winning at least a share of the Big 12 title in 2013 and 2014.
This past year might have been his best job yet, if only because he had to overcome injuries to three different quarterbacks which required an on-the-fly change in scheme. The result: a bowl-record 645 rushing yards to beat North Carolina in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
6. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
20 of 25
Career record: 179-46
In his 17 seasons at Oklahoma, Bob Stoops has won one national title, seven Big 12 championships and almost 80 percent of his games in the conference. He's also been in need of a change of scenery several times, at least according to critics who point out that his title came in his second season and hadn't been in contention for one for several years until this fall.
Stoops' Sooners were the first Big 12 playoff representatives, falling to Clemson in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Eve. That came a year after Oklahoma lost five games, tied for the most in Stoops' tenure, and were getting counted out as a relevant program as long as he was in charge.
Then he changed with the times, shuffling his staff and upgrading his offense, and again Oklahoma was back in the national title picture.
Now tied with Iowa's Kirk Ferentz as the longest-tenured coach in FBS, the 55-year-old Stoops remains one of the best in the game regardless of what others might think on a year-to-year basis.
5. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
21 of 25
Career record: 105-50
Michigan State doesn't have anywhere near the history, lineage or notoriety that rival Michigan does in its own state, let alone on the national landscape. But since Mark Dantonio took over in 2007, the Spartans have been consistently chipping away at the perception that there's only one big school from the state that looks like an oven mitt.
While Michigan was firing or forcing out coaches—three since 2007—Dantonio has been building a foundation in East Lansing that culminated in a trip to the semifinals this season. The 38-0 loss to Alabama in the Cotton Bowl was a humbling experience for the 59-year-old Dantonio and MSU, but also something he figures to use as mortar for the next floor of the Spartans' fortress.
"We will rise again," Dantonio said after the loss, per Mike Griffith of MLive.com.
This past season was the third straight with at least 10 wins and fifth time to get to that number in the past six years. Four times under Dantonio have the Spartans finished in the Top 10.
If only everyone could get his name right.
4. Gary Patterson, TCU
22 of 25
Career record: 143-47
Gary Patterson's most recent victory might seem like the most improbable of his career, but then you wouldn't have checked the road he's traveled to get to this point.
Making a 31-point comeback to win the Alamo Bowl was just the latest in a series of notable accomplishments for the 55-year-old Patterson in his 15 seasons as TCU's head coach. When he got the permanent job in 2001—after coaching the Horned Frogs to a bowl loss at the end of the 2000 season following Dennis Franchione's departure—he was in charge of a program making the move from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA.
TCU had been tossed aside when the Southwest Conference dissolved in 1995, but under Patterson it's risen through the ranks of C-USA to the Mountain West and since 2012 the Big 12. And he's won or shared a conference title in every stop, claiming a Rose Bowl championship after the 2010 season and winning the Peach Bowl in 2014.
Under Patterson, TCU is every bit a player in football-loving Texas as any other Lone Star State program, if not the player.
3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
23 of 25
Career record: 75-27
Dabo Swinney can always go back to selling homes if the whole coaching thing doesn't work out, but based on what he's done at Clemson the last five years that's not happening anytime soon.
The 46-year-old has piloted the Tigers to five consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins, the best such run in school history, and nearly won his first national title on Monday. The 45-40 loss to Alabama ended a 17-game win streak, during which Clemson supplanted Florida State as the team to beat in the ACC.
Swinney's rise has been near-constant since getting tabbed as Clemson's interim coach midway through the 2008 season. That was five years after he returned to the coaching ranks following a two-year stint in real estate after losing his first job at Alabama, his alma mater.
A master recruiter who has managed to get Clemson on the short list of most top prospects, Swinney doesn't have much higher to climb to get to the top.
2. Urban Meyer, Ohio State
24 of 25
Career record: 154-27
No college football coach has ever had a better four-year start to a tenure as Urban Meyer, who since coming to Ohio State in 2012 has won a national title while going 32-2 against Big Ten opponents (including in the conference title game).
And because of this, going 12-1 and finishing fourth in the final Associated Press poll seems like an off year.
Meyer has won three national titles, including two at Florida, and has never had a losing record in 14 seasons as a head coach. The fatigue he cited when leaving Florida after the 2010 season hasn't resurfaced, making the 51-year-old as energized as ever.
1. Nick Saban, Alabama
25 of 25
Career record: 191-60-1
What was mentioned in the intro is really all that needs to be said to explain why Nick Saban is the top college football coach in the game: five national championships, four in the last seven years with Alabama, only one off the record.
There's not much left for Saban to accomplish at 64, other than to tie (and eventually pass) Bear Bryant's mark of six national titles. If that happens, it will be at Alabama and not some other school, and at this point you can forget about another dip into the pros.
"This challenge—the challenge of building and sustaining success at an elite level in college—is good enough," Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee wrote.
To drive home how entrenched Saban is at Alabama, and how he has no plans to change that course anytime soon, know that on the trip back from Monday's title game to Tuscaloosa he was watching film.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
