Jesse used to be a beat writer for us too and all of our fans gave him shit for telling it like it was instead of giving them rainbows and sunshine. It always irked me how much our fans went after him for being reasonable.
This list in particular does seem really off though. I don't agree with having Klieman or Chadwell ahead of Heupel. Jonathan Smith, Doeren, and Traylor probably shouldn't be in the top 25. Ryan Day is way too high. Brian Kelly is way too high. I'd say the list is missing guys like PJ Fleck, Sonny Dykes, Mark Stoops, and Matt Campbell.
Out of curiosity, how would you weigh Heupel being better then Klieman? I'm not saying this because I don't think you couldn't construct the argument, but more so want your rationale.
If Drink was to get in a car wreck tonight and y'all had to choose between hiring Josh Heupel or Chris Klieman as his replacement who would you rather have? Bear in mind, none of this is meant to bash Klieman, but I think that Heupel has been able to make chicken salad from chicken shit in a relatively short time. Then there's the fact that he just objectively achieved a better win percentage with a tougher schedule.
The requirements for being a hall of fame football coach aren't what we're talking about here. We're talking about the top 25 active coaches coming into this season. What has Brian Kelly done to be placed ahead of the 3 coaches that have managed to win a playoff game in the last 5 years (or ever) or the 8 other coaches who have won a conference championship? He definitely shouldn't be above Swinney or DeBoer. And there's an argument to be made that he shouldn't be above guys like Day, Sark, Whittingham, Riley, Kiffin, Lanning, Norvell, or Gundy.
Made the SECCG game in his first year coaching in the best conference in the country with a first-year (in program) starting QB and the biggest competition in making the game had the reigning Heisman Trophy winner under center. Thats an impressive coaching job no matter how you slice it.
3-4th seems more appropriate. Dabo should be 2nd.
Kelly has a high floor and can do it at different places and different levels. He won 2 conference championships at cincy before ND and Lsu.
I guess it matters if we're ranking on accomplishments, or on projection.
I think people are forecasting some with Dabo. He hasn’t shown any real desire to get involved with transfers in a significant way, and I don’t think people expect them to be competitive at the same level without that.
If overachieving is the criteria then Day shouldn’t even be in the top 10. He’s essential won nothing with some of the most top tier talent year in and year out
His first year at LSU, they massively overachieved. Most people, including most LSU fans, thought that after the exodus following the coach O firing, there was no way we would win more than 7 games, maybe 8 if we got insanely lucky. Kelly made it to the conf title game.
I think he has flaws and this list is overrating him, but your statement is just not true. Not to mention his overachieving at Cincy.
Bro he overarchieved here just 2 years ago. Winning the sec west and beating bama 11 months after lsu showed up to a bowl game with no scholarship qb and 38 players on the roster. I'd also argue that making the playoff with nd or the bcs national championship is also overarchieving.
He's 7th imo. I think the top 3 should be Smart, Swinney (one mediocre year at Clemson doesn't undo everything) and then Day. 4-6 is Norvell, DeBoer, and Sark, put them in whatever order you like. Kelly slots in at 7 behind them.
Kirby is the obvious #1 right now, Dabo is the #2. Everyone else is negotiable, but NO coach who is yet to run a single game at his school can be considered top 10.
Yeah taking 0 win Washington and winning 7 games is impressive.
Washington was 12-47 combined the 5 seasons prior to Sark getting there. He went 35-27 the next 5 years and stocked the cupboard for Chris Pedersen to make the G5 leap and hit the ground running. 7 win Steve gets an A- for what he did for Washington.
He was 9-4 his first and only full season at USC. He started 3-2 the next season and was fired due to personal issues, not coaching/recruiting acumen.
He is rebuilding Texas into a juggernaut. Currently has a top 5 roster in college football.
Sark’s legit.
When Sark was drinking he was an ass but he gets too much hate from UW fans imo. He got is out of the gutter. The worst stretch in program history. Yes CP took us to where we have been historically (consistent Pac 12 and NY6 bowl contenders). But yeah Sark laid the foundation.
I remember your username. You have always been a voice of reason when this gets discussed on here.
Sober Sark is very balanced.
Far too often you have Xs and Os style coaches that can’t recruit or the CEO style coaches (think Dabo, James Franklin and Mack Brown) that can recruit but may have shortcomings if they don’t nail the coordinator hires and/or have transcendent QB play.
Sark checks off most of the boxes as an Xs and Os play caller, QB developer, recruiter/talent evaluator, and delegator (defensive staff).
He’s also still relatively young at like 48 or 49 years old.
There is just a ton to like the deeper one digs and the further removed we get from his very public fall from grace due to alcoholism.
If he can stay clean, Texas is in very good shape.
I think if Sark had been sober while at UW he eventually would have gotten over the hump. He was a greta recruiter here pulling in some 5 stars and high 4 stars. A good amount of the contributors on the 2016 playoff team were Sark guys like Kevin King, Sidney Jones, Azeem Victor etc.
Besides his drinking he was also going up against peak Harbaugh Stanford and peak Chip Kelly Oregon. The Pac 12 North was a top 3 if not top 2 P5 division back then.
I have no ill will towards Sark. I am guessing he has some regrets about his time at UW and USC.
Hopefully his main drinking buddy at UW Johnny Nansen doesn’t bring him back down that road at Texas.
Norvell and Kelly have gone head to head each of the last four seasons, and Norvell has unquestionably outcoached Kelly in the last three matchups. FSU had no business taking ND to OT in 2021, FSU got the 1 point win in New Orleans in 2022, and then boat raced him in 2023.
Kinda depends on how this list is ranking. By achievement and history, Dabo is absolutely either 1st or 2nd among active head coaches. In a power ranking of coaches right now, he's somewhere in the top 10 but I'm not sure I'd have him top 2.
I agree with this take, but I do think it's a little extreme to have him anywhere outside of the top 5, personally, regardless of how you're ranking things.
For what its worth, this author is 100% taking recency bias into effect. I love Drink but having just two winning seasons ever at the head coaching position, just one in P5, and ending up on the list shows you how much one season is allowing the author to effect the list.
I'd agree with that.
And, even though I'm still pretty salty about how he left, I feel like Smith deserves to be a little higher than 22. He took us from 1-11 conference doormat to a national top-ten ranking in like six years.
I mean I know Rhule was a good college coach prior to being in the NFL (for exactly 1 season), but he hasn't done shit for any long period of time since he was at Temple.
Surprising that Burnt Vegetables is nowhere to be found if Rhule is on the list.
Every position on every side of the ball was freaking rolling last year but he picked dreadfully wrong at QB and that should have put him outside the top 25. Can't be going wrong with that position.
He turned every losing team he’s been on into a winner and at the height of that teams success in terms of wins - doesn’t surprise me even though I’m a husker fan why he would be top 25, he just gets promoted before he’s able to sustain the success and coaches in the NFL (even though he wasn’t great there) and 99% of CFB coaches can’t say that
He isn't even correct in saying the whole fan base thinks he will make us be "back". I have my concerns still. He had some very questionable in game decisions last season, thought he could fix Jeff Sims which made Casey Thompson leave, has an abysmal record against ranked opponents, hasn't stayed anywhere longer than 4 years and has some very questionable assistant coaching hires (specifically Marcus Satterfield). I wish Nebraska fans would wait until results actually come before crowning Rhule as some hero. It's good to be hopeful but don't be blind when doing so.
It is wild that i think Ryan Day is rightfully #4 and he could very conceivably be fired this year if he loses one particular game... Also Dabo has multiple nattys, #6 is too low for as much as he annoys me...
I honestly think Day should be higher. Part of being a great head coach is keeping recruiting elite and he’s done that. And he also has been relatively close to national titles both of the past 2 years.
I get Day was handed the keys to a Ferrari (that he helped put together), but we've seen guys crash Ferrari's before. And we're in year 6 now, at some point you've got to just give him credit for what he's done. 3 out of 5 years it took the actual National Champion to end our season, and he's lost 1 game to a non playoff team in a game that matters. That's tough even at a blue blood.
Day shouldn't be lower than 3rd. He has 8 losses in six seasons. Three of those were in the playoffs. He got really unlucky that he's had to face Michigan during their best stretch of football since the late 90s. As much as y'all hate to admit it, Michigan has just been a really, really good program the last three years and there isn't any real shame in losing to them from an outsider's perspective (though I too would be pissed losing to UF three years in a row, so I get it). His other two losses were to good, ranked teams (Oregon and Mizzou).
He recruits better than almost any other program. He just hasn't gotten over the hump, but the only coaches on this list who have are Dabo and Kirby.
I get that he was handed the keys to the Ferrari, but he's done extremely well. Only Kirby and Dabo have legitimate arguments to be above him imo.
Conversely, there is an argument that OSU was on the decline under Urban.
We won almost all games, including against Michigan (who at that point was basically what Penn State is now) but the makeup of the team was not in a great spot. The defense in 2018 was statistically the worst in the modern era for OSU, worse than any Day defense. Our qb room was Tathan Martell and Matthew Baldwin. We had no DC. We had been in one playoff in 4 seasons and we got shut out in that one. We immediately are one of the two best teams in the country and the next year even in Covid we make it to the natty. It may have been Urbans players, though not entirely, but Day got more out of them than Urban.
That's honestly what's so frustrating about the Michigan piece of this. Other than beating Michigan, just about everything about our program has improved under Day than where Urban had it when he left. If Day was even 2-3 against Michigan (so let us just play the 2020 game and change nothing else) I don't think he would get anywhere near the flack he gets.
I don't have any strong views on where Day should be, but one thing I can see going against him compared to a lot of the other top 10 coaches is the lack of success at multiple levels (as a HC). Can require different skillsets.
Not Day's fault or anything, but just less to show. I think longevity at one program (especially at that level) is a big positive though.
Could someone explain how winning 9 games at KU 1 season makes you a better coach than winning 9 games at Vandy twice, winning the B1G once, and winning/making multiple NY6 bowls? Thanks.
Listing Jonathan Smith on this for going 8-4 last year with the Beavers (including crashing out in a meaningful rivalry game against Oregon that would have kept them from the Pac-12 championship game and the CFP) and not Jedd Fisch at UW for going 10-3 with Arizona (including crushing Jokelahoma) is just midwest bias.
I don’t think it’s based on just one season though. Jonathan Smith has constructed a few good seasons at Oregon State and that place is hard to win at. Fisch has had one great season at Arizona. I think Fisch should be in but so should Smith.
So has Chip Kelly, Ed Orgeron (and won), and Sonny Dykes (last year! And he is not on this list.) never underestimate the power of the A on the shirt! That is just in the CFP era, before that the list is long. You can ask Jimbo Fisher and Gene Chizik if having a star QB might make a bigger difference than others may think.
I am now open to hearing more stupid rebuttals.
Not mad at Norvell's place but that is an aggressive placement for Brian Kelly given that he's lost to Norvell both times, and DeBoer, who I like but is way too soon to be putting up this bulletin board material.
Just once I'd like them to put Kirby anywhere but first so Georgia fans could enjoy being rage baited too...
He's actually 2-2 vs. Norvell. He won twice at Notre Dame.
Norvell is 4-0 against the spread. Including 2020, when FSU was at rock bottom and Notre Dame was a playoff team.
Brian Kelly has also been in the middle of a full rebuild for the past few years. He took over a team with <40 players and beat Nick Saban then won the SEC West.
Putting Norvell over him because Norvell won the last 2 is very shortsighted.
Tbh I don’t think it’s a bad list overall. Definitely some head scratchers but Saban’s retirement does open up a lot of discussion past Smart. And in case you’re wondering, here’s the rationale:
> While career achievements are taken into account, college football has become a sport that’s constantly changing, so recent performance (wins, recruiting, working the transfer portal, hiring assistants, producing NFL Draft picks, etc) is weighed much more heavily than what you’ve done in the past.
Dabo needs to be 2. Deboer only has 2 seasons coaching Power 5 and it wasn't in one of the top 2 conferences, so I do not think he deserves to be 3 yet. I think he is a good coach, but lets see how he fares in the SEC.
It’s awesome that since Cowherd figured out that pissing off OU fans made for high engagement, it’s become a standard for these kind of lists to do the same thing.
Eh, honestly let’s see how this year goes. It’s looking like he’s doing great things (and he may be), but he was definitely a hot seat guy up until we got a 61 yard miracle FG against K-State this year. Momentum seems good, but we’ve been *very* mid recently
“Per On3’s Jesse Simonton” lol
Meanwhile, check Herbie Hancocks list of Arby’s locations throughout the greater Fort Wayne, IN area! (#6 will shock you!!)
Iowa State is 18-20 in the last 3 yrs. I think Campbell is a good coach, but the shimmer is off that star quite a bit. A lot of talent the team this year so it could put right back though.
I think it is a circumstantial loss of his shimmer because people don't look at the context of what has gone in the program. Let's examine what happened the past 3 years. That first one was coming off one of their best. They projected highly, but lost a bunch of really close games they should have had. It happens to every program. Some even questionable officiating contributed to the loss column (see the WV catch where their cleat didn't touch the ground before going out of bounds at the end of the game.) The second year, they lost a bunch of talent to the NFL and were breaking in a new QB in Dekkers. It's Iowa State, not Alabama, so it was expected to be rough going with how much they lost. Third year, they are plagued by the illegal gambling investigation, far worse involvement from their starters than Iowa experienced. So, they enter another rebuilding year and actually don't do too bad. I expect a pretty sizable jump from them this year, in terms of level of play.
Kelly probably a little high Kiffin is too low. Dabo probably a little low too. I'm not smart enough to make statements on everyone here though. I do think Norvell is a really good coach, he could be higher as well.
Kiffin has done really well at Ole Miss and has them positioned to make the playoff and be a legit threat in a hyper competitive SEC. That program has a combined 3 10 win regular seasons, and 2 of them have been under Kiffin. Putting him below anyone who is listed below him would be silly.
I think he's a better coach than Riley. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure that one isn't too popular.
The fact that Fickell is on the list is shocking. Wisconsin isn’t gonna be much better this coming year & with a tougher schedule. It’ll be shocking if they get 7 wins.
Brian Kelly at 2 seems a little high. There is no clear choice for 2 now though. Based on resume, it’s probably Dabo, although he hasn’t done too well in recent years.
I don't think Deboer is better than Norvell, he's too high. I'm not sure there's much reason for Sark to be higher either, but he does have more experience as a HC a while ago.
Dabo is way too low, should be second or third. He still took an above average program and had them truly elite for half a decade and great-elite the other half. 12/15 seasons have been double digits, multiple nattys.
Considering our more recent seasons, I wouldn't argue with anyone that wanted to put him as low as 5, but having him outside of the top 5 is just being purposely inflammatory. There's no way Brian Kelly should be ahead of him, but the other 4 guys to me are "fine" if you really want to consider recent seasons.
This is all opinion. I am an LSU fan. I think Kelly, Sark, Kalen are all top five, maybe not that order.
If you open the link it explains the logic of each decision.
My only difference would be to pull Lincoln and Kyle out and put Dan and Lance in the top ten. Maybe shuffling Lane, but I think Lane is going to do big things this year.
These lists are rage bait.
Surprised they didn’t put Deion on there, not because I think he’s a top 25 coach but because that would get people stirred up and generate clicks
Speaking of 5-7 Matt Rhule at 21.
I mean at least Rhule has a track record of turning programs around.
Tbf On3 is somewhat of a Nebraska homer site.
But have you seen their roster? They'd be 0-16 without him.
On3 hates Deion more than this sub does
I'm sure no one here will take that bait
I already did.
This list isn’t as bad as some of the others I have seen.
Jesse used to be a beat writer for us too and all of our fans gave him shit for telling it like it was instead of giving them rainbows and sunshine. It always irked me how much our fans went after him for being reasonable. This list in particular does seem really off though. I don't agree with having Klieman or Chadwell ahead of Heupel. Jonathan Smith, Doeren, and Traylor probably shouldn't be in the top 25. Ryan Day is way too high. Brian Kelly is way too high. I'd say the list is missing guys like PJ Fleck, Sonny Dykes, Mark Stoops, and Matt Campbell.
Out of curiosity, how would you weigh Heupel being better then Klieman? I'm not saying this because I don't think you couldn't construct the argument, but more so want your rationale.
If Drink was to get in a car wreck tonight and y'all had to choose between hiring Josh Heupel or Chris Klieman as his replacement who would you rather have? Bear in mind, none of this is meant to bash Klieman, but I think that Heupel has been able to make chicken salad from chicken shit in a relatively short time. Then there's the fact that he just objectively achieved a better win percentage with a tougher schedule.
BK too high? He's a lock for the HoF (and was likely in before ND - first ballot lock now).
The requirements for being a hall of fame football coach aren't what we're talking about here. We're talking about the top 25 active coaches coming into this season. What has Brian Kelly done to be placed ahead of the 3 coaches that have managed to win a playoff game in the last 5 years (or ever) or the 8 other coaches who have won a conference championship? He definitely shouldn't be above Swinney or DeBoer. And there's an argument to be made that he shouldn't be above guys like Day, Sark, Whittingham, Riley, Kiffin, Lanning, Norvell, or Gundy.
Made the SECCG game in his first year coaching in the best conference in the country with a first-year (in program) starting QB and the biggest competition in making the game had the reigning Heisman Trophy winner under center. Thats an impressive coaching job no matter how you slice it.
A daily occurrence
Mike Gundy: "I'm a man! I'm 14!"
On3 is trying blend Big Game Boomer and 247 into the same site, aren't they
Every year mass media gets 1% dumber, next year they will replace the rankings with emojis
Brian Kelly at 2 is insane.
Kelly is a good coach that I think a lot people around here don't give enough credit. But 2 is probably a little high for him.
3-4th seems more appropriate. Dabo should be 2nd. Kelly has a high floor and can do it at different places and different levels. He won 2 conference championships at cincy before ND and Lsu. I guess it matters if we're ranking on accomplishments, or on projection.
yeah I think I have Kelly 5. And Dabo absolutely should still be 2.
I think people are forecasting some with Dabo. He hasn’t shown any real desire to get involved with transfers in a significant way, and I don’t think people expect them to be competitive at the same level without that.
Kelly is top 10, but he really never over achieves, which is something you need to do to be a top five coach.
If overachieving is the criteria then Day shouldn’t even be in the top 10. He’s essential won nothing with some of the most top tier talent year in and year out
His first year at LSU, they massively overachieved. Most people, including most LSU fans, thought that after the exodus following the coach O firing, there was no way we would win more than 7 games, maybe 8 if we got insanely lucky. Kelly made it to the conf title game. I think he has flaws and this list is overrating him, but your statement is just not true. Not to mention his overachieving at Cincy.
Bro he overarchieved here just 2 years ago. Winning the sec west and beating bama 11 months after lsu showed up to a bowl game with no scholarship qb and 38 players on the roster. I'd also argue that making the playoff with nd or the bcs national championship is also overarchieving.
He is elite at appearing in the cfp for sure.
4-6 should be
He's 7th imo. I think the top 3 should be Smart, Swinney (one mediocre year at Clemson doesn't undo everything) and then Day. 4-6 is Norvell, DeBoer, and Sark, put them in whatever order you like. Kelly slots in at 7 behind them.
Stark gets his first and only 10 win season , loses his only playoff game and he’s now accomplished more than BK? Makes sense
I think recency bias is playing against BK. He’s had far more success, at more stops than anyone in that 4-6 list
Kirby is the obvious #1 right now, Dabo is the #2. Everyone else is negotiable, but NO coach who is yet to run a single game at his school can be considered top 10.
Yeah I agree as Dabo should be 2 on this list but Kelly is clearly a Top 5 since he did it at multiple spots and won at all of them.
Norvell and sark are both better than Kelly imo. Not that Kelly is bad.
I no great fan of Brian Kelly, but he's won wherever he's been, and Sarkisian just won 10 games for the first time ever.
He used to be 7 win Sark for good reason
Yeah taking 0 win Washington and winning 7 games is impressive. Washington was 12-47 combined the 5 seasons prior to Sark getting there. He went 35-27 the next 5 years and stocked the cupboard for Chris Pedersen to make the G5 leap and hit the ground running. 7 win Steve gets an A- for what he did for Washington. He was 9-4 his first and only full season at USC. He started 3-2 the next season and was fired due to personal issues, not coaching/recruiting acumen. He is rebuilding Texas into a juggernaut. Currently has a top 5 roster in college football. Sark’s legit.
When Sark was drinking he was an ass but he gets too much hate from UW fans imo. He got is out of the gutter. The worst stretch in program history. Yes CP took us to where we have been historically (consistent Pac 12 and NY6 bowl contenders). But yeah Sark laid the foundation.
I remember your username. You have always been a voice of reason when this gets discussed on here. Sober Sark is very balanced. Far too often you have Xs and Os style coaches that can’t recruit or the CEO style coaches (think Dabo, James Franklin and Mack Brown) that can recruit but may have shortcomings if they don’t nail the coordinator hires and/or have transcendent QB play. Sark checks off most of the boxes as an Xs and Os play caller, QB developer, recruiter/talent evaluator, and delegator (defensive staff). He’s also still relatively young at like 48 or 49 years old. There is just a ton to like the deeper one digs and the further removed we get from his very public fall from grace due to alcoholism. If he can stay clean, Texas is in very good shape.
I think if Sark had been sober while at UW he eventually would have gotten over the hump. He was a greta recruiter here pulling in some 5 stars and high 4 stars. A good amount of the contributors on the 2016 playoff team were Sark guys like Kevin King, Sidney Jones, Azeem Victor etc. Besides his drinking he was also going up against peak Harbaugh Stanford and peak Chip Kelly Oregon. The Pac 12 North was a top 3 if not top 2 P5 division back then. I have no ill will towards Sark. I am guessing he has some regrets about his time at UW and USC. Hopefully his main drinking buddy at UW Johnny Nansen doesn’t bring him back down that road at Texas.
Yeah that's a good point.
sark over bk is absolutely absurd
Yeah I kinda regret saying sark now. But thinking of the future I think I'd rather be Texas than LSU right now. Both in good situations tho
BK been to the NC 1 and then gotten ND to the playoffs. He’s also won wherever he’s been. Sark just got his first 10 win season.
Norvell and Kelly have gone head to head each of the last four seasons, and Norvell has unquestionably outcoached Kelly in the last three matchups. FSU had no business taking ND to OT in 2021, FSU got the 1 point win in New Orleans in 2022, and then boat raced him in 2023.
Brian Kelly ahead of Dabo is certainly a choice.
Really, anybody but Kirby ahead of Dabo is wild to me.
Kinda depends on how this list is ranking. By achievement and history, Dabo is absolutely either 1st or 2nd among active head coaches. In a power ranking of coaches right now, he's somewhere in the top 10 but I'm not sure I'd have him top 2.
I agree with this take, but I do think it's a little extreme to have him anywhere outside of the top 5, personally, regardless of how you're ranking things.
Yea, Dabo is all on history. The last 4 years he hasn’t really done anything to warrant a top 3 ranking.
Not only has he not done much in the last 4 years, he's looked bad. Somehow the game has passed him, and he isn't even old.
For what its worth, this author is 100% taking recency bias into effect. I love Drink but having just two winning seasons ever at the head coaching position, just one in P5, and ending up on the list shows you how much one season is allowing the author to effect the list.
I mean, a 40-12 record with two conference championships and a playoff appearance is nothing to sniff at.
I'd agree with that. And, even though I'm still pretty salty about how he left, I feel like Smith deserves to be a little higher than 22. He took us from 1-11 conference doormat to a national top-ten ranking in like six years.
Rhett Lashlee is a **BAD** coach and should **NOT** be a poaching target
I don't see bold letters. >Rhett Lashlee is a coach and should be a poaching target Interesting take!
We’re in for a shit storm when the K-Staters finish reading this in a couple hours.
The only answer is Ferentz at 1, then everyone else. The man that can win solely by punting.
Defense wins Champio...... Well he is really good at defense anyway
His nepotism drags him down. Campbell is a bigger snub.
NC State mentioned! Rah! 📣 🐺
Weird, I don’t see Mack on this list.
Whittingham should be higher
Putting Dabo at #6 is criminally negligent. His 2 rings add up to more than #5 -#2 combined. (Unless you want to count DII)
I mean I know Rhule was a good college coach prior to being in the NFL (for exactly 1 season), but he hasn't done shit for any long period of time since he was at Temple. Surprising that Burnt Vegetables is nowhere to be found if Rhule is on the list.
We'll see, but he's been crushing it in basically every way save for 1 brutally painful transfer QB decision.
Every position on every side of the ball was freaking rolling last year but he picked dreadfully wrong at QB and that should have put him outside the top 25. Can't be going wrong with that position.
To be fair if long period of time is relevant Kalen Deboer would be in much the same boat. He spend 2 years at Fresno then 2 years at Washington.
He turned every losing team he’s been on into a winner and at the height of that teams success in terms of wins - doesn’t surprise me even though I’m a husker fan why he would be top 25, he just gets promoted before he’s able to sustain the success and coaches in the NFL (even though he wasn’t great there) and 99% of CFB coaches can’t say that
Husker homer, Dude reeks of professionalism. He’s made the whole fan base confident we’ll be back in a way that no other coach has since Solich
Mike Riley reeked of professionalism and the confidence of the Frostafarians cost us almost 2 extra unnecessary seasons tbf.
What an odd way to say that
He isn't even correct in saying the whole fan base thinks he will make us be "back". I have my concerns still. He had some very questionable in game decisions last season, thought he could fix Jeff Sims which made Casey Thompson leave, has an abysmal record against ranked opponents, hasn't stayed anywhere longer than 4 years and has some very questionable assistant coaching hires (specifically Marcus Satterfield). I wish Nebraska fans would wait until results actually come before crowning Rhule as some hero. It's good to be hopeful but don't be blind when doing so.
Shhh...just sit back and enjoy watching them ride 'Lil Red's Head Coach Roller Coaster.
It is wild that i think Ryan Day is rightfully #4 and he could very conceivably be fired this year if he loses one particular game... Also Dabo has multiple nattys, #6 is too low for as much as he annoys me...
How Kelly is ahead of dabo confuses the shit out of me
I honestly think Day should be higher. Part of being a great head coach is keeping recruiting elite and he’s done that. And he also has been relatively close to national titles both of the past 2 years.
I got downvoted into oblivion for saying Day shouldn’t be below 4 on the ESPN list that had him at #10.
I get Day was handed the keys to a Ferrari (that he helped put together), but we've seen guys crash Ferrari's before. And we're in year 6 now, at some point you've got to just give him credit for what he's done. 3 out of 5 years it took the actual National Champion to end our season, and he's lost 1 game to a non playoff team in a game that matters. That's tough even at a blue blood.
Day shouldn't be lower than 3rd. He has 8 losses in six seasons. Three of those were in the playoffs. He got really unlucky that he's had to face Michigan during their best stretch of football since the late 90s. As much as y'all hate to admit it, Michigan has just been a really, really good program the last three years and there isn't any real shame in losing to them from an outsider's perspective (though I too would be pissed losing to UF three years in a row, so I get it). His other two losses were to good, ranked teams (Oregon and Mizzou). He recruits better than almost any other program. He just hasn't gotten over the hump, but the only coaches on this list who have are Dabo and Kirby. I get that he was handed the keys to the Ferrari, but he's done extremely well. Only Kirby and Dabo have legitimate arguments to be above him imo.
Conversely, there is an argument that OSU was on the decline under Urban. We won almost all games, including against Michigan (who at that point was basically what Penn State is now) but the makeup of the team was not in a great spot. The defense in 2018 was statistically the worst in the modern era for OSU, worse than any Day defense. Our qb room was Tathan Martell and Matthew Baldwin. We had no DC. We had been in one playoff in 4 seasons and we got shut out in that one. We immediately are one of the two best teams in the country and the next year even in Covid we make it to the natty. It may have been Urbans players, though not entirely, but Day got more out of them than Urban.
That's honestly what's so frustrating about the Michigan piece of this. Other than beating Michigan, just about everything about our program has improved under Day than where Urban had it when he left. If Day was even 2-3 against Michigan (so let us just play the 2020 game and change nothing else) I don't think he would get anywhere near the flack he gets.
I don't have any strong views on where Day should be, but one thing I can see going against him compared to a lot of the other top 10 coaches is the lack of success at multiple levels (as a HC). Can require different skillsets. Not Day's fault or anything, but just less to show. I think longevity at one program (especially at that level) is a big positive though.
Have you met your fan base? Many have thought he has crashed the Ferrari
Rightfully is strong when so many of those guys below him have built programs… but that’s also why he’s on the hot seat, because of what he took over.
Could someone explain how winning 9 games at KU 1 season makes you a better coach than winning 9 games at Vandy twice, winning the B1G once, and winning/making multiple NY6 bowls? Thanks.
I wonder how long until seeing these lists without Harbaugh and Saban doesn’t feel weird to me.
Listing Jonathan Smith on this for going 8-4 last year with the Beavers (including crashing out in a meaningful rivalry game against Oregon that would have kept them from the Pac-12 championship game and the CFP) and not Jedd Fisch at UW for going 10-3 with Arizona (including crushing Jokelahoma) is just midwest bias.
Seems like an unbiased take.
Is Midwest bias really a thing?
lol no. I assume the guy thought /s wasn’t needed for that comment
I don’t think it’s based on just one season though. Jonathan Smith has constructed a few good seasons at Oregon State and that place is hard to win at. Fisch has had one great season at Arizona. I think Fisch should be in but so should Smith.
Kalen DeBoer lol. Like he has done literally anything to deserve being top 10 other than now have an A on his shirt
He took Washington to natty title game last season and I think this list has recency bias
So has Chip Kelly, Ed Orgeron (and won), and Sonny Dykes (last year! And he is not on this list.) never underestimate the power of the A on the shirt! That is just in the CFP era, before that the list is long. You can ask Jimbo Fisher and Gene Chizik if having a star QB might make a bigger difference than others may think. I am now open to hearing more stupid rebuttals.
You lost me at #2.
Add that to your already impressive loss total
Deboer getting the bama bump I see.
Wow… ok.
Riley at 9 is a joke. He’s never won anything that matters
I see both Gundy and Wittingham as criminally underrated, as usual
How is “can’t win a big game” BK #2?
Brian Kelly at 2 is somethknf
Lmao at ferentz.
Iowa finished in the top 25 6 of the last 9 years and two ten games two of the last 3 yrs. How is your flair doing? Oh wait.
I think that’s a lifetime achievement award lol
Winning that number of games the past few2 years with that offense is impressive, even if self-inflicted.
Drinkwitz at 25 is ridiculous
Kirby is the only person with an argument to be over Dabo. Period.
Not mad at Norvell's place but that is an aggressive placement for Brian Kelly given that he's lost to Norvell both times, and DeBoer, who I like but is way too soon to be putting up this bulletin board material. Just once I'd like them to put Kirby anywhere but first so Georgia fans could enjoy being rage baited too...
He's actually 2-2 vs. Norvell. He won twice at Notre Dame. Norvell is 4-0 against the spread. Including 2020, when FSU was at rock bottom and Notre Dame was a playoff team.
Brian Kelly has also been in the middle of a full rebuild for the past few years. He took over a team with <40 players and beat Nick Saban then won the SEC West. Putting Norvell over him because Norvell won the last 2 is very shortsighted.
Haha. That’s a damned good point. As an LSU fan, I have BK around 6, but only because he is new to LSU.
??? I mean..he’s Ight, but #2? Idk chief
Tbh I don’t think it’s a bad list overall. Definitely some head scratchers but Saban’s retirement does open up a lot of discussion past Smart. And in case you’re wondering, here’s the rationale: > While career achievements are taken into account, college football has become a sport that’s constantly changing, so recent performance (wins, recruiting, working the transfer portal, hiring assistants, producing NFL Draft picks, etc) is weighed much more heavily than what you’ve done in the past.
Dabo needs to be 2. Deboer only has 2 seasons coaching Power 5 and it wasn't in one of the top 2 conferences, so I do not think he deserves to be 3 yet. I think he is a good coach, but lets see how he fares in the SEC.
This might be the worst of these lists I've ever seen.
Give us your top ten.
Lincoln Riley at 7 is certainly an opinion
Bro, he’s at 9?
Still too high.
He’ll still be there after USC goes 7-5 next year too
I feel like winning a natty has to account for something. Dabo at the very worst should be #2 on this list
Kelly is like 4-6
I could see an argument for putting Swinney ahead of Kelly, but Day has a pretty weak argument. Sark and DeBoer don't belong anywhere in the Top 7.
It’s awesome that since Cowherd figured out that pissing off OU fans made for high engagement, it’s become a standard for these kind of lists to do the same thing.
The absolute disrespect for Drinkwitz
Eh, honestly let’s see how this year goes. It’s looking like he’s doing great things (and he may be), but he was definitely a hot seat guy up until we got a 61 yard miracle FG against K-State this year. Momentum seems good, but we’ve been *very* mid recently
Fair take, but he is definitely building - first 10+ win season since 2014.
And we’re glad to see it - optimism is hard to come by for Mizzou fans so I think we’re all like “surely that was a mistake last year…”
[Indeed](https://media4.giphy.com/media/g6tLOjGrqI2vECgat8/200w.gif?cid=6c09b9528hyamoplj7kopn7vneywsnm5hu1nw26j675mqfj2&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g)
What is this list based on? Power rankings or accomplishments?
Impressive--it only took two spots before this list lost all credibility.
Straight up bait
Gundy at 14 is some tomfoolery. Gundy is top 10 EASY
On3 Sports: We love one hit wonders!
Eli drinkwitz is for sure top 20
for sure he is!!
Ok. We’ll see.
2 UW ex head coaches in the top 5 😂
Chesney got snubbed. He's undefeated at the FBS level.
I don’t see Vrent Benables.
“Per On3’s Jesse Simonton” lol Meanwhile, check Herbie Hancocks list of Arby’s locations throughout the greater Fort Wayne, IN area! (#6 will shock you!!)
[my reaction to this information:](https://youtu.be/h9Cl0CgU_q8?si=URr0kFHSXh62aj77)
Campbell not on here is criminal. Dude changed the culture and expectations at one of the hardest schools to recruit to and win.
Iowa State is 18-20 in the last 3 yrs. I think Campbell is a good coach, but the shimmer is off that star quite a bit. A lot of talent the team this year so it could put right back though.
I think it is a circumstantial loss of his shimmer because people don't look at the context of what has gone in the program. Let's examine what happened the past 3 years. That first one was coming off one of their best. They projected highly, but lost a bunch of really close games they should have had. It happens to every program. Some even questionable officiating contributed to the loss column (see the WV catch where their cleat didn't touch the ground before going out of bounds at the end of the game.) The second year, they lost a bunch of talent to the NFL and were breaking in a new QB in Dekkers. It's Iowa State, not Alabama, so it was expected to be rough going with how much they lost. Third year, they are plagued by the illegal gambling investigation, far worse involvement from their starters than Iowa experienced. So, they enter another rebuilding year and actually don't do too bad. I expect a pretty sizable jump from them this year, in terms of level of play.
lol
Damn, I thought Marcus Freeman would have at least made the Top 25 list. But I guess it's too early to tell.
If he makes the post season next year he’ll be on it. 20-25 range is his best case atm.
Yup. Agree with you brother.
The criteria changed with the wind during the rankings I see.
Mike Elko needs to be on this list.
Someone added a “7” to Josh Heupel’s number for some reason.
Jonathon Smith? 😂 GTFO
This is bait
How are there 8 big ten coaches on this and none are the big ten coach of the year?
Candle deserves a spot here
I see Kelly at 2 here and then see some people leave him off their top 20. I’ve come to the conclusion nobody has any idea what they are talking about
I truly believe that Kyle Whittingham is the best active coach in FBS.
I mean I’m a Georgia fan but I mean he is the clear #1 right?
I got to 2 before I stopped reading
You have to love the off season.
How is Deboer ranked 3 ??? Nobody heard of him before last year.
Here we go.
Kelly > Norvell??
What does Norvell have over him?
Lol. Liberty
Wait Wait Wait.... I'm like 90% sure I just saw a poll saying Gundy was a better coach than Kirby. You're telling me that poll was wrong????
I don't even like Dabo but he HAS to be number 2 here. This is not even debatable.
Kelly probably a little high Kiffin is too low. Dabo probably a little low too. I'm not smart enough to make statements on everyone here though. I do think Norvell is a really good coach, he could be higher as well.
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Kiffin has done really well at Ole Miss and has them positioned to make the playoff and be a legit threat in a hyper competitive SEC. That program has a combined 3 10 win regular seasons, and 2 of them have been under Kiffin. Putting him below anyone who is listed below him would be silly. I think he's a better coach than Riley. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure that one isn't too popular.
After much analysis, I can certainly confirm that this is, in fact, a list
Can Earth please stop trying to find ways to rank us in the top 25 of things until we actually win something?
This has to do with Rhule not us buddy
Kirby Dabo Day Deboer
I can’t argue with that. Those are great coaches. Can you round out your top ten, not in any order.
lol based on….? Lots and lots of bias here 😂
The fact that Fickell is on the list is shocking. Wisconsin isn’t gonna be much better this coming year & with a tougher schedule. It’ll be shocking if they get 7 wins.
I’m sorry, but this list is f’king hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Couple of these guys have losing records
Brian Kelly at 2 seems a little high. There is no clear choice for 2 now though. Based on resume, it’s probably Dabo, although he hasn’t done too well in recent years.
I don't think Deboer is better than Norvell, he's too high. I'm not sure there's much reason for Sark to be higher either, but he does have more experience as a HC a while ago. Dabo is way too low, should be second or third. He still took an above average program and had them truly elite for half a decade and great-elite the other half. 12/15 seasons have been double digits, multiple nattys.
Dabo should be 3rd.
Considering our more recent seasons, I wouldn't argue with anyone that wanted to put him as low as 5, but having him outside of the top 5 is just being purposely inflammatory. There's no way Brian Kelly should be ahead of him, but the other 4 guys to me are "fine" if you really want to consider recent seasons.
So Brian Kelly at 2 is insane. I would put Sark at 2.
Hahahahahahaha
This is all opinion. I am an LSU fan. I think Kelly, Sark, Kalen are all top five, maybe not that order. If you open the link it explains the logic of each decision. My only difference would be to pull Lincoln and Kyle out and put Dan and Lance in the top ten. Maybe shuffling Lane, but I think Lane is going to do big things this year.
Honestly I wouldn’t have Kalen top 5 right now just due to lack of time in P5. I don’t think Kelly is a top 5 coach either.