Each year, The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel and I compile our lists of the top 25 college football head coaches and then retreat to “The Audible” to bicker about who is right and wrong and who got snubbed. I put a lot more value on a coach’s total career, whereas Stew tends to look past what might’ve happened beyond 18 months ago. Over the past few years, we’ve probably gotten more in alignment as we’ve had these debates. One thing we’ve agreed on is to keep this to candidates who have more of a body of work, so I steer clear of coaches who have had two seasons or less at the FBS level.
Here we go with the 2023 edition:
(Click here for Stewart Mandel’s rankings.)
1. Nick Saban, Alabama (2022 rank: No. 1): This one is easy. He’s won a remarkable seven national titles, and his teams have finished in the top eight in 14 of the past 15 years.
2. Kirby Smart, Georgia (2021: No. 3): He’s my clear No. 2, having won back-to-back national titles, separating from Dabo Swinney. His team has a very good shot at achieving a three-peat, something that’s unprecedented in modern college football. In the past six years, the Bulldogs have not finished lower than No. 7. Since 2018, they haven’t finished lower than No. 4 in the 247Sports Composite in recruiting and twice had the No. 1 class.
GO DEEPER
Three-peat? Georgia has all the motivation it needs to make it happen
3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson (2021: No. 2): He’s also won two national titles — and came in second two other times — but the Tigers have skittered back the past two seasons, finishing outside the top 10 (No. 14 and No. 13) after going 21-6.
4. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan (2021: No. 12): This has been quite the bounceback in the past two years. After coming in at No. 12 last year — he had been a top-three guy for me before the losses to archrival Ohio State began to pile up — Harbaugh made some shrewd staff moves and had some hard conversations that led to a revamp of how the program operated. It has made a huge difference. In 2021, he led Michigan to its first Big Ten title in 17 years and a No. 3 ranking. In 2022, the Wolverines were even more impressive, smashing Ohio State in Columbus in a blowout win. They went 13-0 before stumbling in an upset loss against TCU in the College Football Playoff.
The Wolverines are 25-3 over the past two seasons, including 19-1 against Big Ten opponents. What Harbaugh did at Stanford was even more remarkable, taking over a dreadful program and getting it to win a BCS bowl and No. 4 in the nation by Year 4. Then he jumped to the NFL, where he did an amazing turnaround job in San Francisco, getting the 49ers to the Super Bowl. Harbaugh will now have his most talented team at Michigan, so it’ll be interesting if the Wolverines can take the next big step.
GO DEEPER
From all-time low to championship contenders: How Michigan righted itself so fast
5. James Franklin, Penn State (2022: No. 9): I seem to get more pushback on Franklin than any coach in these rankings. Some of that is probably due to my recognition of just what a remarkable job he did at Vandy prior to his time in Happy Valley. In short, he took an SEC program that hadn’t finished in the Top 25 in more than 60 years to two Top 25 seasons in three years. Vandy hasn’t had a winning season since he left, going 34-73. The 51-year-old took over a Penn State program that was gutted from hefty sanctions and by Year 3 led the Nittany Lions to a 2016 Big Ten title. He’s had four top-10 finishes in the past seven seasons, winning 11 games four times. He’s proven to be one of the country’s top recruiters and program builders.
6. Ryan Day, Ohio State (2022: No. 4): This was a battle for me of where to rank Day, Franklin and Lincoln Riley. I have Franklin above because of his work at Vandy and because he took over a much tougher situation than Day, 43, did when he inherited a high-powered operation from Urban Meyer and when Riley was promoted into Bob Stoops’ seat at OU. And while I do think Riley did an excellent job rapidly turning around USC last year, Day’s been much closer to winning a national title. He’s 45-6 overall and 32-2 in a tougher league than Riley. The Buckeyes played for the national title in the 2020 season and came within a missed field goal of probably winning the national championship in 2022. He is 8-5 against AP top-10 opponents. The downside: Right now, Michigan is the resident alpha in the Big Ten.
7. Lincoln Riley, USC (2022: No. 6): One of football’s sharpest offensive minds, Riley, 39, wasted no time transforming USC from a wreck into a top-15 team. The Trojans went 11-3 and he mentored yet another Heisman-winning QB in Caleb Williams. His defense, though, struggled and USC sputtered to two losses against Utah and then one to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl. His 66-13 record is stellar, as is a 45-9 mark in conference play. With the Trojans’ move to the Big Ten on the horizon, the big question is: Can his defense become stout enough to give Riley a true national title contender?
GO DEEPER
Staples: It’s the same story for Lincoln Riley. Offense is elite but the defense stinks
8. Brian Kelly, LSU (2022: No. 5): He is a consistent winner, having won at least 10 games in six consecutive years, and it didn’t take him long to get LSU back on track, winning the SEC West title with a 10-4 season in 2022. The 61-year-old has had three top-five finishes. The only hurdle is whether he can lead a great team. He did win two national titles in Division II at Grand Valley State. Since the BCS title loss to Alabama, his teams are 4-12 against AP top-10 opponents. His debut season in Baton Rouge has led to increased optimism; will the Tigers be able to take another big step forward?
9. Kyle Whittingham, Utah (2022: No. 8): The Utes have been the most consistent program out West and Whittingham is the reason. His teams are always tough and physical. They have an identity and it never gives an inch. He’s 63 and seems to be getting better as he gets older. He’s 34-13 over the past four years, and the Utes beat USC twice last season. They’re 4-2 in their past six games against AP top-10 opponents. Back in 2008, he led Utah to a 13-0 season to finish No. 2 in the nation. Under Whittingham, the Utes have finished in the Top 25 eight times. Before he took over, they’d been in there only three times.
10. Lance Leipold, Kansas (2022: No. 23): I was struggling to find someone for the No. 10 spot. After writing up five or six coaches, I started working on Leipold’s capsule and realized this is the guy. He’s been a miracle worker in Lawrence. Last year the Jayhawks went to their first bowl game since 2008 and cracked the Top 25 for the first time in 13 years. They went 6-7 — the program hadn’t won more than three games in a dozen years. They won three Big 12 games in 2022. That’s as many as the school had won in the six years combined before Leipold came to town. Uh-may-zing. Before that, Leipold won six Division III titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater and was a two-time MAC coach of the year at Buffalo, where he was 24-10 in his final three seasons and got the Bulls into the Top 25.
11. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin (2022: No. 10): The former Buckeye was fantastic at Cincinnati, with a 57-18 record that included a CFP bid as a Group of 5 program. Over the last five seasons, he went 53-10. Can he get the Badgers into the Playoff and make a national title run? By hiring UNC’s Phil Longo, an Air-Raid disciple, Fickell has shown he’s not shy about shaking things up.
12. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest (2022: No. 11): The Godfather of the Slow Mesh, Clawson led Wake to another season with eight or more wins last year, his fourth time at a place that had done that only five other times since World War II. A year before, he led Wake to an 11-3 season and a No. 14 finish — the best in school history. The guy has a great knack for putting together excellent staffs and unearthing underrated talent. Prior to his time in the ACC, he oversaw excellent turnaround jobs at Fordham, Richmond and Bowling Green.
13. Chris Klieman, Kansas State (2022: NR): This is one of my big climbers. Having spent a lot of time talking to Big 12 coaches last year, one consistent theme from them was that Klieman had the best-coached team in the league. It showed, as he won 10 games at a program that hadn’t won that many in a decade. His 30-20 record at K-State won’t dazzle anyone, but this is also a guy who went 69-6 at North Dakota State with four national titles.
14. Chip Kelly, UCLA (2022: No. 16): He’s been one of football’s top game planners and play callers for years, and that keeps showing up. It took Kelly a while to get things heated up in Westwood, but the Bruins are rolling now, going 17-8 the past two seasons. Kelly’s worked the transfer portal exceptionally well and his program is gaining momentum as it readies for a move to the Big Ten. A few months ago, UCLA landed Detroit’s Dante Moore, a five-star QB prospect, regarded as the biggest recruit Kelly has ever landed. Before coming back to Los Angeles, he turned Oregon football into the most exciting thing in the sport, as the Ducks went 46-7 and had three top-four finishes in his four years as head coach.
15. Matt Rhule, Nebraska (2022: NR): A dismal 11-27 run with the Panthers in the NFL should not cloud what a terrific job Rhule’s done as a college head coach. Rhule took Temple from 2-10 in his debut season to 20-7 in seasons three and four. His work at Baylor was even more impressive. The program was in the dumps when he arrived. The Bears won one game in his first season, went to a bowl game in his second year and went 11-3 in his third season. Plus, he left behind the nucleus that Dave Aranda led to a Sugar Bowl win. His ability to find and develop talent, especially speed guys, is top-notch.
GO DEEPER
Leaders emerge as winter competitions prepare Matt Rhule’s first Nebraska team for spring
16. Kalen DeBoer, Washington (2022: NR): A lot of folks outside the Pac-12 may not know much about the 48-year-old, but he got Washington back in a hurry, leading the Huskies to an 11-2 season and a top-eight finish thanks to an explosive offense. Not bad for a team that went 4-8 the year before he showed up. He is an eye-popping 90-11 as a head coach, including a 67-3 mark and three national titles at NAIA Sioux Falls. In between, he turned heads and impressed rival coaches in the Big Ten as Indiana’s offensive coordinator and then led Fresno State to a 10-3 record in his second year after he took over another 4-8 program.
17. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M (No. 7): The Aggies are paying him a fortune and so far he’s been a monumental disappointment. Fisher’s on his sixth season in College Station and really only has one good year to show for it: a 9-1 record during the pandemic in 2020. Outside of that, his record in the SEC is 15-17. If you consider his last year at FSU, when his team went 5-6 and 3-5 in the ACC before his departure, that’s one good year out of his last six. He’s only still in the top 25 because he led FSU to a national title in 2013 in the middle of a run in which he had four top-10 seasons over a five-year stretch. He’s given the keys of his offense to Bobby Petrino in hopes that the Aggies can get a desperately needed jump-start.
18. Mark Stoops, Kentucky (2022: No. 15): The Wildcats backslid after his second 10-win season at a place that had won more than eight games only four times in the previous century. The 7-6 record felt like a bit of a dud. Stoops’ choice to replace OC Liam Coen with another NFL guy, Rich Scangarello, did not work, but Coen is back in Lexington to run the offense. Stoops’ record over his past five seasons is 40-23 and he’s proven to be excellent at developing talent.
19. Hugh Freeze, Auburn (2022: No. 19): The Tigers were spinning their wheels and knew Freeze would get them back in the Top 25. No doubt there is baggage with Freeze, particularly from his exit at Ole Miss, but on the field, his teams win and he is an outstanding offensive coach. He got Liberty into the top 20 by his second season, when LU finished 10-1. He went 34-15 in four years there. At Ole Miss, his teams got up to No. 3 in the polls in both 2014 and 2015 and finished top 10 in the nation for the first time since 1969. While there, Freeze beat Saban’s Alabama team twice, an accomplishment not to be overlooked — especially at the place that just hired him. In his first job as an FBS head coach, Freeze led Arkansas State to a 10-2 record after 15 years without a winning season.
20. Sonny Dykes, TCU (2022: NR): No new coach had a better first season than Dykes did in Fort Worth, leading TCU to the national title game. He’s a really sharp offensive mind, and he also has an excellent big-picture view of how to run a program, showing he’s learned all along the way and that he’s continued to evolve. He had a good run at his first stop, Louisiana Tech, leading the Bulldogs to a 9-3 season in his third year there before taking the Cal head coach job. He took his lumps, had bad defenses and learned a lot. At SMU, he went 25-10 in his last three seasons and led the Mustangs to their first 10-win season in 35 years. We’ll be surprised if Dykes doesn’t keep TCU in the top 20 for a long while.
GO DEEPER
Sonny Dykes’ career year a sweet celebration for Air Raid brethren
21. Mike Norvell, FSU (2022: NR): The Noles were in rough shape when he arrived, and Norvell has had struggles along the way. But he has also made big strides, going from three wins to seven to a turn-the-corner 10-win season in 2022. Prior to that, he was 38-16 at Memphis, where he produced exciting NFL playmakers. He’s had three Top 25 finishes in his seven seasons as a head coach.
22. Josh Heupel, Tennessee (2022: NR): He took what was a punch line of a program in the wake of a dumpster fire of a decade and somehow got the Vols to an 11-2 mark in Year 2. That’s quite a feat. At UCF, he was 28-8 after taking over for Scott Frost, though it felt like things were starting to backslide there. In Knoxville, he’s got things going full speed ahead.
23. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (2022: No. 18): An 8-5 season isn’t dreadful, but it felt like such a mess because of the issues hovering over the Hawkeyes surrounding Ferentz keeping his son, Brian, in charge of what has been an abysmal offense and watching talented skill players, most notably Charlie Jones, leave Iowa City for better situations. Still, Ferentz finds and develops talent as well as anyone. The 67-year-old is a really, really good football coach, going 43-18 the past five years.
24. Bret Bielema, Illinois (2022: NR): The guy just knows how to win in the Big Ten. He led Wisconsin to three top-10 seasons, which is quite an accomplishment. He had only three winning seasons in five years at Arkansas, which cost him his job, but he’s gotten things going at Illinois, leading the Illini to eight wins in Year 2 — the school most wins in a season in 15 years.
25. Troy Calhoun, Air Force (2022: NR): In 2022, Calhoun posted yet another double-digit-win season, and Air Force beat both of its archrivals, Army and Navy, before handling Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl. Calhoun’s now won five of his past six bowl games. The 56-year-old has won 10 or more games five times since 2014.
The last few spots were tricky to sort out. At one point or another this week, I had included Jonathan Smith, P.J. Fleck, Willie Fritz, Mike Gundy and Lane Kiffin, and also had considered Jamey Chadwell, Matt Campbell, Mack Brown and Pat Narduzzi.
It’s obviously hard to keep this list to 25. I almost had Smith on here because winning 10 games at Oregon State is quite an accomplishment. Fleck has consistently produced good teams at Minnesota after going 13-1 at Western Michigan. Kiffin had a big 2021 at Ole Miss after two very good seasons at FAU. Fritz just led Tulane to a top-10 season. Gundy’s had two top-10 seasons in his career and nine Top 25 finishes in two decades at Oklahoma State.
GO DEEPER
Mandel’s college football coach rankings: Has Kirby Smart caught Nick Saban?
(Top illustration: Sean Reilly / The Athletic; photos: Adam Bow and Mike Mulholland / Getty Images, Rebecca S. Gratz / AP)
Talking college and professional football with former linebacker Dhani JonesFormer Michigan and NFL linebacker Dhani Jones sits down with Dave Birkett to talk D
NORMAN — The OU football program is finalizing a new contract for co-defensive coordinator and defensive tackles coach Todd Bates, locking up one of its key s
ORONO, Maine (WABI) - “This mentorship program with Orono Middle School has been fantastic. Deborah Bishop, she should win Teacher of the Year. I mean, she is
FARGO — Brent Miller has been named the new head coach of the Fargo North Spartans football team, the school announced on Thursday.Miller replaces