Ranking College Football Coaches

A recent article by Rivals.com ranks the top 30 current college football coaches. Their rankings are interesting, but it’s difficult to take any ranking system too seriously that has Kirk Ferentz at #5, ahead of Big Ten coaches Jim Tressel and Rich Rodriguez. So, we made our own rankings. Now, these may not be your typical list of “Who is the best coach?” Instead, we ranked 26 of Rivals top 30 in five categories: Age/Longevity, Recruiting, Game Prep/Schemes, In-Game Coaching, and the “It” Factor. The categories (all scored on a 0-10 scale) break down as follows…

Age/Longevity: Completely objective. Ranked according to 5 year intervals.
(Scores of 10: Urban Meyer, Rich Rodriguez, Chris Petersen, Greg Schiano)

Recruiting: Pretty self-explanatory. Who is getting the most talent?
(Scores of 10: Pete Carroll—in a class of his own)

Game Prep/Schemes: Special credit to guys like Mike Leach, Rich Rodriguez, and Gary Patterson who have developed their own offensive/defensive schemes that have become popular.
(Scores of 10: Rich Rodriguez, Brian Kelly, Mike Leach, Gary Patterson, Paul Johnson)

In-Game Coaching: Who makes good halftime adjustments? “Second half” teams get priority here.
(Scores of 10: Frank Beamer, Jim Grobe)

“It” Factor: Some guys have “it,” most don’t. “It” is why JoePa still gets 5-star 18 year olds, why Nick Saban is able to fill Alabama’s spring game after a miserable season.
(Scores of 10: Nick Saban, Pete Carroll, Joe Paterno)

After assessing all of these categories for all 26 coaches, the official rankings are below. Keep in mind, these are not necessarily the best coaches or the best recruiters. Rather, they reflect who I would choose as my coach if I were allowed to pick anyone, based on the 5 categories mentioned previously.


1. Urban Meyer (47.5)
T2. Nick Saban (46)
T2. Mark Richt (46)
T2. Rich Rodriguez (46)
T5. Bob Stoops (45.5)
T5. Brian Kelly (45.5)
T5. Chris Petersen (45.5)
T8. Pete Carroll (45)
T8. Frank Beamer (45)
T8. Mike Leach (45)
T11. Jim Tressel (44.5)
T11. Greg Schiano (44.5)
T13. Mack Brown (44)
T13. Jeff Tedford (44)
T15. Kirk Ferentz (43.5)
T15. Gary Patterson (43.5)
T15. Randy Edsall (43.5)
T15. Paul Johnson (43.5)
T19. Jim Grobe (43)
T19. Les Miles (43)
21. Steve Spurrier (42.5)
22. Mark Mangino (42)
23. Gary Pinkel (41.5)
T24. Joe Paterno (40)
T24. Houston Nutt (40)
T24. Dennis Erickson (40)