Notre Dame football and head coach Marcus Freeman enter the 2026 college football season as one of the best teams in the country, and anything less than a deep playoff run and a potential return to the national title game will be viewed as a disappointment.

A big reason for that confidence is the 2026 regular season schedule. The 12-game slate is one of the easier schedules the Fighting Irish have had over the last few years, and Notre Dame should conceivably win at least 11 games and potentially go undefeated heading into the postseason.

To look forward to each of these matchups, I decided to rank all 12 head coaches on the schedule from best to worst. While there are some major question marks among the group, there are also some very good coaches in this collection. Let’s work through the list.

No. 1: Mario Cristobal (Miami)

I had a lot of questions about Cristobal going into the 2025 season. He had seemingly underperformed with the level of talent he had at Miami and Oregon over the last several years, but he was able to string together a 13-3 overall record last fall and reach the national title game, albeit on the losing end. In his coaching career, Cristobal holds a 97-79 record. There is no question that he is a dynamic recruiter, and this program is trending in a great direction.

No. 2: Kalani Sitake (BYU)

In 10 years leading the Cougars, Sitake is 84-45 and has won 10-plus games multiple times throughout that stretch. He has created a level of consistency at BYU that has rivaled some of the best in college football. It appears things are still ascending in the Big 12, and the Cougars have plenty of financial backing to support the type of talent acquisition Sitake has shown.

No. 3: Luke Fickell (Wisconsin)

This might surprise some, but to be very transparent, I believe this will probably be the last year for Luke Fickell coaching the Badgers. That said, he is unquestionably a very good coach. Just look at what he did at Cincinnati previously. Fickell holds an 80-46 overall record, and those 80 wins include a victory over Notre Dame in the 2021 season. He reached the College Football Playoff on the Group of 5 level, which speaks volumes. He and Wisconsin just might not be a strong fit, but he has done a lot of great things during his head coaching career.

No. 4: Rhett Lashlee (SMU)

It’s a small sample size, but the former Miami offensive coordinator now holds a 38-16 record with the SMU Mustangs. This is another program trending in a great direction with strong financial backing. Their offense has assimilated to what Lashlee loves to do stylistically, which preserves hope for the next step in his head coaching career.

No. 5: Pat Fitzgerald (Michigan State)

The former Northwestern head coach has had some ups and downs, to say the least, but holds a 110-101 overall record, including three 10-win seasons during his time with Northwestern. He’s a little rough around the edges, but most would admit that Fitzgerald is a very good head coach. Northwestern in the modern era of NIL and the transfer portal was not an easy job, and he routinely did more with less.

No. 6: Brian Newberry (Navy)

Newberry is another coach with a small sample size, but he is now 26-12 as a head coach with back-to-back double-digit win seasons. He has a defensive mind that has molded the Midshipmen to reflect his character and personality. He is one of the biggest risers in the head coaching ranks and feels like the perfect fit for the Navy program.

No. 7: Barry Odom (Purdue)

Odom holds a 46-43 career record but did some strong things recently at UNLV and had solid moments at Missouri. The Boilermakers are in a rough spot, and he took over a bad football team, but there seems to be more energy around the program. Odom is at worst a very good defensive mind who has proven he can build from less.

No. 8: Bill O’Brien (Boston College)

O’Brien holds a 24-25 overall college record after a 2-10 season last year. He also had a 52-48 record as an NFL head coach, including 10-win seasons with the Houston Texans. O’Brien is a good coach, but he sometimes gets in his own way, and Boston College remains one of the weaker programs in terms of NIL capability. The Eagles do seem to be trending in a better direction financially, but O’Brien heads into 2026 with a lot of question marks.

No. 9: Bill Belichick (North Carolina)

One of the greatest NFL head coaches of all time with a 302-165 record and six Super Bowl victories with the New England Patriots. However, it has been a disaster since he took over the North Carolina program, coming off a 4-8 overall record. Belichick is not recruiting well; he’s not developing talent at the expected level, and the transfer portal pickups have not delivered. This seems like a great NFL head coach who is not cut out for the college game.

No. 10: Fran Brown (Syracuse)

Brown is 13-12 in his two years as the Syracuse head coach. He had a 10-3 season in 2024 but followed it with a 3-9 campaign. Two very different realities. Is he somewhere in the middle? Is he closer to 2024 or 2025? The 2026 season will be huge for Brown, who has a good reputation but remains difficult to quantify right now.

No. 11: Scott Abell (Rice)

Abell has been coaching since 1993. From 2018 to 2024, he amassed a 47-28 record at Davidson on the FCS level in the Pioneer League, which does not offer scholarships. He has just one year under his belt at Rice, where he went 5-8 overall. He did a good job at the lower FCS level, but how good he will be in his FBS career is another unknown that is hard to fully gauge.

No. 12: Tavita Pritchard (Stanford)

Pritchard is the only coach on this list without previous head coaching experience. He was hired by general manager Andrew Luck this past offseason after serving as Luck’s backup quarterback during their time at Stanford. Pritchard has been a Stanford assistant and served as the Washington Commanders’ quarterbacks coach from 2023 to 2025. Your guess is as good as mine on how good a head coach Pritchard will be.