The 2025 college football season is already almost here! That means it's about time to find out which teams will actually live up to the offseason hype and which one may falter. Which coaches will find themselves on the hot seat, and which will perhaps finally find their feet?

With that in mind, our team of college football analysts here at A to Z Sports took a deep dive into every major head coach in the sport, ranking all 68 of the head coaches for every power conference team (plus Notre Dame) this season.

For this exercise we looked at everything from years of experience, championships, playoff or bowl wins, to Top 25 seasons, overall record, and much more in hopes of creating the best head coach rankings list ever made. So, where does your favorite team's head coach stack up against the best in the nation? Let's see where we landed with every single one.

Tier 1 College Football Head Coaches

1. Kirby Smart, Georgia
2. Ryan Day, Ohio State
3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
4. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
5. Dan Lanning, Oregon
6. Steve Sarkisian, Texas

Our entire A to Z Sports staff had no problem ranking the first and second best head coaches in college football right now.

Kirby Smart was the unanimous number one as the obvious voice of the sport with two national championships, an 85% career win percentage, and nine career postseason wins in as many seasons as the head coach for Georgia.

Ryan Day was the unanimous number two as he's fresh off his first national championship with an 88% career win percentage (highest active mark in the sport as an FBS coach).

Those two head coaches are at the peak of their game with programs in good position to compete for national championships every single year.

After those two the rest of the top tier was quite obvious as well with the next four ranking no higher than third and no lower than eighth by a single staff member.

Dabo Swinney claimed third place for his already impressive career resume with multiple championships, twelve postseason wins, 15 Top 25 ranked seasons, and Clemson right in the thick of it to perhaps win another title in 2025. His approach to recruiting in the modern era may get him in trouble here soon, but he's a phenomenal coach, and one of only three active with an FBS championship to his name.

Next up came two young 39-year-old head coaches in Marcus Freeman and Dan Lanning. Freeman may only be a few years into his tenure with Notre Dame, but he already has five postseason wins and 33 victories overall. Florida Gators beat writer Tyler Forness was the highest on Freeman (collectively ranked fourth), ranking him third overall, saying:

"Things didn't start out perfectly for Marcus Freeman as the head coach of the Fighting Irish, but he led the program to a National Championship Game appearance in just his third year. His first three full recruiting classes were also not in elite territory, ranking 10th, 11th, and 12th. It's a tall task to take over a program like Notre Dame which has a ton of unique challenges that others do not face. It's tremendous to see the kind of success that Freeman has created considering the circumstances. He maximizes what he has in South Bend very well and the sky is the limit for what they can be under his leadership." – Tyler Forness

Dan Lanning has been just about as impressive with Oregon, but simply hasn't found his way too far into the postseason yet. However, surprisingly enough, our Ohio State Buckeyes beat writer Brandon Little thinks that could change very soon considering how good a job Lanning has done so far:

"My honest take is that Oregon is probably just one bad game plan away from winning a National Championship. If the Ducks had gotten past Ohio State last season, I don’t think either Notre Dame or Texas would have beaten them. Lanning has had Oregon trending upward in a big way over the past few years, compiling a 35–6 record during his tenure. At only 39 years old, he has the program firmly in contention, and Oregon should once again be in the College Football Playoff this coming season. Winning the Big Ten in their first year was impressive. I expect Lanning to bring home his first national title within the next couple of years." – Brandon Little

Lastly in our A to Z Sports Tier 1 of college football head coaches we found Steve Sarkisian. He hasn't been perfect throughout his head coaching career, just crossing the 60% win percentage mark this past season, but what he's done at Texas is clearly special. He's brought them just about "back", finally, and our national college football writer Ian Valentino loves his play calling abilities:

"It's always somewhat difficult to parse how great a coach is when they're in charge of a blue blood program, but Steve Sarkisian has Texas nearing its peak powers. He's an excellent recruiter, an NFL-level play designer and caller, and has build a strong staff that complements his vision for Texas. I probably value his schematic strengths more than most, but I think that makes a difference in elevating a team as much as anything." – Ian Valentino

There could certainly be debate as to who should be ranked where among the top six here, but this tier is clearly the elite of the elite in the sport right now. Only one other coach in the entire sport garnered even one vote from our staff among the top six and the average ranking dropped nearly three spots after this group.

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Tier 2 College Football Head Coaches

7. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
8. James Franklin, Penn State
9. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
10. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
11. Brian Kelly, LSU
12. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
13. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
14. Lance Leipold, Kansas
15. Kalani Sitake, BYU
16. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

Kyle Whittingham shouldn't be a surprise here. Whittingham has consistently helped Utah overachieve as they've climbed from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 and now on to the Big 12 conference. 167 career wins. Two Pac-12 conference championships in the last three years of Utah's membership there. 21 years of experience. He's a special talent at head coach for the Utes.

James Franklin may garner some hate for failing to beat the best of the best, but it's hard to argue with his overall results. 125 wins in 14 seasons. Back to back 9-4 seasons with Vanderbilt. Eight postseason wins. A College Football Playoff semifinal appearance this past year. Tough to argue that he isn't one of the best.

The one coach in this tier who actually earned a vote inside the top six in the nation was Kalen DeBoer of Alabama. And the only staff member who didn't have him inside his top 12 was Adam Holt (who helps cover LSU):

"The funny part of this ranking by DeBoer from me has less to do with him, and more to do with others’ ascension recently. I really appreciated what he did at Washington, before becoming the head coach of the Crimson Tide. After a year of inconsistency, I had a tough time placing him because I just cannot see him living up to the lofty expectations for Alabama. He may prove me wrong this season, but I just have to see it first." – Adam Holt 

It seemed our staff was a bit split on DeBoer given how he handled his first year at Alabama, but he retained plenty of Nick Saban's talent, then kept recruiting on track to be potentially elite. That's a pretty strong start.

One coach we didn't disagree on too much was Matt Campbell of Iowa State. He took a Cyclones program that hadn't won more than seven games since the year 2000 and made them a perennial Big 12 conference contender that has logged just one season with fewer than seven wins in the last eight years. Our very own Adam Holt had him ranked eighth overall because of what he's done to the program there:

"Matt Campbell is a model of consistency at a program that simply wasn’t used to that before him. His team’s performance in 2024 was one of the most underrated storylines in college football and culminated in an 11-win campaign. I also appreciate how committed Campbell has been to the Cyclones over the course of his tenure, even with interest elsewhere in the CFB world and the NFL basically every offseason." – Adam Holt

Brian Kelly has become somewhat of a divisive figure at head coach as LSU has struggled to reach its expected heights while his former team Notre Dame just went to the championship game last season, but our team still had him ranked somewhere between ninth and thirteenth overall in the country. However, our national college writer Ian Valentino is a bit skeptical on Kelly versus some other Tier 1 and 2 head coaches:

"Objectively, Brian Kelly is a good coach who gets a program to a reasonably high floor and recruits better than most would expect for someone with his temperament. Where I struggle with him is whether he has the charisma, poise, decision-making, and flexibility to adjust his approach and redefine his team's ceiling. His career has been good, but he seems to be missing that extra factor that pushes a team at the right time to overcome adversity, so I'd rather roll the dice on others who haven't been tripped up as often throughout their careers to this point." – Ian Valentino

The best of the rest in this tier could continue to rise if they keep taking their programs to higher heights.

Lane Kiffin has Ole Miss in a better place than it's been in over sixty years with 39 wins in just four seasons.

Chris Klieman, Lance Leipold, Kalani Sitake, and Kenny Dillingham have all brought their less-than-competitive programs to special places recently. However, given that these final four compete directly against each other in-conference, there's a good chance they're responsible for each others' demise or success in the near future.

Tier 3 College Football Head Coaches

17. Jeff Brohm, Louisville
18. Bret Bielema, Illinois
19. Lincoln Riley, USC
20. Curt Cignetti, Indiana
21. Mike Norvell, Florida State
22. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
23. Rhett Lashlee, SMU
24. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
25. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
26. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
27. Deion Sanders, Colorado
28. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
29. Fran Brown, Syracuse
30. Hugh Freeze, Auburn
31. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia
32. Mario Cristobal, Miami (FL)
33. Brent Venables, Oklahoma
34. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
35. Mark Stoops, Kentucky

This middle group of power conference head coaches embodies what makes college football so great. Completely different personalities, strategies, specialties, and experience galore. And because of this, our team disagreed drastically on so many in this group–ranking some of them as high as 12th overall, and others as low as 41st.

Coaches like Jeff Brohm and Bret Bielema have specialized in taking lower an mid-level teams to the peak of their potential, surprisingly winning more than 60% of their games at programs that don't always have the best resources.

Others like Curt Cignetti and Deion Sanders don't have the longest resumes at the FBS level, but they've quickly turned around bottom-feeder programs like Indiana and Colorado. However, they still need to prove they can they sustain success long-term at the highest levels of the sport.

When our coaches got to the likes of Mike Gundy and Rich Rodriguez it was rather difficult to rank them. Rich Rod was incredible with West Virginia the first time around, but has had quite the up and down journey since then. As for Gundy, it's been impressive to see him coach for 20 years, but most of our staff (including our Ohio State beat writer Brandon Little) are now a bit skeptical that he'll take Oklahoma State to special places in this modern era:

"Coaching anywhere for 20 years is impressive, and Gundy is reaching that milestone. However, he has just one conference title to show for it—and that came back in 2011. While Gundy is unlikely to get Oklahoma State over the hump, he’s maintained a consistently solid program that keeps him secure in his position there. He should remain at Oklahoma State for as long as he wants. It’s rare to see a former player coach for multiple decades at the same school." – Brandon Little

Josh Heupel (Tennessee), Lincoln Riley (USC), Mario Cristobal (Miami), and Brent Venables (Oklahoma) were ranked all over the place by our staff, which makes sense given their situations. All four have tasted some success, but they need to keep their impatient programs ascending.

Heupel took the Vols to the playoffs, but just lost his five star quarterback. Riley still hasn't quite figured out his Trojans defense, but the recruiting finally looks right. Cristobal finally put together a strong season in 2024, but his first overall pick quarterback is gone. Venables is beloved by the Sooners, and his 2023 10-3 season was impressive, but Oklahoma won't tolerate many more mediocre seasons. All four could leap up a tier this season or be tossed aside due to wild expectations sooner rather than later if they struggle.

Tier 4 College Football Head Coaches

36. Sherrone Moore, Michigan
37. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
38. Sonny Dykes, TCU
39. Mike Elko, Texas A&M
40. Brent Key, Georgia Tech
41. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh
42. Jedd Fisch, Washington
43. Matt Rhule, Nebraska
44. Dave Doeren, NC State
45. Billy Napier, Florida
46. Bill Belichick, North Carolina
47. Jonathan Smith, Michigan State
48. Willie Fritz, Houston
49. Dave Aranda, Baylor
50. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
51. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
52. Jake Dickert, Wake Forest

This tier break in our rankings was a drastic one via the consensus average, but probably shouldn't be much different than tier three. There are several short resumes of FBS experience in this tier, but plenty of experience overall.

Coaches like Bill Belichick may be brand new to the FBS college ranks, but he's been a head coach a time or two. Joey McGuire coached high school football for over 20 years prior to his quick rise up to Texas Tech's head coach.

Several coaches in this tier have solid overall bodies of work, which is required to even land a power conference coaching job. However, most coaches in this tier do still have some significant question marks and room to prove themselves at this level.

Take Sherrone Moore for instance. Yes, he was there with MIchigan when they won their national title, and even stepped in as interim briefly when needed. Unfortunately, because he failed to figure out the quarterback position last fall, Michigan put together one of the worst offenses in program history. Yes, they somehow miraculously beat Ohio State again, but our Florida Gators writer Tyler Forness (and the rest of our team, really) still wants to see more:

"When Moore took over for Jim Harbaugh, it made a lot of sense. He served as the head coach for six games and won them all, including beating bitter rival Ohio State. It was well known that he was taking over a program that had a lot leaving, but things went south and fast. Not landing a transfer portal quarterback who could be a solid replacement for J.J. McCarthy was a huge factor in their lack of success for much of 2024. Plus, the team just felt disjointed all season long. He has plenty of work to do and could easily be higher on this list when we do this again next year. However, this list isn't about projection, but rather what have you done to prove yourself. Moore has a lot to prove, but landing consensus five star quarterback Bryce Underwood is a great start." – Tyler Forness

"Need to see more" was a theme here with this group of coaches. Many have shown some flashes of significant success. Several could also find themselves in trouble soon if they don't win a lot more in the very near future.

Tier 5 College Football Head Coaches

53. Bill O'Brien, Boston College
54. Manny Diaz, Duke
55. Barry Odom, Purdue
56. Mike Locksley, Maryland
57. Scott Frost, UCF
58. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
59. Justin Wilcox, California
60. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
61. Tony Elliott, Virginia
62. Brent Pry, Virginia Tech
63. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
64. David Braun, Northwestern
65. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State
66. Brent Brennan, Arizona
67. Frank Reich, Stanford
68. DeShaun Foster, UCLA

This final tier of coaches aren't all "bad", but only three of them have won more than 49% of their games. And if you quickly run down the list of programs many of these guys coach for, it's clear the path to improvement is going to be tough.

Manny Diaz looks to be putting something special together at Duke with quarterback transfer Darian Mensah and a ton returning on defense. Clark Lea led Vanderbilt to its first seven-win season since James Franklin was the coach. There are certainly bright spots on this list.

However, even some of the best obviously have their work cut out for them. Barry Odom left his success at UNLV for Purdue, where there is virtually zero buy-in for football. Tony Elliott, David Braun, and several others are heading up programs that simply may not have a path to seriously competing ever again.

Hopefully a few of these names prove us wrong, but this group could all find themselves in trouble with a bad season or two.

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We'll be back with more College Football coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!

Our entire staff hopes you enjoyed this comprehensive list of the best coaches in college football. If you agree or disagree with any of these rankings please do let us know!