College Football Coach Rankings: Greg McElroy releases Top 25 head coaches

During the long college football offseason virtually every topic is game to be discussed. Including which coaches are the best in the sport.

And ESPN analyst Greg McElroy has been hard at work providing his precise list on the Always College Football podcast. On Monday, McElroy ranked the coaches from 11-25 nationally. Then on Thursday, he followed it up with his ranking of the top 10 coaches in college football.

The list has all the usual suspects on it, plus one or two that you might not expect. Let’s dive into his top 10 below.

1. Kirby Smart – Georgia

This one should come as no real surprise. With Nick Saban out of the game now, no college coach has done it as consistently at such a high level as Smart. He’s been at the top of the sport virtually since his arrival at Georgia.

The Bulldogs are coming off a little bit of a disappointing season, in part due to a Carson Beck setback. With the quarterback gone, Georgia didn’t have enough offensive firepower in this year’s College Football Playoffs. But if you’re betting on a team to make a return trip, Smart has as compelling a case as any.

2. Ryan Day – Ohio State

For a hot minute last season it looked like Day might legitimately be on the hot seat. He had suffered a fourth straight loss to Michigan and fans wondered if he’d ever get fully over the hump at Ohio State.

Then the team got hot, messed around and won a title. National Championship to his name now, Day is in a select group of college coaches. And he’s got the system in place to keep it rolling, making excellent replacement hires for his staff and stockpiling as much talent as any other program in college football. Recipe for success.

3. Steve Sarkisian – Texas

For now, Texas seems to have a bit of a cap on its success, but keep knocking at the door long enough, and eventually, it’ll bust open. A pair of trips to the College Football Playoff semifinals has Sarkisian easily identifiable as one of the top coaches in the game.

Now the real question looms: What can Sarkisian do with one of the nation’s most hyped prospects, a potentially generational quarterback in Arch Manning? All eyes will be on Austin this fall.

4. Marcus Freeman – Notre Dame

He might not have the flash or sizzle as some of the other coaches on the list, but Freeman just quietly gets the job done. Like Day, there was a brief minute last year where it looked like Freeman might end up on the hot seat.

Then Notre Dame just kept winning. The Fighting Irish have done it without the elite-tier talent of programs like Georgia and Ohio State, making it all the more impressive. In the 12-team playoff era, Freeman has the potential to have Notre Dame in the mix just about every year.

5. Dan Lanning – Oregon

Few coaches recruit and coach as well as Lanning. He’s an absolutely superb recruiter, doing an excellent job getting some east coast talent out west to play for the Ducks. That’s a huge part of the equation.

And then Lanning is just a super sharp coach. Take one look at the decision to field 12 men intentionally against Ohio State last fall for evidence. That kind of pushing the envelope is often necessary to reach the top levels of the sport.

6. Kalen DeBoer – Alabama

It was a rough first season for DeBoer at Alabama, though that could probably have been expected filling in for Saban. Anything short of title contention wasn’t going to suffice.

Now DeBoer has to get things right while trying to break in a new quarterback. His track record everywhere he has gone has been winning at a high level. Will that hold in one of the sport’s toughest jobs with the pressure mounting? We shall see.

7. Dabo Swinney – Clemson

Clemson managed to backdoor its way into this year’s College Football Playoffs, perhaps quieting the clamor around Swinney just a touch. It’s now been four years since Clemson finished a season with fewer than three losses.

There’s still remarkably consistent success — at least nine wins in every year dating back to 2010 — but it’s reasonable to wonder if Swinney has lost his fastball a touch in the NIL and transfer portal era. He does seem to be shifting his approach at least ever-so-slightly, so we’ll see what shakes out in the next year or two.

8. Jeff Brohm – Louisville

Perhaps the biggest surprise on McElroy’s list of top coaches is Brohm, the second-year Louisville coach. He has now won at least nine games in each of his first two seasons with the Cardinals.

Can Brohm get Louisville to the point of ACC title contention? He won’t have the talent to work with that programs like Clemson and Miami have, so it’ll take a strong coaching effort. But he’s certainly capable.

9. Brian Kelly – LSU

Kelly is one of those high floor, questionable ceiling coaches and will likely remain so until he busts through and wins a championship of some sort. Until then, LSU likely wins nine to 10 games per season.

The talent at LSU has been excellent since Kelly arrived. Recruiting isn’t a real problem. Getting the roster to gel has been at times. It’s not always clear Kelly’s squads maximize their potential.

10. James Franklin – Penn State

There might have been some similar questions about Franklin as a coach as Kelly, that he might be of the high floor, questionable ceiling variety. He may have answered some of those questions with a deep playoff run in 2024.

Now the question is whether the Nittany Lions can build on it moving forward. Quarterback Drew Allar is back, which is absolutely huge. So, too, is a lot of other talent. This is the year for Franklin to move up these coach rankings if there ever was one.

Rest of Top 25 Coaches: 11-25

11. Lane Kiffin – Ole Miss
12. Josh Heupel – Tennessee
13. Matt Campbell – Iowa State
14. Chris Klieman – Kansas State
15. Eli Drinkwitz – Missouri
16. Brett Bielema – Illinois
17. Lance Leipold – Kansas
18. Shane Beamer – South Carolina
19. Lincoln Riley – USC
20. Mario Cristobal – Miami
21. Kalani Sitake – BYU
22. Deion Sanders – Colorado
23. Curt Cignetti – Indiana
24. Rhett Lashlee – SMU
25. Kenny Dillingham – Arizona State