PFF ranks the Top 10 coaches in college football entering 2025 season

As Power Four media days begin this week with the Big 12’s annual preseason event in Frisco, Texas, the 2025 college football season is just around the corner. In fact, the 2025 regular season officially kicks off seven weeks from Saturday with the first full slate of games set for a week later on Aug. 30.

In the meantime, Ranking SZN remains in full swing and no ranking season is complete without an updated list of college football’s best head coaches. And now, a full year and a half removed from Nick Saban‘s surprise retirement following the end of the 2023 season, Pro Football Focus unveiled its definitive list of the Top 10 head coaches in college football ahead of the 2025 regular season.

While there might be little debate at the top, the rest of PFF’s Top 10 list is sure to create controversy among multiple college football fan bases. How do you think PFF did with its Top 10 ranking?

Pro Football Focus’ list of college football’s Top 10 head coaches entering 2025 season:

1. Kirby Smart, Georgia

Ever since the retirement of his coaching mentor (Saban), Smart has ascended to the top of nearly every coaching list, especially having won two of the last four College Football Playoff national championships. Smart is an incredible 105-19 over nine seasons at his alma mater, including 62-11 in SEC league play, and has made four CFP appearances since 2017.

Of course, after last season’s disappointing one-and-done Playoff appearance amid an 11-3 campaign, Smart’s place atop to this list could face its first serious challenge if the Bulldogs don’t show improvement in 2025. After back-to-back national titles in 2021-22, Georgia fans expect to be back in the thick of the national championship hunt well into January. Anything less could see Smart’s pedestal take a hit.

2. Ryan Day, Ohio State

Day climbs to No. 2 after guiding the Buckeyes to the program’s first CFP national championship in a decade last season, rolling through the first-ever 12-team field with relative ease. Despite his continued struggles against bitter rival Michigan — OSU has lost four-straight in The Game — Day is nevertheless one of college football’s winnest coaches with a 70-10 overall record in six years in Columbus.

That said, Day’s status on this list could go multiple ways depending on how things fare in 2025. If the Buckeyes can somehow go back-to-back, he could leapfrog Smart at No. 1. Of course, if Ohio State falls off and either misses out on the CFP completely and/or loses a fifth-straight to the Wolverines, Day could plummet down this list along with reemerging hot seat talk.

3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

As the only other current collegiate head coach with a national championship on his resume, Swinney cracks the Top 3 having led the Tigers to CFP national titles in 2016 and 2018. PFF also points out Swinney’s domination of the ACC, including winning his ninth ACC championship last season to secure Clemon’s sixth CFP appearance — which is two more than Smart.

The Tigers enter the 2025 season with renewed national championship hype thanks in large part to a mostly intact roster that won the ACC a year ago, including star QB Cade Klubnik. If Swinney can lead Clemson back to the CFP promised land, it could certainly propel him even further up this list. Of course, any struggles with what is expected to be a championship-caliber roster could heat things up for Swinney.

4. Dan Lanning, Oregon

PFF rounds out its Top 5 with two of the youngest head coaches on this list, giving the nod at No. 4 to the 39-year-old Lanning, who is an impressive 35-6 across three seasons in Eugene. Lanning’s success rate sits just behind Day among current head coaches, and includes a Big Ten championship after the Ducks rolled through conference play undefeated in its first season in the league.

Should Lanning continue Oregon’s upward trajectory in 2025, especially if the Ducks can make the program’s third-ever national championship game, it’s not hard to imagine his further climb up this list. But in the meantime, Lanning sits pretty at No. 4 with no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

5. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

Much like Lanning, the 39-year-old Freeman rounds out PFF’s Top 5 head coaches after Notre Dame responded from an early-season loss to Northern Illinois to finish as national runner-ups in 2024. Freeman’s 2024 run through the CFP saw him achieve victories over three other coaches on this list, including a quarterfinal upset of Kirby Smart’s Georgia.

Despite breaking in a new starting QB this season, Freeman’s Fighting Irish are projected to once again make the CFP and potentially challenge for a national championship. And if Freeman is able to achieve Notre Dame’s first national title since 1988, you can expect his continued climb up this list.

6. Steve Sarkisian, Texas

PFF begins the back-half of its Top 10 with the man the officially brought Texas “back” to national prominence after back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances. Before the ‘Horns reached 12 wins in 2023, Texas had just one double-digit win season (2018) since 2010. But that’s no more as Sarkisian’s Longhorns enter 2025 with serious national championship aspirations.

Sarkisian is 38-17 in four seasons at Texas, including 25-5 overall and 15-2 in the SEC over the past two seasons, and has the ‘Horns primed for even more behind former No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning at quarterback. If Sark and the next Manning scion can win it all in 2025, expect to see him continue to climb this list in the years to come.

7. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

Saban’s replacement at Alabama didn’t quite live up to the lofty standards set by his predecessor over the prior 17 seasons in 2024, but that disappointment has only translated into a renewed recruiting effort that has confidence riding high in Tuscaloosa. Despite the Tide’s first sub-10 win season since Saban’s initial campaign in 2007, DeBoer gets the nod thanks to his exquisite coaching resume.

Prior to arriving at Alabama, DeBoer was 25-3 overall in two seasons at Washington, including making the 2023 CFP national championship game, and is still an eye-popping 113-16 across 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach. Given the Tide’s returning talent, especially on defense, Alabama once again enters a season with national title aspirations.

8. James Franklin, Penn State

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Franklin finally appears primed for a truly special season in 2025, with the Nittany Lions potentially entering the season as the nation’s No. 1 team. Franklin led Penn State to a runner-up finish in the Big Ten last season and the program’s first CFP appearance, where it lost a back-and-forth game to Notre Dame in the national semifinal.

Frankin, 53, is 101-42 in 11 seasons in University Park, including topping double-digit wins the past three seasons. And given the wealth of returning talent, including senior QB Drew Allar and backfield RB tandem Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, the sky is the limit for Franklin and Penn State this season.

9. Brian Kelly, LSU

Kelly left Notre Dame to come to LSU in late 2021 to compete for national championships, but since arriving in Baton Rouge, championships have been hard to come by. Even in the SEC. Kelly has a career 292-107-2 head coaching record, including 29-11 overall and 17-7 in SEC play in three seasons at LSU.

But as Tigers fans begin to grumble, Kelly’s seat gets warmer by the day. Still, LSU enters the 2025 season with a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite in QB Garrett Nussmeier. And if Kelly can finally put it all together and return to the CFP for the first time since winning it all in 2019, Kelly could climb up this list.

10. Curt Cignetti, Indiana

PFF caps its Top 10 list with the second-year Hoosiers head coach following a historic 2024 season in which Indiana won a program-record 10 straight games to open Cignetti’s first season in Bloomington. The Hoosiers would go onto finish 11-2 overall and 8-1 in Big Ten play to make the program’s first College Football Playoff.

2024 was actually Cignetti’s second-consecutive double-digit win season after going 11-1 in 2023 at James Madison. If Cignetti can keep pilling up 10-win seasons, especially in Year 2 at Indiana, expect the veteran 64-year-old coach to continue to climb up PFF’s head coaching ranking next year.