Win, Place, Show: Awarding 2023 Coach of the Year honors for Power 5 conferences, Group of 5

With the final All-American Teams coming out this week, we can wrap up #AWARDS SZN and start to look ahead to Bowl Mania (starts Saturday!) and the College Football Playoff. 

Last year, I released a rundown of faux Coach of the Year ballots for each Power 5 conference and the Group of 5, picking three coaches to highlight win, place, or show style.

So let’s run it back. Here are my 2023 Coach of the Year for every P5 league and the best of the G5. 

ACC – Coach of the Year

Win: Mike Norvell, Florida State 

Place: Jeff Brohm, Louisville 

Show: Brent Key, Georgia Tech

The case is rather cut and dry in the ACC. Norvell had a real argument to be the National Coach of the Year, only to get nudged out Washington’s Kalen DeBoer. Norvell led the Seminoles to a perfect 13-0 season and their first ACC title since 2014. He shrewdly built a roster blending both high-end transfers and prep prospects, and despite getting squeezed out of the College Football Playoff, had one of the best teams in the country in 2023.  

Brohm led the Cardinals to their first ACC Championship appearance in school history in Year 1 back at his alma mater. Dave Doeren deserves mention here, too, leading NC State to a 9-win season despite having to juggle a tricky midseason QB situation, but Key gets the nod for “show” after leading Georgia Tech to a bowl game in Year 1 and finishing 5-3 in the ACC — ahead of the likes of Clemson, Duke, North Carolina and Miami.

Big Ten – Coach of the Year

Win: David Braun, Northwestern

Place: Sherrone Moore, Michigan

Show: Greg Schiano, Rutgers

After taking over the program in less-than-optimal circumstances, Braun, the former North Dakota State DC, was so impressive as Northwestern’s interim head coach that he ditched the tag and became the Wildcats’ full-time leader by the end of the season. The Wildcats had a six-win improvement in 2023, going 7-5 — the most wins by a first-year head coach in school history.

Sherrone Moore? Ineligible, you say? Folly. I make the rules here. Moore was Michigan’s best head coach this season. The Wolverines’ OC went 4-0 in place of Jim Harbaugh, including beating Penn State and Ohio State. Moore made the right calls against the Nittany Lions (32 straight runs) and was the aggressor in Michigan’s third-straight win over the Buckeyes. 

There’s not another obvious candidate in the Big Ten this year. Not Ryan Day or James Franklin. So here’s a nod to Greg Schiano, who led Rutgers to its first 6-win season since 2014.

Big 12 – Coach of the Year

Win: Steve Sarkisian, Texas

Place: Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State

Show: Lance Leipold, Kansas 

Texas is “back,” and much of that credit goes to head coach Steve Sarkisian. He won 10+ games for the first time in his career, leading the Longhorns to the Big 12 title in their final season in the conference. At 12-1, Texas made the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history, and with a roster as stacked as any in the four-team field, the Longhorns could legitimately win their first national title since 2005. 

The Pokes had a super strange season — no-showing in games against South Alabama and UCF but ripping off key wins against Kansas, Kansas State, and Oklahoma — that culminated in a Big 12 Championship Game appearance for the second time in three years. Gundy juggled QBs for the first month before settling on Alan Bowman, but his decision to ride star tailback Ollie Gordon proved to be the switch that flipped the Cowboys’ season. 

Leipold led Kansas to an 8-4 year despite playing without QB Jalon Daniels for the majority of the season. The Jayhawks are going bowling in back-to-back years for the first time since 2007-08 — also the last time the program won as many games.

Pac-12 – Coach of the Year

Win: Kalen Deboer, Washington

Place: Jedd Fisch, Arizona

Show: Dan Lanning, Oregon

Kalen DeBoer took home the National Coach of the Year honors over the weekend, a well-deserved award for a head coach who’s done nothing but win at every stop of his career. The Huskies have won 20 straight games and are back in the College Football Playoff. DeBoer is an elite offensive coach, and he’s also shown a keen ability to win close games (seven one-score victories in 2023). 

In almost any other year, Fisch would’ve taken home the award for the Pac-12 (and maybe nationally?), as Arizona’s head coach continued the program’s strong turnaround in his third season in Tuscan. Fisch’s decision to roll with freshman QB Noah Fifita spurred the Wildcats to six-straight victories to end the year — with Top 25 upsets over Washington State, Oregon State, UCLA, and Utah.

Lanning can’t beat DeBoer (0-3), but Oregon was among the most dominant teams all season. The Ducks returned to the Pac-12 title and will be one of the best teams in the Big Ten in 2024 thanks to the roster Lanning has built in Eugene. 

SEC – Coach of the Year

Win: Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri

Place: Nick Saban, Alabama

Show: Kirby Smart, Georgia

Drinkwitz gets the nod over Saban because of expectations, but both coaches delivered among the best jobs of their careers in 2023. 

Missouri’s head coach entered the fall on a simmering hot seat, and he responded by leading the program to a surprising 10-2 season and a New Year’s Six Bowl game against Ohio State. Drinkwitz made a strong coordinator hire in Kirby Moore, as his decision to give up play-calling allowed him to be more involved with the entire team. 

Saban deserves credit for an excellent coaching job this season, leading Alabama — arguably his worst team in 15 years — to an upset over No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship and a College Football Playoff berth. He managed the Tide around a tricky quarterback competition and an early-season loss against Texas. 

Lastly, Smart won’t get the fair credit of others because Georgia lost to Alabama in the SEC title game, but he navigated all sorts of hurdles to position the Bulldogs on the cusp of a historic three-peat. Georgia went 12-0 in the regular season despite breaking in a new starting QB, OC, and a slew of young defensive players replacing multiple 1st Round NFL Draft picks. 

Group of 5 — Coach of the Year 

Win: Jon Sumrall, Troy

Place: Barry Odom, UNLV

Show: Jamey Chadwell, Liberty 

There were so many worthy Group of 5 candidates this year that several coaches were going to get slighted. 

With apologies to Miami (OH) head coach Chuck Martin, who led the Redhawks to a 11-2 season and an upset over Toledo in the MAC Championship, and Rhett Lashlee, guided SMU to a 11-2 season and the AAC title, I landed Sumrall, Odom and Chadwell. 

Sumrall started 1-2 this season at Troy, only to see the Trojans rip off 10-straight wins for the second year in a row to claim back-to-back Sun Belt titles. He parlayed an excellent start to his coaching career (23-4) into the head coaching job at Tulane. 

Odom was among the best Year 1 coaches in all of college football, inheriting a 5-7 team and turning them into a 9-4 team — the school’s best season in 38 years. The Rebels got blown out in the Mountain West Championship by Boise State, but the program is going to a bowl game for the first time in 10 years. 

Finally, Chadwell inherited the best G5 job in terms of resources and opportunity to win, and all he did was go 13-0 in Year 1 at Liberty. It was the program’s first-ever undefeated season and they won CUSA in the first year in the league, with Chadwell’s modern triple-offense taking the conference by storm (nation’s-best 302 rushing yards per game).