Where Notre Dame’s 2022 opposing coaches land in The Sporting News’ college football coaches rankings

Notre Dame doesn’t have Nick Saban and Alabama on the 2022 schedule, but the Fighting Irish still have to contend with some of the best coaches in the country — three of the top seven according to a new rankings report.

The Sporting News released its annual rankings of the best college football coaches in the country Tuesday, from Saban at No. 1 to Nevada’s Ken Wilson — a first-time head coach at age 58 — at No. 131. Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman is a first-time head coach, of course, and he just turned 36 earlier this year. They come in all different shapes and … ages. Freeman came in at No. 35 per The Sporting News.

Notre Dame does not have any first-time head coaches on its 2022 schedule. The Fighting Irish are preparing to play some of the highest-ranking coaches on The Sporting News’ list. Here’s a look at where all 12 of the opposing coaches Notre Dame will face this season appear in the rankings.

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No. 127: Marcus Arroyo (UNLV)

Record: 2-16

Record against Notre Dame: n/a

Game date, location: Oct 22, Notre Dame Stadium

Notable: Arroyo, 42, played quarterback at San Jose State from 1998-2002. He began his coaching career there as an undergraduate assistant in 2003. He spent a year in the NFL as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach in 2014. He was a three-year Oregon assistant before arriving at ULNV.

No. 93: Charles Huff (Marshall)

Record: 7-6

Record against Notre Dame: n/a

Game date, location: Sept. 10, Notre Dame Stadium

Notable: Huff, 39, played at Hampton from 2001-05. He began his coaching career as the offensive line coach at Tennessee State in 2006. Before arriving at Marshall, he was the associate head coach and running backs coach for Saban at Alabama.

No. 75: Dino Babers (Syracuse)

Record: 47-52

Record against Notre Dame: 0-3

Game date, location: Oct. 29, Carrier Dome (Syracuse)

Notable: Babers, 60, played at Hawaii from 1979-1983. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant there in 1984. His list of coaching stops is lengthy. He’s been a head coach since 2012 at Eastern Illinois, Bowling Green and Syracuse.

No. 71: Ken Niumatalolo (Navy)

Record: 105-75

Record against Notre Dame: 4-10

Game date, location: Nov. 12, M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore)

Notable: Niumatalolo, 57, played at Hawaii from 1987-89. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant there in 1990. He’s been at Navy since 1995, assuming the head coach position in 2007.

No. 60: Justin Wilcox (Cal)

Record: 26-28

Record against Notre Dame: n/a

Game date, location: Sept. 17, Notre Dame Stadium

Notable: Wilcox, 45, played defensive back at Oregon from 1996-99. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Boise State in 2001. He served as the defensive coordinator at five schools — Boise State, Tennessee, Washington, USC and Wisconsin — before taking the head coach job at Cal in 2017.

No. 44: Jeff Hafley (Boston College)

Record: 12-11

Record against Notre Dame: 0-1

Game date, location: Nov. 19, Notre Dame Stadium

Notable: Hafley, 43, played wide receiver at Siena from 1997-2000. He spent time coaching in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers from 2012-18. He was the co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Ohio State in 2019. Hafley will have the services of plenty of former Fighting Irish figures including quarterback Phil Jurkovec, offensive coordinator John McNulty and tight end George Takacs.

No. 31: David Shaw (Stanford)

Record: 93-45

Record against Notre Dame: 5-5

Game date, location: Oct. 15, Notre Dame Stadium

Notable: Shaw, 49, played wide receiver at Stanford from 1991-94. He spent time coaching in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Ravens from 1998-2005. He’s been the head coach at Stanford since 2011.

No. 29: Kalani Sitake (BYU)

Record: 48-29

Record against Notre Dame: n/a

Game date, location: Oct. 8, Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)

Notable: Sitake, 46, played fullback at BYU in 1994 and from 1997-2000. He spent some time on the Cincinnati Bengals roster in 2001. He started his coaching career as the defensive backs coach at Eastern Arizona later that year. He’s been the head coach at BYU since 2016.

No. 15: Mack Brown (North Carolina)

Record: 259-134-1

Record against Notre Dame: 0-2

Game date, location: Sept. 24, Kenan Memorial Stadium (Chapel Hill)

Notable: Brown, 70, played running back at Vanderbilt (1969-70) and Florida State (1972-73). His coaching career is as extensive as any active coach’s. He first became a head coach at Appalachian State in 1983. He was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 1984. He spent three seasons at Tulane before arriving at North Carolina for the first time in 1988. He transitioned to Texas, where he won the 2005 national championship, in 1998. His tenure there finished in 2013. He went back to UNC in 2019.

No. 7: Lincoln Riley (USC)

Record: 55-10

Record against Notre Dame: n/a

Game date, location: Nov. 26, LA Memorial Coliseum (Los Angeles)

Notable: Riley, 38, played quarterback at Texas Tech in 2002. He spent his formative years as a college coach there from 2003-09. He was the offensive coordinator at East Carolina from 2010-14 before taking the same position at Oklahoma in 2015. He became the head coach at OU in 2017 and just made the move to USC at the end of last year.

No. 4: Ryan Day (Ohio State)

Record: 34-4

Record against Notre Dame: n/a

Game date, location: Sept. 3, Ohio Stadium (Columbus)

Notable: Day, 43, played quarterback and linebacker at New Hampshire from 1998-2001. He started his coaching career as a tight ends coach there in 2002. Day bounced around the college ranks before becoming the quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015. He held the same position for the San Francisco 49ers in 2016. He’s been at Ohio State since 2016 and became the head coach there full-time in 2019.

No. 2: Dabo Swinney (Clemson)

Record: 150-36

Record against Notre Dame: 3-1

Game date, location: Nov. 5, Notre Dame Stadium

Notable: Swinney, 52, played wide receiver at Alabama from 1990-92. He spent his formative years as a college coach there from 1993-2000, serving as a graduate assistant, wide receivers coach and tight ends coach at various points. He arrived as an assistant at Clemson in 2003, and he’s been there ever since. He became the head coach in 2009. He’s the mentor of Notre Dame wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey, who played for Swinney in the mid-2000s and started his coaching career for him as a 35-year-old graduate assistant in 2019.