Ranking the head coaches Notre Dame faces in 2022

Three national titles. Eleven College Football Playoff appearances. And that’s just as head coaches.

Notre Dame’s 2022 schedule features a daunting combination of legends and up-and-coming stars when it come to the coaches who will be standing on the opposing sideline this fall.

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Below is a top-to-bottom ranking of the 12 coaches the Irish have on the 2022 slate. While records and winning percentages are listed, they were not the final determinant in ordering the list.

12. Marcus Arroyo – UNLV

Record: 2-16 (.111) over two years at UNLV

The Rebels went 0-6 in 2020, so a 2-10 showing in 2021 was an improvement. Arroyo and UNLV have a long way to go. Perhaps Tennessee transfer quarterback Harrison Bailey will give Arroyo’s team a much-needed spark this year.

11. Jeff Hafley – Boston College

Record: 12-11 (.522) over two years at Boston College

Hafley has just two years under his belt as a head coach, and he’s done relatively well, all things considered. The Eagles are trending up, but they have not taken the next step to become legitimate contenders in the ACC Atlantic division. Hafley has yet to beat a ranked team; the Eagles are 0-7 against ranked opponents under him.

10. Dino Babers – Syracuse

Record: 47-52 (.475) over eight years at Syracuse, Bowling Green

Outside of a 2018 season in which Syracuse went 10-3 and won the Camping World Bowl, it’s been pretty rough for Babers at Syracuse. Granted, that’s a hard place to win. Babers biggest win was definitely a 27-24 victory over then-No. 2 Clemson in 2017. The following year, the Orange nearly repeated but fell short. Babers is 0-3 against Notre Dame.

9. Justin Wilcox – Cal

Record: 26-28 (.481) over five years at Cal

Wilcox is considered to be one of the bright, young coaches in college football — the 35 year old was actually offered the Oregon head coaching job this last coaching cycle — but his record leaves much to be desired. The Bears have spent just three weeks ranked in the top 25 since Wilcox took over.

8. Charles Huff – Marshall

Record: 7-5 (.583) in one year at Marshall

Huff is a hard one to place given he has been a head coach for just one year, but Marshall did quite well last season. They played 2021 in C-USA and will move to the Sun Belt this fall. The ESPN preseason SP+ projection for the Thundering Herd is No. 56 nationally, ahead of seven of Notre Dame’s other opponents. Huff’s abilities are not to be overlooked.

7. David Shaw – Stanford

Record: 93-45 (.674) over 11 years at Stanford

If you started watching Stanford football in 2019, you would have absolutely no idea why Shaw is this high on the list. When he inherited the team from former head coach Jim Harbaugh in 2011, Stanford had gone 12-1 the previous year. Shaw kept that success going for six years after and arguably a little longer. He won two Rose Bowls, and Stanford was pretty consistently a top-15 team. Times have changed, and the Cardinal have been in a downward spiral around 2018. Regardless, Shaw remains one of the more respected coaches in college football, and his name is still tossed around when coaching positions open up.

6. Kalani Sitake – BYU

Record: 48-29 (.623) over six years at BYU

Sitake has created one of the biggest Group of Five (although they are technically independent right now) success stories in recent memory in Provo. He also helped produce the No. 2 overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, Zach Wilson. The Cougars have won at least nine games in three of Sitake’s six seasons in charge, and they are 21-4 in the last two years with a veteran roster returning for 2022.

5. Ken Niumatalolo – Navy

Record: 105-75 (.583) over 15 years at Navy

Niumatalolo could’ve left Navy several times during his tenure to coach at the Power Five level, but Navy is clearly where he wants to be. The all-time winningest coach in program history has posted six seasons with at least nine wins, a feat achieved just four times in the previous 30 years at Navy.

4. Lincoln Riley – USC

Record: 55-10 (.846) over five years at Oklahoma

Riley is one of the brightest offensive minds in college football, but he has struggled to win the big game. The 38-year-old coach took the Sooners to three consecutive CFP appearances from 2017-19, but they lost all three games. Only one — the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl following the 2017 season — was close; Oklahoma fell to Georgia in double overtime.

3. Ryan Day – Ohio State

Record: 34-4 (.895) over four years at Ohio State

Day has a big future, but he’s not there yet. The Buckeyes are often in the conversation in November, but Day has largely been working with an elite framework and foundation left to him by former head coach Urban Meyer. He’s shown he’s a top recruiter, but he needs to take things to the next level — i.e. win a national title — to move up to the truly elite club when it comes to college football coaches.

2. Mack Brown – UNC

Record: 259-134 (.659) over 32 years at Tulane, North Carolina, Texas, North Carolina (again)

There is an argument to be made for Brown taking the top spot on this list, but I settled with him in second place. The 2005 BCS National Championship win over USC as the head coach at Texas is by far his greatest achievement, and he really had the ball rolling in Austin for a while. Now, he’s back at UNC for the second time, and while the Tar Heels are certainly receiving a lot of hype, they have yet to break through. Notre Dame has beaten UNC in back-to-back years.

1. Dabo Swinney – Clemson

Record: 150-36 (.806) over 14 years at Clemson

After two national titles in the last decade with a team that was previously a mid-level ACC program, Swinney grabs the top spot. Both title wins have been over Alabama, and the 2018 game was a 44-18 demolition of the Crimson Tide. To go with the two championships, the Tigers have made six CFP appearances. Outside of Alabama, no one has been more dominant in the last decade of college football. Clemson struggled last season, but I’d be willing to bet that was an anomaly rather than the new normal for Swinney’s team.