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Coach ranking season continues and Steve Sarkisian checks in at No. 5 per ESPN

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•05/16/25•

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Steve Sarkisian by © Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
(© Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

May is a good time of year to rank things. Quarterback rooms, offensive lines, road trips, and running backs. Head coaches get the same treatment, and ESPN put out its list of the top coaches in college football in 2025. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian ranked No. 5.

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Sark was No. 7 last year behind coaches like Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer. This year at No. 5, he only trails No. 1 Kirby Smart, No. 2 Ryan Day, No. 3 Dabo Swinney, and No. 4 Marcus Freeman.

ESPN’s Chris Low had Sarkisian as his No. 2 coach, and explained why he was that high.

Sarkisian is one of college football’s most well-rounded coaches, and he would be a name at the top of the proverbial short list of every athletic director in the country if that AD needed a coach and/or could afford him. Sarkisian is one of the game’s top offensive minds. He’s a juggernaut of a recruiter and hires good people around him. He was already building a program to compete in the SEC, especially in the lines of scrimmage. And in the Longhorns’ first season in the SEC in 2024, they went to the conference championship game and made it to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. There’s a lot more to come, too, even if some might be leery of Sark because of his personal issues in the past and the way it ended for him at USC.

Behind Sarkisian was Oregon’s Dan Lanning, DeBoer, Penn State’s James Franklin, Whittingham, and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell.

Back in February, On3’s Ari Wasserman ranked Sarkisian as the No. 4 head coach in college football behind Smart, Day, and Lanning. Sarkisian is likely to be ranked near the top among coaches without a national championship to their name at this juncture, and might continue to battle Freeman for that first spot from that group.

Sarkisian is 84-52 as a head coach and 38-17 at Texas.

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ESPN’s top 10 college football coaches in 2025

  1. Kirby Smart, Georgia
  2. Ryan Day, Ohio State
  3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
  4. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
  5. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
  6. Dan Lanning, Oregon
  7. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
  8. James Franklin, Penn State
  9. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
  10. Matt Campbell, Iowa State

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