List season is in full swing around college football and seemingly has been since January. CBS Sports is out with its list of college football coaches.
It’s no surprise who No. 1 is. We completely agree with it. Many of the others are up for debate.
Here is the list, compiled by CBS and 247Sports experts.
- 1. Kirby Smart, Georgia
- 2. Ryan Day, Ohio State
- 3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
- 4. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
- 5. Dan Lanning, Oregon
- 6. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
- 7. James Franklin, Penn State
- 8. Brian Kelly, LSU
- 9. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
- 10. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
- 11. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
- 12. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
- 13. Lincoln Riley, Southern California
- 14. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
- 15. Lance Leipold, Kansas
- 16. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
- 17. Jeff Brohm, Louisville
- 18. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State
- 19. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
- 20. Mario Cristobal, Miami
- 21. Curt Cignetti, Indiana
- 22. Rhett Lashlee, SMU
- 23. Bret Bielema, Illinois
- 24. Eli Drikwitz, Missouri
- 25. Mike Norvell, Florida State
- 26. Kalani Sitake, BYU
- 27. PJ Fleck, Minnesota
- 28. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
- 29. Mike Elko, Texas A&M
- 30. Brent Key, Georgia Tech
- 31. Dave Doeren, N.C. State
- 32. Matt Rhule, Nebraska
- 33. Deion Sanders, Colorado
- 34. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
- 35. Sonny Dykes, TCU
- 36. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
- 37. Pat Narduzzi, Pitt
- 38. Dave Aranda, Baylor
- 39. Jedd Fisch, Washington
- 40. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
FIVE COACHES WHO ARE UNDERRATED: Key, Sanders, Fleck, Beamer, Drinkwitz
RELATED: Never overpay for a high school offensive lineman
FIVE COACHES WHO ARE OVERRATED: Ferentz, Riley, Cignetti, Day (not above Swinney at least), Doeren
FIVE UNFAIR OMISSIONS: Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Justin Wilcox, Cal; Billy Napier, Florida; David Braun, Northwestern; Bill Belichik, North Carolina
FIVE GREAT GROUP OF FIVERS: Jon Sumrall, Tulane; Dan Mullen, UNLV; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Alex Golesh, South Florida; Ryan Silverfield, Memphis
KEEP AN EYE ON: Matt Entz, Fresno State (60-11 at North Dakota State, spent one season as an assistant under Riley at USC).
FIVE PICKS WE LOVE: Leipold, Klieman, Campbell, Key, Sitake
THE TAKEAWAY: Smart has more first round NFL Draft picks than losses. He has two National Championships (the 2021 tile was UGA’s first since 1980) and probably did his best coaching job in 2024 by leading the Dawgs to the SEC Championship and the College Football Playoff. Lists are always up for debate when you dig into the meat of them, but it’s always important to get No. 1 ride and CBS absolutely did.
