UDD’s Top 20 FCS Coaches for 2026

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Summer has rolled on enough the the point where we’ve reached ranking season and across the FCS there are plenty of rankings to be doled out over the next few weeks. We begin with the men behind the headsets. Far and wide the subdivision is rich with exceptional coaches and narrowing it down to just 20 is not an easy task. These guys in particular, though, stand out as the best of the best heading into the 2026 season:

(Note: Coaches with no prior DI head coaching experience will be omitted)

Honorable Mentions: Clay Hendrix (Furman), Eddie Robinson Jr. (Alabama State), DeSean Jackson (Delaware State), Jim Fleming (Rhode Island), Jerry Schmitt (Duquesne)

20. Steve Englehart – West Georgia

Cracking the list is West Georgia’s newest head coaching hire. Steve Englehart got the job leading the Wolves for his tremendous work leading Presbyterian over the last few seasons. Last year in particular the Blue Hose turned a lot of heads under Englehart’s leadership, winning ten games and coming very close to their first ever Pioneer League championship and playoff berth. That run featured huge upset wins over the likes of a ranked Mercer squad and Furman, both landmark victories for Presbyterian. Now Englehart heads up a West Georgia team that has been impressing in its own right lately. Since moving up to the FCS two years ago, the Wolves have already won 12 games and finished fourth in a very competitive UAC last fall. It seems like a perfect fit for both the budding 49-year old head coach and a UWG program that is just one year away from becoming postseason eligible and looks like it could make some real noise once that happens.

19.Jason Simpson – UT Martin

Jason Simpson’s run at UT Martin has been a historic one for both its longevity and its success. Simpson has coached the Skyhawks since 2006 and in that time has won at least a share of the conference championship (Ohio Valley and Big South-OVC) five times. Simpson, who is one of the longest-tenured FCS coaches, has also guided UTM to the playoffs three times and twice since 2021. The team has finished in the national polls four times as well under his leadership. The last time he had a losing record was the shortened Spring season in 2021 and has only posted a sub-.500 record four times in his 20 years in charge. With an overall record of 129-96, Simpson is by far the winningest coach in school history. UT Martin is a yearly contender because of what he’s built and, in very weakened conference, his team looks like it will be the cream of the crop again.

18. Bobby Wilder – Tennessee Tech

The Bobby Wilder hiring has been a smash hit for Tennessee Tech since they made it prior to the 2024 season. In just two years, Wilder has elevated the once-lowly Golden Eagles to contender status, winning 11 games last year and bringing the team to its first playoffs since 2011. Wilder’s unit has taken home a share of the Big South-OVC championship in each of his first two years and now he’ll guide the program as it makes the move into the SoCon this fall. He previously coached Old Dominion at the end of its FCS era and well into its time in Conference USA. Wilder has an overall record of 18-7 with TTU and had them inside the Top 20 in the final STATS Perform poll last year.

17. Peter Rossomando – Lamar

What Peter Rossomando has done with Lamar should not go unnoticed. The team has improved in each of his first three seasons culminating with the Cardinals second-ever postseason trip last fall. Lamar has won 21 games since Rossomando took over in 2023, posting their best record in over a decade at 8-5 last fall. Rossomando has been at the center of other notable turnarounds too when he took Central Connecticut from a two-win team in 2017 and brought them to the playoffs a year later. He has the Cardinals as a sleeper pick to make a push in the Southland this year and they are again expected to be a playoff squad. Rossomando has not had a losing record yet in Beaumont and that’s a streak that should stay in tact again this season.

16. Nick Hill – Southern Illinois

Although the last couple years have not lived up to the billing, Nick Hill still deserves his flowers for what he’s accomplished with the Salukis. Southern Illinois is now a decade in of having Hill lead its football program and he’s taken them to the playoffs three times in the always-crowded Missouri Valley. Hill’s teams have also had a knack for being giant killers, having defeated FBS opponents three times since he’s been in charge. The Salukis also handed North Dakota State one of its more shocking results back in 202o with a 38-14 beatdown. Hill’s teams are known for their grit and resilience and SIU is picked by many to return to the postseason this year and maybe even make a run at a conference title now that NDSU is no longer looming.

15.Frank Scelfo – Southeastern Louisiana

There may not be a more steadying force for their team in the subdivision that Frank Scelfo at Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions are at the very least in the playoff hunt every year because of Scelfo and, for the fourth time in his career, broke through to the postseason last year. SLU has finished in the Top 25 five times now with Scelfo leading the charge and has finished second place or better in the Southland race five times as well. Not only does he produce a winning team, Scelfo also produces tremendous individual talent. Several times he’s had one of his players go the NFL via the Draft with this year being no exception as Kaleb Proctor was taken in the fourth round. Scelfo knows how to find talent and he knows how to get the most out of it. You can never count out the Lions as long as he’s there.

14. Keith Patterson – Abilene Christian

Abilene Christian is in a golden era right now and head coach Keith Patterson is at the middle of it. Patterson was named ACU’s head man back in 2022 and, in four years, has brought three UAC championships and two playoff trips. The last two years in particular have been especially successful for Patterson and his Wildcats. The team has taken down conference-favorite Tarleton State both seasons and has reached the second round of the tournament twice. Patterson won the 2022 WAC Coach of the Year honor when he went 7-4 in his first year. Abilene Christian has been a Top 15 team since 2024 and will surely enter this year in the same spot.

13. Treamaine Jackson – Prairie View A&M

Prairie View A&M made a home run hire when they brought in Tremaine Jackson from Division II’s Valdosta State prior to last season. In year one Jackson turned the Panthers from a five-win team to a SWAC champion and proved a lot of doubters wrong while doing so. Jackson and PVAM came incredibly close to also winning the Celebration Bowl last year and claiming the school’s first HBCU national championship in 16 years. All that feels like it was just the beginning. Jackson, who went 30-9 in his three seasons at Valdosta State, strung together ten wins in his first season as a DI head coach and was a frontrunner for various awards in 2025. There may be no coach in the FCS right now with more potential upside than Jackson and if last year was any indication of what’s to come, the Panthers will be a force to be reckoned with for a good, long while.

12. Joel Taylor – Mercer

One of the more impressive young coaches in FCS football right now just so happens to be Mercer’s newest hire. Joel Taylor is prepping for his first season in Macon and he’ll be trying to keep the Bears atop the SoCon for a fourth straight season. Although Taylor’s sample size as a head coach is small right now, it’s also quite accomplished. In two seasons leading West Georgia, Taylor won 12 games and had the Wolves checking in at fourth in the UAC last year in just their second season as a Division I program. He returns to a Mercer team that he served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for from 2020 to 2023. This will also be Taylor’s third stint in the SoCon having also took on the safeties coaching role for The Citadel back in the mid 2010s.

11. Colby Carthel – Stephen F. Austin

It finally feels like Stephen F. Austin is back to good old days and that’s thanks largely to eighth-year head coach Colby Carthel. Not only is SFA back in its old stomping grounds of the Southland Conference, Carthel guided them to a league title with a perfect 8-0 conference record and a run to the quarterfinals last year en route to winning 2025 Southland Coach of the Year accolades. It marked the second time in his tenure that the Lumberjacks qualified for the playoffs and last fall’s 11-3 mark was the best they’ve had since he got the job. Carthel found success at then-DII Texas A&M-Commerce (now East Texas A&M) a decade ago, taking the Lions all the way to the national championship and winning it in 2017. Two years later he got the job at SFA and since then he’s notched 44 wins and taken home two conference championships.

10. Andrew Aurich – Harvard

Harvard’s Andrew Aurich is one of the Ivy League’s more accomplished head coaches and he’s only three years into his career. In his first two seasons he’s led the Crimson to at least a share of the conference title and a spot in the final national rankings each year and he took them to their first ever playoff trip last fall. Aurich has an overall record of 17-4 since he took over for longtime head coach Tim Murphy and should have his squad as a frontrunner in the Ivies again this year. A former Princeton Tiger in his playing days, Aurich has had stops as an assistant at his alma mater, Rutgers, Bucknell and even a brief stint in the NFL with Tampa Bay as a defensive assistant. Now he’s one of the brightest young minds in FCS football and has already established himself as a through and through winner.

9. T.C. Taylor – Jackson State

T.C. Taylor is coming into his fourth season heading up Jackson State and once more his Tigers look like they’ll be a force in the SWAC. Taylor took over for Deion Sanders after the 2022 season and has not only maintained what Coach Prime built but has taken it to the next level. He led JSU to its first Celebration Bowl title in 2024 and took them back to their conference championship last fall. Taylor has been tremendous especially in league play, having only lost four SWAC games in three seasons. Jackson State has never finished below second in their division under Taylor and is 28-9 during his tenure. Taylor played for the Tigers back in the day, suiting up as a receiver from 1998 to 2001 and has certainly ushered his alma mater into their modern era of HBCU dominance. Taylor is expected to have Jackson State right there at the top again this year, despite losing some big name players.

8. Chennis Berry – South Carolina State

After last season there is no denying that Chennis Berry is the top HBCU coach in the country right now. He’s now two-for-two in leading South Carolina State to the Celebration Bowl and last year he got them over the top for their second crown in Atlanta in five years. Berry’s team has bullied its way through the MEAC in each of his two years at the helm, going a perfect 10-o in conference play since he got the job. He was named the 2024 FCS Region Two Coach of the Year and there are no signs that he or SC State will be slowing down any time soon. Berry’s winning ways started at Division II’s Benedict College and now they’ve transitioned seamless into Division I. As long as he’s calling the shots in Orangeburg, it’s a safe bet that the Bulldogs will be at or near the top of the heap every year.

7. Todd Whitten – Tarleton State

If you’re looking for a coach who’s been married to winning no matter the circumstances you need not look further than Todd Whitten. Whitten has been in the unique position of having led Tarleton State through its transition from Division II to Division I and he’s won often on both sides of that move. A graduate of Stephen F. Austin, Whitten’s first head coaching job was with the Texans way back in 1996 but he only was there for one season before leaving for Wyoming. His second stint with TSU, though, would come just four years later when he led the program from 2000 to 2004, a run that saw him win the Lone Star Conference and reach the playoffs twice. Again Whitten would leave, this time to Sam Houston but again he would return. In 2016 he came back to Tarleton and there he’s stayed, seeing the Texans into their FCS era after three more postseason trips and two more conference championships. Since joining the subdivision in 2023, Tarleton State has won 30 games and has qualified for the postseason in each of the last two years, claiming the #4 overall seed and going to the quarterfinals last fall. Whitten has been at the heart of TSU’s rise and again they are a hot pick to make a deep run this year.

6. Kevin Cahill – Yale

Yale may have made the coaching hire of the offseason when they brough back former assistant head coach Kevin Cahill to be the next leader of the Bulldogs. Kahill was in New Haven for a decade from 2012 to 2022 but most recently coached at Lehigh for three seasons where he reached the playoffs twice. Last fall he led the Mountain Hawks to one of their best seasons in program history as they went 12-0 in the regular season and received a top eight playoff seed for the first time ever. Cahill was named the Eddie Robinson Award winner for his work in Lower Saucon and now he gets to take over another team that was in the playoffs a year ago with the defending Ivy League champions. Yale has plenty of pieces for Cahill to work with and will enter 2026 as a favorite to repeat and get back to the postseason. Cahill has proven he knows how to win and now he’ll have the chance to do it at one of the most historic programs in the nation.

5. Tim Plough – UC Davis

Tim Plough has done an excellent job at his alma mater as head coach over the last two years. The former Aggies quarterback was named the head coach at UC Davis in 2024 and has led the team to the quarterfinals both years. His squads have finished #5 and #8 respectively in each of those seasons and have been right in the thick of things when it comes to the Big Sky title race. Plough, who had stops as an assistant at Northern Arizona, Boise State and Cal along the way, has helped elevate UC Davis to contender status not only in the conference but in the country. He’s only lost three league games and has compiled a 20-7 overall record. Now with his third year on deck, Plough gets to tap into his true specialty and coach up a new quarterback for the third straight season. Whoever ends up being the signal caller in Davis this year will likely be just fine with Plough to look to and thus the Aggies should once again be there deep into December.

4. Mark Ferrante – Villanova

One thing that seems like a constant is that Mark Ferrante’s Villanova teams will always be in the playoffs but last season was something special. Ferrante guided the Wildcats all the way to the semifinals by pulling off road wins over two teams seeded higher than them in the postseason in Lehigh and Tarleton State. That run brought Ferrante’s career playoff record to 6-5 all time and had his team finish with the highest ranking they have in his nine years there at #4. Ferrante is a winner through and through and has been a cog in Villanova’s success for a long, long time, serving as an assistant on the 2009 team that won the national championship and having been around the program in some capacity since 1987. His team has claimed at least a share of the CAA title twice since he’s been the head coach and as they move to the Patriot League, they’re a favorite for another conference crown in his tenth year. Ferrante boasts an overall record of 69-36 and is the architect of Villanova’s perennial success.

3. Dan Jackson – South Dakota State

If there’s one thing the South Dakota State machine is really good at, it’s churning out top end head coaches and Dan Jackson is the most recent example. He is the second man to head up the Jackrabbits following the legendary John Stiegelmeier. When Jimmy Rogers left after the 2024 season, Jackson was promoted from within to be the next steward of SDSU football, a program he once played for as a standout linebacker from 2003 to 2005 and served various assistant roles up until 2019. Jackson has one season under his belt as the head coach in Brookings and took an extremely beat up team to the second round of the playoffs before bowing out. Had they been healthy, though, it seemed like the ceiling could have been a national championship thus the expectations for one are still there as he enters his second season. Jackson is just getting off the ground and a very bright future lies ahead for both him and the Jacks.

2. Brock Spack – IllinoisState

If there were any questions about Brock Spack’s place among the upper tier of coaches, they went away during last season’s miraculous playoff run. For the second time in his 17-year career he led Illinois State to the big game and it was undoubtedly one of the finest coaching jobs of his (or anyone else’s career) as his gritty Redbirds nearly unseated Montana State in the championship after winning four straight road games to get there. Spack is one of the most experienced coaches in the country and has won 123 games as ISU’s head man, making him far and above the winningest coach in school history during a tenure which dates all the way back to 2009. Illinois State has only had a sub-.500 record three times during Spack’s time leading the program. Although he’s still searching for that first ring, few coaches have the overall pedigree that he brings to the table and at this point it seems like he’s going to be a lifer for the Redbirds.

1. Brent Vigen – Montana State

There is no FCS coach better right now than Brent Vigen. The 2024 Eddie Robinson Award winner added to his mantle last season by bringing Montana State its first national championship in over 40 years making him one of just two active FCS head coaches with a national title title. Vigen has put on a masterclass on how to win and win consistently since he took over the job in Bozeman back in 2021. MSU has a 61-12 overall record, a triumph over an FBS team, three appearances in the national championship, three Big Sky titles and five playoff berths under Vigen. The ’Cats have also been practically untouchable at home during his tenure, losing just two games in five seasons in their own building. His name has been swirled around pretty consistently in coaching searches every winter over the last couple years but each time he’s opted to stay put. From dealing with the portal and NIL to recruiting to player development and on-field results, Vigen is a cut above the rest and it feels like the Bobcats will always be a hot pick to hoist the trophy as long as he’s around.

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