Ranking the five best coaches in college football
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With the amount of roster turnover and turnover amongst assist coaches in college football, the lone constant for programs is often the head coach, which means that in order to have sustained success at the college level, you need a great coach.
As we head into the 2026 college football season, five coaches have separated from the pack.
5. Dan Lanning – Oregon
Since Dan Lanning took over as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks in 2022, Oregon is 48-8, tied with Ohio State for the second-highest winning percentage in FBS, behind only Georgia at 51-6. Lanning has led Oregon to 10 or more wins in all four seasons since he took over as the team’s head coach, which is twice as many 10-win seasons as the Ducks had between 2021 and 2015.
While Lanning has had a ton of success at Oregon, his teams have struggled against elite opponents. The past three seasons, Lanning’s Ducks are 1-5 against teams that ended up in the national title game and 37-0 against everyone else.
That said, Lanning clearly has Oregon going in the right direction, as he recruited exceptionally well out of high school and the transfer portal, excelled in terms of roster retention, and made all the right hires. He just needs to have some wins in the postseason.
4. Marcus Freeman – Notre Dame
While Steve Sarkisian, Dan Lanning, and Marcus Freeman are all in a similar category as coaches who have sustained success for several years and have established their programs as perennial College Football Playoff contenders, Freeman has actually accomplished more than the other two.
For starters, while none of those coaches have won a national title, Freeman is the only one of that group who has actually made it to a College Football Playoff Championship Game, where the Fighting Irish fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes following the 2024 season. On top of that, Freeman’s Notre Dame teams are 16-7 against top-25 opponents since he took over, which is second in the FBS during that span, behind only Georgia at 19-6.
Freeman needs to win a national title to make it to the next tier of coaches on this list, but he’s simply had more success when it matters than either Sarkisian or Lanning, and that gives him an edge.
3. Ryan Day – Ohio State
Since taking over as the head coach at Ohio State in 2020, nobody has won more consistently. In fact, nobody has won more consistently in the modern era, as Day’s career winning percentage of .872 is the highest since the AP Poll began in 1936.
In his seven seasons at Ohio State, Day has led the Buckeyes to the College Football Playoff five times – the most of any program during that span – and is one of just four active coaches to win a national title, leading the Buckeyes to a title in 2024.
Day has one fewer national title than Kirby Smart does at Georgia and stepped into a much more advantageous situation than Curt Cignetti did at Indiana, so he’s squarely at third. But Day is right there with the top coaches in college football.
2. Kirby Smart – Georgia
Kirby Smart is one of just two active FBS coaches with more than one national championship, but unlike Dabo Swinney at Clemson, he has managed to adapt to the transfer portal and the NIL era to keep the Georgia Bulldogs competitive every season.
What he’s accomplished already is undeniable. His 117 wins are the second most by a head coach in their first 10 seasons in major college football history, and he’s already made the College Football Playoff five times, won four SEC titles, and two national championships.
His teams have been perennial national title contenders for a decade, and his program has been the standard for college football.
1. Curt Cignetti – Indiana
When you win a national title in your second season at Indiana, of all schools, you’re pretty much a lock to sit atop this list.
While it’s difficult to win a national championship anywhere, and what Day and Smart have done with their programs is undeniably very impressive, the way Cignetti has instantly transformed Indiana is something we have never seen before in college football.
Before Cignetti, Indiana had an all-time winning percentage of just .419, zero 10-win seasons, and zero national championships. In just two years with Cignetti, the team has a .931 winning percentage, two 10-win seasons, and a national championship.
It took Cignetti just two years to turn a perennial Big Ten bottom-feeder into a national champion. There’s nobody else who belongs at the top of this list.
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