NCAAF · 3 months ago

Top 20 College Football Head Coaches Ranked for 2025

TJ Inman

Host · Writer

20. Mario Cristobal - Miami Hurricanes
It is fair to make fun of Mario Cristobal’s occasional late-game gaffes. It is fair to wonder whether or not he is a good game manager or even an above-average in-game coach. You cannot question his ability to accumulate talent, which is a huge part of college football. Cristobal was a very poor 27-47 at Florida International before getting the Oregon job and elevating that program a notch further than where it had been with a 12-2 season in 2019 and then a 10-3 campaign in 2021. He returned home to Miami and has the Hurricanes on an upward trajectory after going 10-3 with the Heisman Trophy winner in 2024.

Week 1: Notre Dame at Miami (+2.5)
1. Ryan Day - Ohio State Buckeyes
Ryan Day took over the Ohio State Buckeyes on a full-time basis prior to the 2019 season. While it can fairly be argued that Day was handed a program loaded with talent and resources, he has done as much as anyone could realistically ask for in Columbus. During his tenure, Ryan Day has never lost more than two games in a season and is a staggering 46-5 in Big Ten play. Perhaps most notably, Day got his Buckeyes over the hump last season as they finished on a tear and won the National Championship, earning him a tiny bit of breathing room from the OSU fan base. Beating Michigan this season is one of the last hurdles he needs to get over.

2025 Win Total: 10.5
2. Kirby Smart - Georgia Bulldogs
Kirby Smart has an argument to be in pole position on this list. He has been a consistent winner and contender since taking over for Mark Richt in Athens, and he has back-to-back National Championships (2021 and 2022). That written, his Bulldogs had three losses last season and struggled to run the ball, and they enter the 2025 campaign with questions at quarterback and a lot of production to replace. No program recruits better from high school than Georgia, but Smart has not been able to thrive in the portal quite as well as one might expect. He’s one of the leading voices in the sport right now and remains one of the game’s premier coaches.

2025 Win Total: 9.5
3. Marcus Freeman - Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Marcus Freeman was seen as a risky hire for Notre Dame after Brian Kelly bolted for LSU, but it has proven to be a stroke of genius and a bold move that is paying off. Notre Dame is recruiting at a higher level than they have in recent memory, and the Irish made it to the National Championship Game before falling to Ohio State last season. Freeman is young and improving each season, and he is clearly a guy that young players want to sign up to play for. There’s a question about just how much longer he’ll be in college, but for now, he’s one of the best in the sport.

2025 Win Total: 10.5
4. Dabo Swinney - Clemson Tigers
An elder statesman in the sport, Dabo Swinney has built a unique culture at Clemson, and he continues to win at a high level. His run from 2015 to 2019 stands out as one of the best the sport has ever seen, and he remains the only coach to ever successfully go toe-to-toe with Nick Saban at the height of his powers in Tuscaloosa. Swinney won a pair of national titles and appeared in four of five national title games during that run. He has won nine ACC titles and has made the Tigers the premier program in that conference. His 2025 team appears to be ready to compete at the pinnacle of the sport again this season, but it’s likely now or never again for Swinney in terms of national title hopes.

2025 Win Total: 10.5
5. Dan Lanning - Oregon Ducks
Dan Lanning is only 39 years old, and he’s already been one of the game’s best defensive minds (both at Oregon as head coach and as an assistant at Georgia). He was named the head coach in Eugene prior to the 2022 season and has gone 10-3, 12-2, and 13-1 in his three seasons in charge of the Ducks. Last season, Oregon won the Big Ten in its first season in the conference before losing to Ohio State in a lopsided Rose Bowl defeat. Lanning has elevated Oregon’s recruiting, and they are now regularly a top ten program and title contender.

2025 Win Total: 10.5
6. Steve Sarkisian - Texas Longhorns
Steve Sarkisian has taken a winding road, but he has now elevated Texas to the top tier of the SEC, and they are now recruiting as well as anyone in the country. Texas went 13-3, lost to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game in their first season in the league, and then beat Clemson in the College Football Playoff. The Longhorns now have Arch Manning at quarterback, and few coaches can hold a candle to Sarkisian on the offensive side of the ball. He’s been a head coach for a long time, but is still only 51 years old and has a lot of high-end seasons remaining.

2025 Win Total: 9.5
7. Curt Cignetti - Indiana Hoosiers
Some will scoff at having Curt Cignetti in the top ten, and they will call him a “one-year wonder”. Those people would be wrong. He wins, Google him. Curt Cignetti is in the top five for active head coaches in terms of win percentage, and he has done that at programs without the resources of schools like Ohio State or Georgia or Texas. In fact, he won big at James Madison as they migrated from FCS to the FBS, and then he led IU to their best season in school history with an 11-1 regular season and a trip to the College Football Playoff. Indiana is historically one of the toughest jobs in the country, and he has changed everything about the program and culture in a very short time.

2025 Win Total: 8.5
8. James Franklin - Penn State Nittany Lions
James Franklin is a polarizing figure, even within the Penn State fan base. He’s clearly really good, but is he a top-tier coach? The only clear thing is that the 2025 season is an absolutely critical one for Franklin as he tries to get PSU to the top of the mountain. Franklin was great at Vanderbilt, taking the Commodores to three bowl games and winning nine games in both 2012 and 2013. He then built Penn State into a consistent winner, regularly winning ten games, and he has won double-digit games each of the past three seasons, including 13-3 with a loss to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game in 2024. James Franklin beats nearly everyone he is supposed to, but can the Nittany Lions knock off the sport’s elite and actually capture a league title and truly compete for a National Championship in 2025? The time is now with a veteran group returning and a favorable schedule.

2025 Win Total: 10.5
9. Jeff Brohm - Louisville Cardinals
Jeff Brohm is a great example of a coach who is exceeding the historical level of the schools he is coaching at. Western Kentucky was at its best when Brohm was on the sidelines. Purdue went to the Big Ten Championship Game with Brohm and has completely and totally fallen apart since he left, and Louisville is slowly building into a popular ACC sleeper and is a popular pick to make the ACC Championship Game this season. Brohm is outstanding as an offensive coach, but his team’s defenses have been solid since making the move to Louisville.

2025 Win Total: 8.5
10. Kalen DeBoer - Alabama Crimson Tide
Kalen DeBoer probably would have been firmly in the top ten had this list been made without taking the 2024 season into account. He had just taken Washington to the National Championship Game (losing to Michigan) and had elevated the play of Michael Penix and helped him be a first-round draft pick. DeBoer was hired by Alabama, and things did not go quite as planned in Tuscaloosa after he stepped in for Nick Saban. That’s not to say that last season was a disaster, but Jalen Milroe did not really fit what he wanted in a quarterback. His trusted offensive assistant, Ryan Grubb, is back with him this season, and there is a feeling of optimism back in Alabama heading into a very important season for DeBoer to prove he’s the man for the job.
11. Rhett Lashlee - SMU Mustangs
Rhett Lashlee is only 42 years old, but the former offensive coordinator at Miami, SMU, UConn, and Auburn has quickly established himself as a high-end head coach since taking over a rudderless SMU program ahead of the 2022 season. The Mustangs were 7-6 in his first season before going 11-3 in 2023, moving to the ACC in 2024, and going 8-0 in the league before losing a heartbreaker to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game. SMU made the College Football Playoff, and they are ranked again entering the 2025 season. Lashlee has not lost a regular season conference game in two seasons, and he’s 21-3 in-conference during his head coaching career.

2025 Win Total: 8.5
12. Bret Bielema - Illinois Fighting Illini
Bret Bielema may seem an odd choice, but the man is a consistent winner, and he often elevates the programs he’s coaching, while showing an ability to adapt to the changing landscape of college football. Bielema has been a head coach for nearly 20 seasons now after being named the head coach at Wisconsin ahead of the 2006 season. He went 68-24 with the Badgers before surprisingly jumping to Arkansas. The Razorbacks were a disaster when he took the job, and he was alright there before leaving after the 2017 season. After a break from head coaching, Bielema re-entered the fray as the head coach at Illinois, and he has led the Illini to one ten-win season (2024) and a pair of bowl games. Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Illinois are not easy jobs, but Bielema routinely has his teams overperform expectations, and the Illini are ranked near the top ten in the preseason ahead of a critical 2025 season.

2025 Win Total: 8.5
13. Jeff Monken - Army Black Knights
You want a coach who does more with less? Meet Jeff Monken. Despite barriers like NIL and the transfer portal that would seem to make it impossible for Army to compete at even a competent level on the gridiron, Army went 12-2 and won the American Athletic Conference Championship last season. In total, Monken has led Army to six eight-plus win seasons, and he’s 82-57 with the Black Knights despite all of the obstacles in place to make it a really hard place to compete.

2025 Win Total: 7.5
14. Brian Kelly - LSU Tigers
The clock is ticking on Brian Kelly at LSU. He’s 63 years old and fans on the Bayou are expecting big things in 2025, or Kelly could be out of a job. Still, he is the winningest coach in Notre Dame history, and he still has a pair of Division II national titles with Grand Valley State (1992 and 1997). He was also 34-6 with the Cincinnati Bearcats and took the program to the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl in 2008 and 2009. He’s 29-11 at LSU and had a Heisman Trophy winner in 2023, but the standards are high, and missing the College Football Playoff in four straight seasons won’t cut it.

2025 Win Total: 8.5
15. Kenny Dillingham - Arizona State Sun Devils
Kenny Dillingham does not have the resume that many others on this list have, but sometimes, you have to believe in what you see, and that’s the case with the young head coach for the Arizona State Sun Devils. Dillingham was dynamite as the offensive coordinator for the Oregon Ducks before getting the head coaching job at his alma mater after the disastrous Herm Edwards era in Tempe. Dillingham believed something special could be created at Arizona State, and he was willing to take the risk and try to dig out of the crater Edwards left. His Sun Devils were 3-9 in his first season, but they were competitive and fought hard. They took off last season, going 10-2 in the regular season, winning the Big 12 Championship over the Iowa State Cyclones and then losing a very close game to Texas in the Peach Bowl. Dillingham is only 35 years old, and his present and future with the Sun Devils are both incredibly bright.

2025 Win Total: 8.5
16. Lane Kiffin - Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin has grown from a boisterous and sometimes pompous young coach to an established veteran with multiple years of proven success. Kiffin is now 50 years old and has been a head coach since 2009, when he began his tenure with Tennessee. Kiffin then went 28-15 at USC before a highly successful, albeit tumultuous, tenure as offensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban. He returned to head coaching with a great stint of three years at Florida Atlantic (11-3 and 10-3 seasons) that looks even better now than it did then, before making the jump to Oxford to coach the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin has led the Rebels to three different seasons of at least ten wins, and he’s now 44-18 with bowl games in each season. The self-proclaimed “Portal King” continues to make Ole Miss a top-end SEC team.

Week One: Georgia State at Ole Miss (-38.5)
17. Josh Heupel - Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is now entering his fifth season as the head coach in Knoxville, with a record of 37-15. That follows three seasons with the UCF Knights, and his overall record is 65-23 after going 12-1 and 10-3 in his first two years in Orlando. Heupel took a stand against the increasing demands of Nico Iamaleava’s camp this offseason, and the immediate outlook of his quarterback room suffered as a result. Still, that move created a lot of goodwill among the Tennessee faithful and potentially will pay big dividends for the culture of his program soon. He’s an excellent offensive mind, but last season proved that he is also very capable of putting great defenses on the field.

Week 1: Syracuse at Tennessee (-13.5)
18. Kyle Whittingham - Utah Utes
Utah’s Kyle Whittingham is one of the elder statesmen in the sport, and he remains highly effective as the head coach in Salt Lake City for the Utes. Whittingham is outstanding at developing a physical and fierce team that controls the line of scrimmage, and he almost always puts a tough team on the field. He has 167 career wins with three conference titles at Utah. While 2024 was a rare step back and he has already named a “coach in waiting," Whittingham hopes to go out on a high note with a strong 2025.

Week 1: Utah (-6.5) at UCLA
19. Lincoln Riley - USC Trojans
What to make of Lincoln Riley? He’s one of the best offensive minds in the sport, and his work with quarterbacks cannot be questioned. Still, Riley has struggled to field balanced teams, and there are ongoing questions about whether or not he is capable of building a genuine title contender that can play defense. Riley was 55-10 at Oklahoma and won the Big 12 four straight times from 2017 to 2020. He shockingly fled west to USC ahead of the 2022 campaign and has gone from 11-3 in 2022 to 8-5 in 2023 to 7-6 in 2024. That trend is not encouraging, but there is some hope that he has gotten his hires right on defense, and the Trojans are ready to establish themselves in the Big Ten.
20. Mario Cristobal - Miami Hurricanes
It is fair to make fun of Mario Cristobal’s occasional late-game gaffes. It is fair to wonder whether or not he is a good game manager or even an above-average in-game coach. You cannot question his ability to accumulate talent, which is a huge part of college football. Cristobal was a very poor 27-47 at Florida International before getting the Oregon job and elevating that program a notch further than where it had been with a 12-2 season in 2019 and then a 10-3 campaign in 2021. He returned home to Miami and has the Hurricanes on an upward trajectory after going 10-3 with the Heisman Trophy winner in 2024.

Week 1: Notre Dame at Miami (+2.5)
1. Ryan Day - Ohio State Buckeyes
Ryan Day took over the Ohio State Buckeyes on a full-time basis prior to the 2019 season. While it can fairly be argued that Day was handed a program loaded with talent and resources, he has done as much as anyone could realistically ask for in Columbus. During his tenure, Ryan Day has never lost more than two games in a season and is a staggering 46-5 in Big Ten play. Perhaps most notably, Day got his Buckeyes over the hump last season as they finished on a tear and won the National Championship, earning him a tiny bit of breathing room from the OSU fan base. Beating Michigan this season is one of the last hurdles he needs to get over.

2025 Win Total: 10.5

Top 20 College Football Head Coaches Ranked for 2025

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