I have not been posting for almost a week due to working on this project that took longer than I anticipated will. With the season almost a week away, let's look at every coach and see where I pit them against each other. To condense it to not go over the character limit, not every coach will have a description why, but only the top ten and the bottom three.
138: Rob Harley, Northern Illinois (Interim)
As Harley is stepping in this season, there is an unlikely chance he will remain in 2027. Therefore, I have him at the bottom solely because of that.
T-129: Alonzo Carter, Sacramento State; Brian Hartline, USF; Collin Klein, Kansas State; Tosh Lupoi, Cal; Kirby Moore, Washington State; Tavita Pritchard, Stanford; JaMarcus Shephard, Oregon State; Will Stein, Kentucky; Casey Woods, Missouri State
Each nine of them are first time Head Coaches in the NCAA level. Therefore, hard to judge what they can do without being able to know what they have done in the past as a HC.
T-125: John Hauser, Ohio; Pete Golding, Ole Miss; Alex Mortensen, UAB; Morgan Scalley, Utah
Already coached a game for their team they are now employed at, but were on an interim status and it was still technically their predecessors team instead.
124: Joe Harasymiak, UMass
123: Phil Longo, Sam Houston State
122: Dell McGee, Georgia State
121: Bryant Vincent, UL Monroe
120: Jeff Choate, Nevada
119: Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee
118: Will Hall, Tulane
117: Scotty Walden, UTEP
116: Jay Sawvel, Wyoming
115: Tony Sanchez, New Mexico State
114: Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State
113: Tim Albin, Charlotte
112: Mike Uremovich, Ball State
111: Eddie George, Bowling Green
110: Butch Jones, Arkansas State
109: Major Applewhite, South Alabama
108: Pete Lembo, Buffalo
107: Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State
106: Tony Gibson, Marshall
105: Ryan Beard, Coastal Carolina
104: Blake Anderson, Southern Miss
103: Neal Brown, North Texas
102: Mark Carney, Kent State
101: Joe Moorhead, Akron
100: Matt Drinkall, Central Michigan
99: Scott Abell, Rice
98: Tre Lamb, Tulsa
97: Zach Kittley, FAU
96: Willie Simmons, FIU
95: Ryan Carty, Delaware
94: Gerad Parker, Troy
93: Michael Desormeaux, Louisiana
92: Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan
91: Charles Kelly, Jacksonville State
90: K.C. Keeler, Temple
89: Timmy Chang, Hawaii
88: Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech
87: Clay Helton, Georgia Southern
86: Troy Calhoun, Air Force
85: GJ Kinne, Texas State
84: Chuck Martin, Miami (OH)
83: Bill O'Brien, Boston College
82: Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion
81: Mike Jacobs, Toledo
80: Tim Polasek, North Dakota State
79: Jamey Chadwell, Liberty
78: Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky
77: Jeff Traylor, UTSA
76: Brian Newberry, Navy
75: Jeff Monken, Army
74: Matt Entz, Fresno State
73: Jerry Mack, Kennesaw State
72: Blake Harrell, East Carolina
71: Dave Aranda, Baylor
70: Lance Taylor, Western Michigan
69: Jason Eck, New Mexico
68: Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas
67: Jimmy Rogers, Iowa State
66: Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State
65: Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State
64: Jason Candle, UConn
63: Charles Huff, Memphis
62: Billy Napier, James Madison
61: Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati
60: Deion Sanders, Colorado
59: Fran Brown, Syracuse
58: Lance Leipold, Kansas
57: David Braun, Northwestern
56: Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
55: Barry Odom, Purdue
54: Dave Doeren, North Carolina State
53: Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia
52: Scott Frost, UCF
51: Jim Mora, Colorado State
50: Bill Belichick, North Carolina
49: Greg Schiano, Rutgers
48: Pat Fitzgerald, Michigan State
47: Manny Diaz, Duke
46: Mike Locksely, Maryland
45: Sean Lewis, San Diego State
44: Dan Mullen, UNLV
43: Mike Norvell, Florida State
42: Bob Chesney, UCLA
41: Eric Morris, Oklahoma State
40: Shane Beamer, South Carolina
39: Tony Elliott, Virginia
38: Brent Brennan, Arizona
37: Jake Dickert, Wake Forest
36: Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
35: PJ Fleck, Minnesota
34: Sonny Dykes, TCU
33: Brent Venables, Oklahoma
32: Alex Golesh, Auburn
31: Spencer Danielson, Boise State
30: Matt Rhule, Nebraska
29: Jon Sumrall, Florida
28: Brent Key, Georgia Tech
27: Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State
26: Pat Narduzzi, Pitt
25: Bret Bielema, Illinois
24: Jedd Fisch, Washington
23: Josh Heupel, Tennessee
22: Joey McGuire, Texas Tech
21: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
20: Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri
19: Jeff Brohm, Louisville
18: Willie Fritz, Houston
17: Lincoln Riley, USC
16: Rhett Lashlee, SMU
15: Mike Elko, Texas A&M
14: Kalani Sitake, BYU
13: James Franklin, Virginia Tech
12: Matt Campbell, Penn State
11: Kyle Whittingham, Michigan
10: Dabo Swinney, Clemson (187-53 overall)
This isn't the same Dabo from ten years ago, but he still has Clemson competing for a ACC title year after year and made the CFP in the last two or three years.
9: Kalen DeBoer, Alabama (20-8 at Alabama; 57-17 overall/FBS)
His Alabama tenure hasn't been spectacular yet, but he is a proven winner everywhere he goes and four losses being his worst he has done is really impressive.
8: Dan Lanning, Oregon (48-8 overall)
Has showcased a ton of success in just four seasons as a HC. This season should be a make or break year for him.
7: Steve Sarkisian, Texas (48-20 at Texas; 94-55 overall)
What a impressive fact of making it to the Big 12 and the SEC Championship Game back to back years at the same school. He deserves the top ten accolades this year, but he has a roster construction reputation that should warrant him to be higher.
6: Mario Cristobal, Miami (FL) (35-19 at Miami (FL); 97-79 overall)
The hometown kid, the Miami (FL) alum has given them something to cheer for. CFP Championship Game runer ups. His main flaw was always having a elite team but fumbling the bag so much that they miss the CFP, this time they somehow got in despite weeks of being told they were out and they made the best of it.
5: Lane Kiffin, LSU (0-0 at LSU; 116-53 overall/FBS)
The only coach in the top ten who hasn't coached in the CFP. He has revitalized his reputation and has proven to be one of the top coaches of the game after learning from Saban. Like I said, he hasn't made it to the CFP yet so that should be his next hill to climb or start slipping in the rankings year after year.
4: Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame (43-12 overall)
To think to tell Notre Dame fans five years ago that Marcus Freeman may be better than Brian Kelly when it is all said and done, they would probably ask you if you're ok. Now, it may be reality. All Freeman has to do to one up Kelly is to win the CFP.
3: Curt Cignetti, Indiana (27-2 at Indiana; 46-6 overall/FBS)
I wonder if anyone googled him yet? Two losses in two years is insane. I don't know a coach who has done something like that in their first two seasons in Division I FBS college football.
2: Ryan Day, Ohio State (82-12 overall)
Day is ahead of Cignetti mostly because of longer success and familiarity. After taking over for Urban Meyer, he has had this Buckeyes squad rolling and always in the spotlight and never out of the CFP conversation.
1: Kirby Smart, Georgia (117-21 overall)
It's hard to put anyone other than Kirby at the top at the moment, he has consistency, has hunged around for the longest, all he has to do now is win a CFP game in the new format.
Let me know your thoughts down below as this has been one of the longest posts I have ever worked on!