2023 Top 25 head coach rankings: Kirby Smart, Nick Saban and then who?
We’ve reached the end of the offseason head coach rankings at On3.
Over the last six weeks, I released coach rankings for each Power 5 conference and the Top 10 Group of 5 coaches in the country.
I kickstarted the series with the 2023 SEC football head coach rankings. Then we released the 2023 Big Ten head coach rankings, the 2023 Pac-12 head coach rankings and the 2023 ACC head coach rankings. We closed the Power 5 rankings with the 2023 Big 12 head coaches and the top Group of 5 coaches in 2023.
Now it’s time for the best 25. The top 25 coaches in all of college football for 2023.
After two-straight national titles, Kirby Smart has leapfrogged his mentor Nick Saban, but who earns the No. 3 spot?
Read on. Debate on.
No. 1 Kirby Smart, Georgia
Georgia lost a record-15 players to the NFL Draft last season … and promptly turned around and went 15-0 to become the first program in a decade to win consecutive national titles.
After an 8-5 Year 1, Kirby Smart has won at least 11 games in five of six seasons with the Bulldogs. He’s 29-1 over the last two years. Georgia recruits as well as any program in the country, but Smart has built the best organization of developers, motivators and coaches, too.
Smart has managed to manufacture grievance and doubt at a school that has a realistic chance to three-peat. That’s top-spot-worthy in 2023.
No. 2 Nick Saban, Alabama
Is it blasphemous to slot Nick Saban behind Kirby Smart? Not for now. This isn’t an overall career achievement ranking. It’s for 2023. Nick Saban is still one of the best two coaches in America, but for now, the apprentice has leapfrogged the master.
Saban has an unparalleled track record of success (see: a ridiculous seven national titles), and it speaks to his brilliance that he nearly won a championship in a “rebuild year” in 2021 and finished 11-2 in a “down-season” last fall.
However, the 2022 Tide had the nation’s best roster, per the Blue Chip Ratio, and the returning Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, but their statement season went kerplunk in large part because of coaching.
The Tide did not look well-prepared in multiple games last fall, as the team was riddled by penalties, an obvious lack of development at certain positions and iffy in-game decision-making by Saban and his staff. Saban clearly identified changes needed to happen, so Alabama enters the fall with two new coordinators as the GOAT looks to return back to the sport’s mountaintop.
No. 3 Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Dabo Swinney is no longer the only active coach not named Nick Saban to win multiple national titles, but Clemson’s longtime head coach remains a Top 5 coach in the country with 12 straight double-digit win seasons.
Swinney won his eighth ACC Championship in 2022, and the Tigers are the favorites to win the league again this fall. Swinney also made the splashiest hire of the offseason by poaching TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley.
No. 4 Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
It took some time, but Jim Harbaugh fulfilled his promise of beating Ohio State and delivering his alma mater a Big Ten Championship.
Then he did it again last season. The Wolverines are 25-3 the last two years, with a pair of conference titles and College Football Playoff berths. While Harbaugh has downplayed some of the major cultural and philosophical changes he made before the 2021 season, he deserves credit for pivoting and overhauling his staff.
In eight years at Michigan, Harbaugh has five seasons with at least 10 wins. Although the yearly NFL rumors remain a distraction, the Wolverines don’t look like they’re going to slow down at all under Harbaugh, either. They bring back a loaded squad in 2023 — with Harbaugh supplementing the depth chart with several key additions from the transfer portal — and will be the favorites to three-peat in the Big Ten.
While I weigh the present more than the past, Harbaugh’s coaching resume also includes jumpstarting Stanford’s program (12-1 season in his final year) and four years with the San Francisco 49ers where he never had a losing season, played in the NFC Championship Game three times and lost to his brother John Harbaugh in the Super Bowl.
No. 5 Lincoln Riley, USC
Lincoln Riley is in a race with Ryan Day and Brian Kelly as the best coach never to win a national title, and much his like aforementioned colleagues, USC’s second-year man hopes to scratch his name off that list as soon as next season.
Riley is an offensive savant and CFB’s ultimate QB whisperer, developing a trio of Heisman Trophy finalists and making the playoff three times in six seasons as a head coach. Still just 39 years old, he’s 66-13 including 11-3 in Year 1 with the Trojans — a seven-win improvement from 2022.
He’s 0-3 in the CFP though, and the defense continues to be his program’s bugaboo. USC allowed 47 points to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship and then coughed up a two-touchdown lead to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl. Until he addresses that side of the ball — philosophically and personnel-wise — USC will be hard-pressed to break through as a true national title contender.
No. 6 Brian Kelly, LSU
After going 10-4 in Year 1 at LSU, Brian Kelly won at least double-digit games for the 14th time as a head coach in 2022 — including six consecutive seasons. LSU, which had won a total of 11 games the previous two years combined, wasn’t supposed to even compete for the SEC West in Kelly’s first year in Baton Rouge, but the Tigers won the division and upset Alabama in a classic.
The Bayou Bengals have the makeup of a College Football Playoff contender this fall, as Kelly has assembled a roster — with a Top 5 recruiting class and one of the nation’s best transfer portal hauls — and staff — both coordinators return — good enough to win the SEC.
No. 7 Ryan Day, Ohio State
Ryan Day was a missed field goal against Georgia in the College Football Playoff away from getting a mini-mulligan for losing to Michigan in back-to-back years, instead, he enters 2023 facing unique pressure for a head coach who is 45-6 in his first four seasons.
Many Buckeye fans believe Day is overrated, while others feel he’s under-appreciated. But that’s what happens when you walk the tightrope as the head coach of Ohio State, where the expectation is to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten and play for the national championship — none of which has happened the last two years.
Day has been to the playoffs three times, developed multiple 1st Round quarterbacks, and has a staff that’s recruited some of the best skill-talent and defensive linemen in the country. Still, none of that matters much to OSU fans until he reclaims the Buckeyes’ throne as the king of the conference by beating Michigan.
No. 8 Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Kyle Whittingham actually beat Lincoln Riley twice last season, winning the Pac-12 title in consecutive seasons. But for me, these rankings reflect more than a small head-to-head sample size.
The Utes are one of the most consistent programs in America, with eight Top 25 finishes under their longtime head coach. Whittingham has won at least nine games 11 times in 18 seasons. With the return of quarterback Cam Rising, Whittingham is looking to become the first Pac-12 coach to win the conference three straight years.
At 63, the question isn’t whether Utah will be good or not in the future, but if Whittingham is long for the job.
No. 9 Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
Only a couple of coaches in America have won with more consistency and produced more NFL talent in recent years than Luke Fickell. A year ago, the former Buckeye became the first coach to lead a Group of 5 program to the College Football Playoff and sent nine players to the NFL Draft.
Now, Fickell faces a new challenge leaving Cincinnati for Wisconsin.
Fickell was 57-18 with the Bearcats, with a trio of 11-win seasons. He always seemed destined to return to the Big Ten at some point, but few expected it would be at a place like Wisconsin. However, Fickell clearly sees the upside and growth potential for what was already one of the winningest programs in the conference over the last two decades.
Fickell immediately went to work this offseason shoring up the Badgers’ roster, grabbing a trio of quarterbacks from the portal and another 10 position players he hopes become starters or contributors. He also assembled a very interesting Year 1 staff, especially with the addition of former North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who brings a stark philosophical change after 30 years of bully-ball in Madison.
10. James Franklin, Penn State
Some questioned the trajectory of PSU’s program under James Franklin after a pair of down seasons in 2020 and 2021 (4-5 and 7-6), but the Nittany Lions bounced back with an 11-2 campaign in 2022 and return one of the best rosters in the nation in 2023.
Franklin has four 11-win seasons in State College, and has signed his best two recruiting classes during his nine-year run the last two cycles. Penn State is among the darlings of the offseason, as the Nittany Lions look positioned to potentially make the College Football Playoff field for the first time under Franklin.
The next step for Franklin and PSU is to start winning more games against its rivals (4-14 vs. Ohio State and Michigan). Still, with the expanded playoff coming, Franklin looks likely to bust through the doorstep at some point, as he’s proven to be one of the best program-builders in the country.
His work at Vanderbilt continues to look more and more impressive with each passing season, too, as Franklin won nine games twice with the Commodores (with two Top 25 finishes) and the program hasn’t had a winning season since he left.
11. Kalen DeBoer, Washington
Kalen DeBoer worked his way up from an NAIA head coach, to a Power 5 coordinator, to a Group of 5 head coach, to a guy leading one of the more dramatic Year 1 turnarounds at Washington — where the Huskies went from 4-8 to 11-2 and a Top 10 finish in 2022.
A brilliant offensive head coach, DeBoer resurrected Michael Penix’s career, and with the veteran quarterback set to return in 2023, the Huskies are among the favorites in the Pac-12.
DeBoer is 90-11 as a head coach, including three NAIA National Championships. He’s been a better recruiter than some expected, too, and with USC and UCLA leaving the conference, he currently has the Huskies positioned to be one of the big boys in the league.
12. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
Chris Klieman has positioned Kansas State as the annual spoiler in the Big 12, upsetting TCU in the conference championship to take home the title in 2022. The Wildcats have embraced Klieman’s blue-collar attitude, playing toughed-nose defense with a creative, coming-at-you offense.
He led K-State to its first 10-win season in a decade and also has four FCS national championships on his resume as the head coach at North Dakota State.
13. Sonny Dykes, TCU
Sonny Dykes ruined expectations for future first-year coaches, as he inherited a sub .500 team and took the Horned Frogs to the national championship in Year 1. It was easily the best season of Dykes’ career, who had just two prior 9+ win seasons at Louisiana Tech, Cal and SMU in 12 years.
14. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
Josh Heupel inherited a smoking crater at Tennessee, and within two years, was puffing cigars inside Neyland Stadium after upsetting Alabama. Tennessee finally has its man at head coach, as Heupel delivered the Vols their best season in close to 25 years with huge wins over the Crimson Tide, Florida, LSU and Clemson.
Heupel has shown an ability to produce high-flying offenses with various quarterbacks (Top 10 scoring units in all five seasons as a head coach including No. 1 nationally in 2022) and his staff at Tennessee has been a model of player development (see: Hendon Hooker). The next step for Heupel is to start recruiting at a Top 5 level if the Vols want to compete for championships on an annual basis.
15. Lance Leipold, Kansas
Two years ago, Lance Leipold took over a moribund Kansas program and he led the Jayhawks to their first bowl game in 14 seasons last autumn. Kansas won three Big 12 games in 2022 — as many as it had won the last six years combined.
Leipold is considered a miracle worker by many in the industry, winning a pair of MAC division titles at Buffalo (where he was also a two-time coach of the year) and six D-III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater.
To round out the 2023 Top 25 head coach rankings:
No. 16 Mark Stoops, Kentucky
No. 17 Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
No. 18 Willie Fritz, Tulane
No. 19 Shane Beamer, South Carolina
No. 20 Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
No. 21 Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
No. 22 Bret Bielema, Illinois
No. 23 Matt Rhule, Nebraska
No. 24 Jeff Traylor, UTSA
No. 25 Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State