Sports Illustrated
1. Nick Saban, Alabama/LSU
There are many difficult choices to make in these 21st century lists. This isn’t one of them. The guy who won seven national championships from 2003 to ’20 stands head and shoulders and straw safari hat above his peers. A recruiting juggernaut, tactical mastermind and organizational wizard, Saban excelled at everything. He is the greatest defensive coach in college football history, but he adapted to changes in the game and oversaw some of the most prolific offenses of the last 25 years as well. His 2011 team’s 8.2 points allowed per game is the lowest since 1988, and his 2020 team’s 48.5 points scored per game is the highest since 2013.
2. Urban Meyer, Ohio State/Florida/Utah/Bowling Green
He ranks third all-time in winning percentage for coaches with a minimum 10 years at FBS schools at .854, trailing only Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy—and nobody else produced top-five teams at three different schools this century. Meyer’s ’04 Utah team went 12–0 and finished No. 4, winning every game by at least two touchdowns. His 2006 and ’08 Florida teams won national championships, launching the SEC into an era of unprecedented dominance. And his ’14 Ohio State team won a natty in the first College Football Playoff. Meyer was on the cutting edge of the spread offense revolution and was a force on the recruiting trail. His tenures at Florida and Ohio State were not without controversy, but the fans certainly enjoyed all the wins.
3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
He had a Sabaneque run from 2015 to ’20, making six straight playoffs, playing in four championship games and winning two of them. What happened before and after that stretch was awfully strong as well, with seven other seasons of double-digit victories. Under Swinney, Clemson has been the only program from outside the Big Ten and SEC to win a national championship since ’13. Swinney has almost pulled up alongside Bobby Bowden as the all-time greatest Atlantic Coast Conference coach, and at age 55, should have many good years left in him—including this season, when many predict the Tigers will be a top-five team.
4. Kirby Smart, Georgia
The last of the multi-title winners this century, Smart is positioned to keep moving up this list in the years to come. He’s just 49 years old and entering his 10th season as a head coach, with a program that is built for perpetual winning. If the former Saban protégé had a better record against his mentor (1–6), he’d have at least one more national title to go along with the back-to-back crowns in 2021 and ’22. As it is, Smart and Saban (’11 and ’12) are the only two coaches to win consecutive championships since the next guy on this list.
5. Pete Carroll, USC
He had a seven-year run that matches up well with anyone on this list not named Nick Saban. From 2002 to ’08, Carroll and the Trojans won national championships in ’03 (split with LSU) and ’04, finishing in the top five every season and compiling an 82–9 record. The ’04 blowout of Oklahoma might be the single most impressive title-game flex of the quarter century. A tepidly received hire after middling NFL results, Carroll restored USC football to must-see status in the crowded Los Angeles sports market. His run might have gone on longer if he’d paid a little more attention to NCAA rules. Instead, he fled back to the NFL ahead of the investigative posse and won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.
6. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan/Stanford/San Diego
His body of work for the quarter century is incredible: twice won a school-record 11 games at FCS San Diego; won 12 games and finished in the top five at Stanford, which had become a sinkhole; took the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl; won a national championship at Michigan; took the Los Angeles Chargers to the NFL playoffs in his first season there. The Michigan tenure matters most for the purposes of this list, and his three straight playoff appearances—capped by a 15–0 title team—puts him in the argument with Steve Spurrier for most accomplished college player-coach … ever? Harbaugh also has the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal, two in-season suspensions and a likely huge NCAA show-cause penalty on his permanent record.
7. Chris Petersen, Washington/Boise State
Two men went 13–0 in their first year as head coaches—Walter Camp in 1888, and Petersen in 2006. He took Boise State from a cute, overachieving program known for gimmicky blue turf to a legitimate national power, going undefeated twice and finishing in the Top 10 four times. That might rank as the most impressive program advancement of the quarter century, highlighted by the trick-play-laden upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Then, Petersen went to Washington and took the Huskies to a 12–2 record, Pac-12 title and the CFP, and followed that up with two more 10-win seasons. In a fitting move for a man with real self-awareness, Petersen retired from coaching at age 55, making a lifestyle choice when the job became less rewarding.
8. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Not many people on this list had a better sustained run of excellence this quarter century. Taking over a blueblood program at low ebb, Stoops produced 14 seasons of double-digit wins from 2000 to ’16, with 11 Top 10 finishes and a national title in ’00. The Sooners also played for two other national championships in his tenure. Much like Saban, Stoops built his program on defense and then sustained it by evolving his offense. His 11 wins over rival Texas, most in Oklahoma history, cemented his place in the hearts of Sooner Nation. Like Petersen, Stoops retired relatively young instead of piling up more victories.
9. Mack Brown, North Carolina/Texas
The program has won just one national championship since 1969, and Brown delivered it in 2005. That title came in arguably the greatest game of the quarter century, denying Carroll’s USC a three-peat. It validated Brown’s Texas tenure and then he furthered his legacy by taking the ’09 team to the title game. He went 101–16 from ’01 to ’09, finishing in the Top 10 seven times and going 8–2 in bowl games. A four-year downturn after the second BCS championship appearance led to Brown’s firing, whereupon he returned to former stop North Carolina. Brown went 44–33 in his second act with the Tar Heels—good, not great—and was followed by fellow septuagenarian Bill Belichick.
10. Jim Tressel, Ohio State/Youngstown State
The current Ohio lieutenant governor and former university president has done enough in the last 15 years to obscure his coaching chops. Tressel finished a four-FCS-national-championship tenure at Youngstown in 2000 and made a quantum leap up the ladder to Ohio State. Any concerns about whether a square in a sweater vest and tie could handle the highest level of college ball were answered in his second season, when the Buckeyes went 14–0 and shocked Miami for the national championship. Ohio State played in the BCS title game two more times while finishing in the Top 10 in eight of Tressel’s 10 seasons. His tenure was ended by an NCAA scandal that rendered Meyer’s first Ohio State team ineligible for the postseason despite an undefeated record.
11. Ryan Day, Ohio State
The expanded playoff came along at a blessed time for Day, who no longer has to beat Michigan as a prerequisite to winning the national title. A fourth straight loss to the Wolverines last November was followed by a dominant playoff run and the Buckeyes’ first natty since 2014. Day’s overall record is a preposterous 70–10, a .875 winning percentage that ranks second among active coaches with five or more seasons at the FBS level, and first among those who have spent their entire tenures at FBS schools. He’s never lost more than two games and never won fewer than 11 in a full season. And he’s only 45 years old.
12. Chip Kelly, UCLA/Oregon
He might have done more than anyone to accelerate the tempo of football, making the hurry-up offense a weapon that exploded scoreboards. Promoted from offensive coordinator at Oregon, Kelly went 46–7 in four seasons, playing in the 2010 BCS championship game and contending for it the next two years. Along with playing fast, his Ducks played loose with the rules—Kelly received an 18-month show-cause sanction from the NCAA, and he turned pro. His system didn’t work as well in the NFL as coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and 49ers, so Kelly returned to college in 2018 at UCLA. Three losing seasons were followed by three winning ones as the Bruins regained respectability, but Kelly startled the sport by leaving last year to become the offensive coordinator for Day at Ohio State. Kelly’s masterful play-calling was a key part of the Buckeyes’ title drive.
13. Mike Leach, Mississippi State/Washington State/Texas Tech
Without question, the most unique man on this list. Leach was one of the progenitors of the Air Raid offense that revolutionized the college game in the 21st century every bit as much as the hurry-up, perhaps even more. He took hard jobs and won—first at Texas Tech, then at Washington State, then at Mississippi State. Those remote outposts fit his anti-establishment personality, which fluctuated from endearing and humorous to sarcastic and insulting. He was an eccentric genius who could make superstars out of under-recruited quarterbacks and receivers. He was the pirate college football needed until his sudden passing in December 2022, leaving a void in the sport.
14. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M/Florida State
The recent memories of Fisher’s career aren’t stellar, becoming the most expensive buyout in college football history after failing to deliver greatness at A&M. But don’t forget his 2013 national championship team at Florida State, which roared through a 14–0 season averaging 51.6 points per game, highest for any national champion since Nebraska in 1995. The Seminoles were unchallenged until the BCS championship game, when they fell behind Auburn 21–3. Fisher’s bold onside kick call triggered a 34–31 comeback victory. Then the Noles went to the first four-team playoff the next season. Fisher had four Top 10 teams at FSU and one at A&M and won 72.7% of his games.
15. Gary Patterson, TCU
There have been 13 Top 10 seasons in the Horned Frogs’ history. More than half of them came under Patterson, whose work in the first decade of the 21st century elevated the athletic program to the point of crashing the power-conference party with membership in the Big 12. The 2010 team went undefeated and beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, the program’s best moment between a national title in 1938 and a national runner-up in 2023. And the 2014 Frogs, a controversial exclusion from the first playoff, finished a 12–1 season with an annihilation of Mississippi in the Peach Bowl and a No. 3 ranking.
16. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
The parallels between Patterson and Whittingham are striking—both were promoted from defensive coordinator to replace head coaches who moved to bigger programs, and both stayed for the long haul to elevate the entire athletic department into a power conference. Whittingham’s greatest season was a 13–0 tour de force in 2008 that was capped with a whipping of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but he’s also taken the Utes to two Rose Bowls and had seven seasons of double-digit victories. Whittingham’s 11 bowl wins is second only to Swinney’s 12, and he won 11 out of his first 12 bowls.
17. Brian Kelly, LSU/Notre Dame/Cincinnati/Central Michigan/Grand Valley State
He’s the winningest active FBS coach by a wide margin with 292 victories over 35 seasons. Kelly won Division II national titles in 2002 and ’03, had a top-five season at Cincinnati and three more at Notre Dame. He set school records for victories (113, though 21 of them were vacated) and tenure (12 seasons) with the Fighting Irish. Kelly hasn’t yet hit the highest notes at LSU, not winning the SEC or making the CFP, but he’s still won 29 games over three years. This season will be an important one in terms of reaching those benchmarks at a school that has won three national titles with three different coaches this century.
18. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama/Washington/Fresno State/Sioux Falls
No active coach has a better winning percentage than DeBoer’s .877 across 10 seasons that span the spectrum of the sport. From a 67–3 record at NAIA Sioux Falls to a 9–3 season at Fresno State to a 25–3 record in two years at Washington to the thankless task of following Saban at Alabama, he’s never won fewer than nine games in a full season. DeBoer won 21 straight games at Washington, advancing to the 2023 CFP final before losing to Michigan. If he gets some traction at Alabama as expected, he has a great chance to move up this list in the years to come.
19. James Franklin, Penn State/Vanderbilt
First he did the impossible, winning nine games two years in a row at Vandy—the only time that’s happened in school history, and the best stretch for the Commodores since the 1920s. Then, he performed the probable (but still considerable) task of returning Penn State to national contender status after massive scandal. Five of his 11 seasons in State College have ended in the Top 10, including last year’s No. 5 ranking and CFP semifinal appearance. What remains on Franklin’s to-do list: winning the biggest games (most notably Ohio State) and winning a national title. He might have a team capable of both this year.
20. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina/Florida
If this were a 1990s list, Spurrier would be easily in the top five. But he was still very good in this century, too. His final Gators squad, in 2001, finished No. 3 in the nation, with two losses by a total of five points. And he’s easily the most accomplished coach in South Carolina’s star-crossed history. Spurrier never had a losing season in 10 full years in Columbia, took the Gamecocks to their only SEC championship game and recorded three straight Top 10 finishes from 2011 to ’13. He won 11 games in each of those seasons, which rather stands out at a school that had only won as many as 10 games once before or since.
21. Les Miles, Kansas/LSU/Oklahoma State
The Hat won a national championship during the strangest single season of the century (2007), played for another one in ’11 and had five Top 10 seasons. He had 15 straight winning seasons in Stillwater, Okla., and Baton Rouge before being fired early in the ’16 season at LSU. From chewing grass during games to his unusual speech patterns and sometimes incomprehensible in-game decisions, Miles was a wild-card character. LSU and Miles had 37 wins vacated from ’12 to ’15 for use of an ineligible player. In an act of substantial vanity and gall, Miles is suing to have the wins restored to his record. Miles also memorably turned down the Michigan job late in the ’07 season, which led to …
22. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia/Jacksonville State/Arizona/Michigan/West Virginia
It’s ironic that RichRod’s only losing tenure to date came at the school where that was least likely to happen. Going 15–22 at Michigan is hard to do—but so is winning 70% of your games at West Virginia, 55% at Arizona and 73% at Jax State. In his first stint at WVU, Rodriguez took the Mountaineers to the brink of playing for the national championship in 2007 before suffering a crushing upset loss to rival Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale. He then made two fateful decisions, turning down Alabama (clearing the way for Saban) and going to Michigan. Rodriguez showed his staying power—and ability to evolve beyond being on the cutting edge of the spread offense—by rebounding from that tenure.
23. David Shaw, Stanford
He took over for Jim Harbaugh on The Farm and didn’t just maintain momentum, he advanced it. The Cardinal won eight or more games in each of his first eight seasons, with five of them topping out with 10-plus victories. Three teams finished in the Top 10, with the 2015 squad ranking No. 3 at the end. Shaw is one of just two coaches in Stanford history to win two Rose Bowls, and his five bowl wins is a school record. At a time when spread offenses and tempo were ruling the day, Shaw counter-programmed with “intellectual brutality”: a physical running game and punishing defense. Shaw’s tenure eventually ran into the realities of modern NIL and transfer rules that didn’t mesh with his philosophies (or Stanford’s), but he had a tremendous run.
24. Lance Leipold, Kansas/Buffalo/Wisconsin-Whitewater
Give the man a hard job and then watch him work. Kansas football has finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25 twice this century, the most recent of them led by Leipold. Buffalo has finished in the AP Top 25 once in its history—that was under Leipold. And Wisconsin-Whitewater won six Division III national championships in eight years under Leipold, going 15–0 five times. The Jayhawks, in particular, were a lost cause when Leipold arrived in 2021, coming off 11 straight seasons of three wins or fewer. He’s taken them to two bowl games, highlighted by a 9–4 mark in ’23.
25. Jerry Moore, Appalachian State
His work from 1989 to 2012 put App on the map, making a move to FBS possible in ’14. Moore led the Mountaineers to three straight FCS national championships from ’05 to ’07, but his most memorable moment was orchestrating one of the biggest upsets in college football history. App State’s season-opening shocking of Michigan in ’07 brought the sport to a dead stop, ripping fans’ attention away from games elsewhere and sending them scrambling to find a new TV entity called the Big Ten Network. When the Mountaineers blocked a field goal on the last play to seal the victory, they became national sensations.
