Rankings. It’s all about opinions and you know what they say about opinions… everybody’s got one and they all stink. Unless it’s your opinion of course. But this is part of what makes college football so fun.
247 Sports recently released their top 50 current college football coaches. On the list were the usual suspects with Alabama’s Nick Saban coming in at No. 1 followed by Dabo Swinney of Clemson at No. 2.
But what about Ohio State Football head coach, Ryan Day. Where did he fall on the 247Sports list? With only 17 games as a head coach, Day lands on the list at a respectable No. 6 ranking and was the highest-rated head coach from the Big Ten Conference. After Day was Penn State’s James Franklin at No. 10, Jim Harbaugh at TTUN at No. 12, and Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst at No. 14.
There is more than enough room to debate the three coaches between Swinney and Day… Coming in at No. 3 was Ed Orgeron, which I suppose comes from a “what have you done for me lately” national championship last year at LSU. Before that nobody thought Coach O was a great coach, including LSU who almost let him go.
At No. 4 was Kirby Smart which seems to be getting a boost from playing in the SEC, but Smart has some curious losses during his tenure at Georgia.
And finally, Jimbo Fisher was just ahead of Ryan Day at No. 5? Jimbo Fisher? Outside of a national championship at Florida State, it seems Fisher is getting paid an awful lot of money for mediocre results at Texas A&M. But hey, maybe there’s something to be said for longevity.
Day was the least experienced head coach on this list, so a No. 6 ranking seems to be fair. Maybe with a national championship in 2020, he’ll move up that ranking.
If you’re interested in more, Joel Ryan of 247Sports takes these rankings all the way through the top 50.
Next … Complete 247Sports CFB coach rankings
247Sports’ Best college football coaches in 2020
1. Nick Saban, Alabama
2. Dabo Swinny, Clemson
3. Ed Orgeron, LSU
4. Kirby Smart, Georgia
5. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
6. Ryan Day, Ohio State
7. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
8. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
9. Dan Mullen, Florida
10. James Franklin, Penn State
11. Gus Malzahn, Auburn
12. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
13. Mario Cristobal, Oregon
14. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
15. Tom Herman, Texas
16. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
17. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
18. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
19. Mack Brown, North Carolina
20. Gary Patterson, TCU
21. Herm Edwards, Arizona State
22. David Shaw, Stanford
23. Scott Satterfield, Louisville
24. Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia
25. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
26. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
27. Clay Helton, USC
28. Mike Leach, Mississippi State
29. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
30. David Cutcliffe, Duke
31. Mike Norvell, Florida State
32. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
33. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech
34. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
35. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
36. Josh Heupel, UCF
37. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
38. Les Miles, Kansas
39. Justin Wilcox, Cal
40. Neal Brown, West Virginia
41. Tom Allen, Indiana
42. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
43. Bryan Harsin, Boise State
44. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
45. Jeff Brohm, Purdue
46. Dino Babers, Syracuse
47. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
48. Bill Clark, UAB
49. Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee
50. Jeff Tedford, Retired
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