It’s that time of year again when college football is close, but not close enough to really ponder about the season.
What many can think about are who are the best of the best, in this case, coaches. CBS Sports Tom Fornelli put together a list of the top 25 coaches of Power Five programs entering the 2023 season.
It was an extensive list, one which saw six total Big Ten coaches being recognized as some of the best in the profession. As for Ohio State’s Ryan Day, he made the list but not quite where you would expect. Find out where the Buckeye boss landed among the top ten below along with their career records in college and last year’s ranking in parenthesis.
1
Alabama’s Nick Saban (1)
Career record
280-69-1
Despite a so-called down year last season, Saban is still one of the best coaches of all time. Every coach seems to have the beginning of the downturn and we’ll see if Alabama bounces back in 2023.
2
Georgia’s Kirby Smart (2)
Career record
81-15
Smart is clearly the quick riser here and if Georgia continues to win at the clip it has over the last few years, it’ll be hard to not elevate him to No. 1.
3
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (3)
Career record
161-39
Dabo’s program has been on a slide over the last couple of years. If there’s not a turnaround this season for Clemson, it’s going to be hard to keep him this high on the list.
4
USC’s Lincoln Riley (4)
Career record
66-13
Riley is a good coach, no doubt, but when will he get his first College Football Playoff win? Will he finally get that monkey off of his back at USC?
5
Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh (9)
Career record
132-52
It’s funny how two years have erased the struggles Harbaugh had during his first six years in Ann Arbor. His Michigan teams have also only won one bowl game. We’ll see if that changes this season.
6
LSU’s Brian Kelly (7)
Career record
273-100-2
Having Kelly this high on the list is a little optimistic when others in this area have had more consistent postseason success. But hey, maybe he’ll get that done with LSU.
7
Utah’s Kyle Whittingham (8)
Career record
154-74
Nodoby does less with more on a consistent basis, right? Whittingham is a great coach but has yet to really break through with College Football Playoff success.
8
Ohio State’s Ryan Day (6)
Career record
45-6
You could make an argument for Day to be higher on this list but until he solves the Michigan problem and wins a national title, it’ll be hard for him to climb. That’s the way things are at Ohio State.
9
Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell (N/A)
Career record
63-25
Fickell did wonderful things with a Group of Five program and now all eyes are on him to see how he handles a team in the Power Five with much better competition at Wisconsin.
10
Penn State’s James Franklin (15)
Career record
102-51
James Franklin is seemingly always trying to get the Nittany Lions over the “elite: hump but has the program in a much better spot with recruiting and on-field success than when he arrived there.
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