At James Madison in 2019, Smith helped lead a defense that ranked No. In his first season as Washingtons defensive backs coach, Harris was part of the Huskies improving from No. Has been one of the lead recruiters on eight top-50 overall recruits that Ohio State has landed in its past three classes, including two quarterbacks and three five-star wide receivers. It's a perfect process! Was hired as the replacement for Jon DeCoster, who now works for the Cleveland Browns. And Penn States 4-5 season in 2020 is the only reason why hes as low on this rankings list, as he went an astounding 42-11 from 2016 to 2019. 2023 On3 Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Promoted to defensive pass game coordinator earlier this year. Also coached an all-conference tight end during that 2018 season (Dylan Stapleton). Before Monken took over in 2014, the team had put forward just one seven-win season since 2000. Previously worked under Grinch at Washington State. Was a four-year starter at quarterback for USF (1999-2002). Had two All-Conference USA honorable mention selections in his first season at Louisiana Tech (Smoke Harris and Cee Jay Powell). A former West Virginia and Florida A&M quarterback, he won the Doug Williams National Offensive Player of the Year award as a senior at Florida A&M in 1999. Hankton netted a $300,000 raise to become the highest-paid wide receivers coach in the industry. Brantley came to play for the Hurricanes after being a 3-star recruit by 247 Sports out of Miami (Fla.) Northwestern. 9 in 2019 (184.2). Alvis Whitted, Wisconsin -- $400,00022. Cale Gundy, Oklahoma -- $535,000 3. From 1892 to 2006, the team played in six bowl games. Hicks, who committed to the Buckeyes in May. It's unlikely we'll ever learn what he's making at The U, a private school, but we do know he was set to become college football's first $1 million wide receivers coach had he remained in Ann Arbor. After a slow 4-8 start in his first year, Fickell is now 31-6 in the last three seasons, rivaling Brian Kellys 33-6 three-year stretch. Caleb Carbine worked previously with Gerad Parker at West Virginia. Ja'Juan Seider, Penn State, Co-OC, running backs coach The South Florida native has been a candidate for a few Group of 5 jobs thanks to his reputation as a top position coach and one of the. Was a leader in the recruitment of recent LSU tight end commit Mason Taylor, the son of former NFL star Jason Taylor. However, he fell to a combined 15-22 over his last three seasons, more in line with what Louisiana is as a program they had two seasons in their history above the 9-4 mark before Napier took the program in 2018. Florida State offensive line coach Alex Atkins, Recent jobs: FSU (2020-present), Charlotte offensive coordinator (2019), Tulane offensive line coach (2016-18), Boston College defensive backs coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, Recent jobs: BC (2020-present), UMass defensive coordinator (2019), Maryland cornerbacks/defensive backs coach (2016-18), Alabama assistant director of player personnel/analyst (2014-15), Ohio State offensive quality control coach Keenan Bailey, Recent jobs: Ohio State quality control coach (2019-present), Ohio State offensive intern (2016-18), Houston running backs coach Marquel Blackwell, Recent jobs: Houston running backs coach (2020-present), Houston co-coordinator/quarterbacks coach (2019), West Virginia running backs coach (2018), Toledo running backs coach (2016-17), Marshall cornerbacks coach Dominique Bowman, Recent jobs: Marshall (2021), Austin Peay co-coordinator/secondary coach (2019-20), UT-Martin secondary coach/assistant head coach (2017-18), Mississippi State special teams coordinator/outside linebackers coach Matt Brock, Recent jobs: Mississippi State (2020-present), Washington State special teams coordinator/outside linebackers coach (2018-19), Bowling Green special teams/linebackers coach (2016-17), Texas Tech inside linebackers coach (2014-15), Recent jobs: Rutgers (2020-present), Temple co-coordinator/cornerbacks coach (2019), Baylor assistant head coach/cornerbacks coach (2017-18), Temple associate head coach/secondary coach (2016), James Madison special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Grant Cain, Recent jobs: James Madison (2019-present), Mercer special teams coordinator/inside linebackers coach (2013-18), Oklahoma outside linebackers/defensive ends coach Jamar Cain, Recent jobs: Oklahoma (2020-present), Arizona State defensive line coach (2019), Fresno State defensive line coach (2017-18), North Dakota State defensive ends coach (2014-16), Recent jobs: Oregon (2020-present), Minnesota cornerbacks coach (2019), Oregon defensive analyst (2018), Southern Utah defensive coordinator (2016-17), Vanderbilt defensive quality control coach (2013-15), Recent jobs: USC (2018-present), USC quality control assistant (2016-17), Alabama analyst (2014-15), Recent jobs: Army (2019-present), Kansas Wesleyan head coach (2014-18), St. Ambrose University offensive coordinator (2012-13), Recent jobs: Auburn (2021), Houston cornerbacks coach (2019-20), Louisiana cornerbacks coach (2018), Western Carolina outside linebackers coach (2016-17), Oklahoma tight ends/H-backs coach Joe Jon Finley, Recent jobs: Oklahoma (2021), Ole Miss tight ends coach/pass game coordinator (2020), Texas A&M tight ends coach (2019), Missouri tight ends coach (2016-18), Recent jobs: Texas (2021), Ole Miss special teams coordinator (2020), Houston special teams coordinator/nickel backs coach (2019), Georgia State cornerbacks coach (2018), Western Carolina secondary coach/defensive pass game coordinator (2016-17), Recent jobs: TCU safeties coach (2018-present), TCU cornerbacks coach (2015-17), TCU defensive graduate assistant (2012-14), Recent jobs: Liberty (2019-present), West Georgia offensive coordinator (2014-18), West Alabama offensive coordinator/offensive line coach (2008-13), Recent jobs: Tennessee (2021), UCF quarterbacks coach (2020), UCF offensive analyst (2019), Missouri analyst (2016), Georgia wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton, Recent jobs: Georgia (2018-present), Vanderbilt wide receivers coach (2015-17), Dartmouth wide receivers coach (2012-14), UCF co-offensive coordinator/running backs coach Tim Harris, Recent jobs: UCF (2021), FIU running backs coach (2015-20), Recent jobs: Washington secondary coach (2020-present), Washington assistant defensive backs coach (2018-19), San Jose State secondary coach (2016-17), Dixie State secondary coach (2015), Recent jobs: Michigan (2021), Indiana running backs coach (2017-20), Syracuse running backs coach (2016), Western Michigan running backs coach (2014-15), Ohio State wide receivers coach Brian Hartline, Recent jobs: Ohio State wide receivers coach (2018-present), Ohio State graduate assistant (2017), Louisiana Tech inside wide receivers coach Trey Holtz, Recent jobs: Louisiana Tech (2020-present), Ohio State graduate assistant (2017-19), Indianapolis Colts offensive quality control coach Jerrod Johnson, Recent jobs: Colts (2019-present), Houston St. Thomas High offensive coordinator (2017-18), UCF co-coordinator/quarterbacks coach G.J. Kasey Dunn, Oklahoma State -- $410,000 7. After feeling his way around early in his Bulls tenure, Leipold went 24-10 in his last three seasons before landing this Kansas job. The Elite Quarterback Training Program. What Campbell has done is nothing short of remarkable. "In life I would never advise anyone to be where they are not wanted," he sent in a text to his players on his way to Coral Gables. That came after Brocks group ranked either first or second in the Pac-12 in net punting, kick-return average and kick-return defense in 2018. Highest-Paid OC/QB Coaches: 1. That came after East Carolina broke multiple records in 2018 with Wright, including the AAC record for tackles for loss in a game (15) and the conference record for tackles for loss in a season (105). Ranked as the top recruiter in the Pac-12 in 2020 and 21, and is ranked No. They improved that ranking to 40th in 2018, 41st in 2019 and 14th last season. Toledo had gone 6-5 in 1989 before Saban took over for one year and led them to 9-2. Nate Scheelhassee, Iowa State -- $500,000+14. Jordan Addison has become a bona fide star under Marion at Pitt. Already has worked in a few Power 5 conferences and has coordinator experience at the FCS level (Southern Utah). Played a role in the Bulldogs ranking fourth in the SEC in total defense in 2020 (380.3 yards per game) after ranking 11th under the previous staff in 2019 (419.3 yards per game). In addition to his work with the Colts and St. Thomas High, he has been a Nike Elite 11 quarterbacks coach. Has coached so well since arriving at West Point in 2014, he has passed 2 other . College football rankings: 10 best wide receivers this season 10. Northwestern is not a historically good football program. -- Another notable name missing is Miami's Josh Gattis. Has been working up at the college level since 2015 after two jobs as a high school coach. Was under consideration for the Marshall coaching job before the hire of Charles Huff. Kentucky has been a hard team to win with, but Stoops has seemingly transformed them from bottom-feeders to a mid-table team with a chance to upset the apple cart and win the East every once in a while. Fickells record would surely have him higher on this list if it weren't for the fact that the Bearcats program has been wildly successful over the last couple of decades. Also received interest for multiple NFL secondary coach openings. The Florida State dynasty of the late 1980s and 1990s produced 14 straight years where the team finished in the top five of the AP Poll under Bobby Bowden. Got his first FBS opportunity as a grad assistant at Alabama and consistently receives rave reviews from those who worked around him with the Crimson Tide. Was part of helping Liberty go 10-1 in 2020. Under Williams, USC allowed just 216.3 passing yards per game last season, its lowest number since 2013. Over the last two campaigns, Buffalo ranked fifth in EPA per rush in the FBS. Has received NFL interest each of the past two years. Mario Cristobal continues to replenish the Hurricanes' staff. Kentucky welcomed Stoops in 2013 but won just 12 games in three seasons. Being groomed by new Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, whose UCF offenses ranked No. You could almost pick anybody on the Bears ' fall camp roster at the receiver position to team up with Goodley (5-foot-10, 220 pounds) and Baylor. -- Ron Dugans signed a new deal in January; the $450,000 salary was his 2021 figure. An ex-Stanford and NFL defensive back who won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006. A protege of Texas A&M coordinator Mike Elko, Santucci was a grad assistant at Wake Forest under Elko (2014-15), an analyst under Elko at Notre Dame (2017) and Texas A&M (2018) and now is in his second season back with Elko as the Aggies linebackers coach. After all, coaches who win a seemingly endless number of games arent necessarily good, and those who lose games arent necessarily bad. Of course, he was wildly successful in the years before his Buffalo tenure. Has been a catalyst in Ohio State building whats regarded as the nations best wide receiver unit entering the 2021 season. 2 ranking nationally from USA Today and was a finalist for U.S. Army All-American National Coach of the Year. Was a three-year starting QB at Tulsa and was the 2010 Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year with Chad Morris as his coordinator. We look back fondly on the Air Raid team of Hal Mumme in the late 1990s, but they only went 20-26. Based on that feedback, here are 50 coaches (including a few support staffers) you need to know entering the 2021 season. 1 because the turnaround he pulled with this Clemson program is almost unheard of. Washington, who has known Ohio State coach Ryan Day since they were together at Boston College in 2003 and 04, joined the Buckeyes staff after Day became coach. Its easy to just think about Utah as a team that always competes for a conference title year in year out because of the recent past, but that is not how this program is viewed historically. Imagine a world in which Kirby Smart is a two-time national champion, one where his team did not blow a 10-point lead to Alabama in the fourth quarter of the 2018 championship game and then a 14-point third-quarter lead in the SEC Championship the following year. Ranked as the sixth-best recruiter in the Pac-12 for the 2021 recruiting cycle. section: | slug: ranking-the-top-25-power-five-college-football-coaches-entering-the-2022-season | sport: collegefootball | route: article_single.us | -- Junior Adams was Washington's original wide receivers coach on Kalen DeBoer's new staff, at $500,000 per year. Brown has since come back with a vengeance. Kelly has led the Bruins to 17 total wins over the past two seasons. From 2014 to 2017, the Gators offense ranked 120th in EPA per play that is not just bad, it is horrendous. Ranking the 20 best head coaches in college football Alabama head coach Nick Saban and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian against Arkansas at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday October 26, 2019. It's also, at the highest levels, quite profitable. Then, after coming back from the NFL, Saban took over a Michigan State program that had gone 19-26 in the four years before his arrival and shepherded them to a 34-24-1 record during his tenure. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc. site: media | arena: collegefootball | pageType: stories | As long as we're asking humans to complete this fundamentally thankless task, there's room at the table for people who really know ball. During his oneyear as the Tornadoes coach, Harris led the team to a 14-0 record, a state title, a No. There were only two new entries in our top 25 at this point 12 months ago. 4) and punt-return defense (No. Please check the opt-in box to acknowledge that you would like to subscribe. Thomas Stidham and Jim . Yes, Alabama claimed 12 championships before Saban's arrival, but it was a program going through turmoil and probation before he took the reins. At Sam Houston State, one of Wrights linemen (P.J. As a new season approaches, let's take a moment to compare Saban's accomplishments -- and those of other active coaches -- to the best of college football's modern times. Has recruited and coached players like DeMarvin Leal, a former five-star recruit who could be a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. After going 3-9 in his first year as Iowa State head coach in 2016, Campbell has won 63% of his games in Ames, with three eight-plus-win seasons in his five years. But, as we'll explain below, there are reasons for that. 9 nationally in rushing offense (252.2 yards per game). Three of the coaches in last season's the top 25 lost their jobs following the 2021 season, including a top-10 coach in Dan Mullen and another who won a national title in 2019, Ed Orgeron. Has worked with coaches such as Syracuse coach Dino Babers, Orange offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert and Kent State coach Sean Lewis. Has been Georgias pass game coordinator since 2019. The way hes been able to develop linemen at the FCS level and now at the Power 5 level speaks for itself.. Under Powledge, Baylor tied for first nationally last season with five kick returns of at least 40 yards. After a 9-4 2008 season, Bill Cubits Broncos fell to 22-27 over the next four years. After recording just four carries in 2019, Williams has developed into one of the best running backs in the country under Taylors watch. Wright, who was promoted to co-coordinator this offseason, previously led the way as the Roadrunners broke multiple school records during his first season at UTSA in 2019. 2 nationally in total offense each of the past two seasons. Thomas Cahill enjoyed mild success in the mid-1960s, going 23-7. 56 nationally in pass defense in 2019 (222.2 yards per game) to No. As a player, Simpson was a starting cornerback at South Alabama in 2010 and 11, when current UAB coach Bill Clark was the Jaguars defensive coordinator. Indianapolis is making MAJOR moves, set to hire FootballScoop's reigning top special teams coordinator. Worked under current Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule at Baylor and Temple. Dameyune Craig, Texas A&M -- $675,0005. Darrin Chiaverini, Colorado -- $550,000* 6. Previously assisted in the development of Molden, McDuffie and others as the Huskies assistant defensive backs coach. Was UCFs quarterbacks coach last season after working as an analyst in 2019. As always, salaries based on publicly-available information, primarily theUSA Todaycoaching salary database. Part of that was Miami having to throw the football while being down, but it's still lower than what it probably should have been. Chadwell arrived at Coastal Carolina from Charleston Southern, where he won two of the school's three conference championships and clinched the program's only two playoff berths. Was an FCS All-American linebacker at Stony Brook as a player (2006-10) and was named to the Big South Conference All-Decade Team. The Blazers also have been in the top 10 nationally in pass defense each of the past two seasons No. 1 in Conference USA in sacks and tackles for loss last season. Had a second-team All-Sun Belt cornerback last season in his first year at Georgia State (Quavian White). From Yale's Walter Camp to Alabama's Nick Saban, here are eight whose innovations or achievements have significantly impacted the sport over the past 15 decades. As a player, Wright was an All-American defensive lineman at Texas and was one of the leaders of the Longhorns 2005 national championship team. He went on to be selected in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Was the lead recruiter for the Trojans on five-star 2022 cornerback Domani Jackson, who committed to USC in January. George Pickens, who suffered a torn ACL during the spring, is viewed in the NFL scouting world as a potential Day 2 pick. Wide receiver from Crawford, Mississippi, USA. There isnt a lot more to say about these two. Dennis Simmons, Oklahoma -- $460,000 5. Rejoined Will Healy in 2019 after one season at Minnesota. Sonny Dykes promoted Samples to associate head coach earlier this year. Woodson, an ex-Ole Miss defensive back, also has the defensive pass game coordinator title at Florida State. Volatility is a hazard of the coaching business. The feel in the coaching world is that Odom likely would be a top contender for the Oklahoma coordinator job if Alex Grinch leaves for a head-coaching opportunity. 22. Fisher quickly got the program back on track, though, winning 78% of his games and bringing home a National Championship. In the 10 years leading up to the longtime head coach, the team had only won 55% of their games. Returned to coaching in 2019 after two years working in the private sector. Cincinnati handed the reins to Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, Tommy Tuberville and now Luke Fickell in consecutive seasons. After the championship-winning year of 2013, the FSU offenses that ranked 38th nationwide in EPA per play under his watch dropped down to 107th in the three years since he left. 1 or No. Jay Johnson, Michigan State -- $1.35 million 2. Flying above or below program expectations was the most important point when putting this list together. But Saban is still No. Mark Hudspeth improved the Rajin' Cajuns' win total from three to nine in his first year in charge, which started a four-year run of 9-4 finishes and a New Orleans Bowl victory each season. Florida coach Dan Mullen fought hard to keep him. After an incredible 2000s period that saw Texas win two Big 12 titles and a National Championship, a malaise set in and the wins dried up. Another stint in the NFL led to the Alabama job, where he has won six National Championships. Riley was hired as the Sooners' offensive coordinator in 2015, and East Carolina fell to 65th in EPA per play while Oklahoma rose to ninth. In the past two years, Colbert has produced four all-conference wide receivers, a Biletnikoff Award finalist (Michael Pittman in 2019) and two top-four-round draft picks (2021 fourth-round pick Amon-Ra St. Brown and Pittman, a 2020 second-round selection). Is assisting with Ohio States quarterbacks after previously working with Brian Hartline and the Buckeyes wide receivers unit. 20). Coastal Carolina has only graced the FBS for four years, but it has improved every season, culminating in a ludicrous 11-1 record last fall thanks to a full-scale offensive transformation. Was promoted earlier this year to associate head coach. They ranked 108th in the FBS in EPA per play over 2014 and 2015. A note: We limited the list to coaches under 45 and did not include anyone who is already an offensive or defensive co-coordinator at the Power 5 level, which is why you wont see guys such as Glenn Schumann (Georgia), Jon Sumrall (Kentucky) or Brian Williams (Maryland) despite their names coming up several times during the information-gathering process.