• Kirby Smart leads the list: The Georgia coach is the easy choice to lead this list after winning two of the last four national championships.
• Curt Cignetti in the top 10: Following a magical year at Indiana, Cignetti places 10th in this list.
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Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

The faces of the NFL are players like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Saquon Barkley. But since college football players are only around for a few years, the faces of the sport are actually the coaches. 

With that in mind, here are the 10 best coaches in college football entering the 2025 season.

1. Kirby Smart, Georgia

Smart is the clear choice to top this list for what he’s done during his nine years leading the Bulldogs. Georgia’s won two of the last four national championships and has made the College Football Playoff four times under his watch. The Bulldogs have also finished in the AP poll top 10 in each of the last eight seasons, doubling the previous program record of four consecutive years. 

2. Ryan Day, Ohio State

Despite fans calling for his job in late November for losing a fourth-consecutive time to archrival Michigan, Day was able to quiet the noise by guiding the Buckeyes to their first national title in a decade. Ohio State went through a gauntlet in the College Football Playoff to get to that podium, beating Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame. While that first championship launched Day to No. 2 on this list, he’s been remarkably consistent as Ohio State’s head coach. His 87.5% career win percentage is the best of any coach on this list, and he’s brought the Buckeyes to the playoff in four of his six full seasons as head coach. Ohio State has also never finished lower than 10th in the final AP poll under his watch. 

3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

The third and final active coach with a national championship to his resume, Swinney delivered two titles to the Tigers in 2016 and 2018. He also has won nine ACC Championships, while his six College Football Playoff appearances are two more than any other coach in the country. Clemson has also finished in the AP poll top 20 in each of the last 13 seasons and is poised to make another national title run in 2025 with one of the most loaded rosters in America.

4. Dan Lanning, Oregon

Lanning might not have a national championship like the three above him on this list, but that might only be a matter of time at the rate he’s going. He’s won 85.4% of his games during his three seasons as the Ducks’ head coach, trailing only Day among coaches on this list. Lanning delivered Oregon a Big Ten championship during its maiden year as a member of the conference, and the Ducks were the top seed in the College Football Playoff before losing to eventual champion Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. 

5. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

Freeman has gotten better every year as Notre Dame’s head coach and brought the Fighting Irish all the way to the National Championship Game this past season. During that playoff run, he took down three other top-10 coaches in Curt Cignetti, Kirby Smart and James Franklin. The Fighting Irish should once again be a title contender this year, thanks to some key contributors returning like running back Jeremiyah Love and cornerback Leonard Moore.

6. Steve Sarkisian, Texas

It took a few years, but Sarkisian has finally given some credence to the claim that “Texas is back.” The Longhorns have made the College Football Playoff semifinals in each of the last two seasons and have a 25-5 record during that stretch. The past two years have been the best campaigns the program has had since 2009. Texas is positioned to compete for the program’s first national title in two decades this upcoming season.

7. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: DeBoer’s first season as Nick Saban’s replacement was a disappointment. After starting the season No. 5 in the AP poll, the Crimson Tide finished just 9-4 and outside the top 15. It was Alabama’s worst year since Saban’s first season at the helm in 2007. DeBoer still deserves a place on this list due to what he’s accomplished as a head coach before, though. He went 25-3 in his two years at Washington, which included a National Championship Game appearance in 2023. With a stacked defense and some nice offensive pieces returning to Tuscaloosa, DeBoer could once again compete for a national title this year.

8. James Franklin, Penn State

Franklin enjoyed his best season in Year 11 as the Nittany Lions’ head coach. Penn State made the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history and made it all the way to the semifinals, where it lost a heartbreaker to Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions also finished fifth in the AP poll, their best since 2005. Most of that same 2024 team is back for 2025, giving Franklin his best shot to deliver a national title to Happy Valley for the first time in nearly 40 years.

9. Brian Kelly, LSU

Kelly’s seat may be getting a bit warmer in Baton Rouge as the Tigers failed to finish in the top 25 this past season with a 9-4 record. Still, his resume is enough to warrant a top-10 placement. His teams at Notre Dame made either the BCS National Championship Game or the College Football Playoff three times, the fourth-most appearances among active head coaches. This past year’s LSU squad was his first that failed to finish in the top 20 since 2016. The Tigers need to fix their defense, but they have one of the best quarterbacks in the country returning in Garrett Nussmeier. He and their weapons may be enough to get the Tigers back into the College Football Playoff.

10. Curt Cignetti, Indiana

Cignetti was a relatively unknown commodity entering the season but is now a top-10 head coach in college football due to his magical year in Bloomington. In his first season at Indiana, the Hoosiers won 11 games and made the College Football Playoff. That was two wins more than Indiana’s previous program record, and it went just 9-27 in the three years before Cignetti took over. Before he took over there, he led James Madison to an incredible 19-4 record during its first two seasons as an FBS program. With plenty of star power returning, the Hoosiers have a chance to crash the playoff once again.