Ranking the 8 remaining College Football Playoff coaches

To make the College Football Playoff, you gotta have an above-average team – there is no question about that. Offense, defense, special teams, intangibles … they all play a huge role in success and championship dreams.

But you also have to have exceptional coaching. There isn’t a Playoff team still watching film that doesn’t have what it takes under the headset. Nevertheless, there are tiers to the remaining 8 CFP coaches – and we are here to rank them!

8. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

Why he matters: Arguably the greatest year-over-year turnaround ever turned in by the coaches on this list, Dillingham’s Sun Devils went 3-9 in 2023 but delivered an astounding 11-2 record and a Big 12 title in 2024 – despite being predicted to finish dead last in the conference. A Sun Devil alum, the 34-year-old Dillingham brought in 60 new players via the portal, and valued culture over pure talent. The best catch? QB Sam Leavitt, who bolted from Michigan State to throw for 2,663 yards and deliver 29 total touchdowns. The Big 12 title meant a bye into the Playoff quarterfinals, and gave Dillingham and Co. a great opportunity before the Peach Bowl date against No. 5 Texas.

7. Spencer Danielson, Boise State

Why he matters: Much like Dillingham, Danielson is on his first head coaching gig – and has taken the Broncos to their highest peak in a decade. Danielson took over after Boise State fired Andy Avalos late in 2023, and only lost a 37-34 shootout at Oregon this season en route to the Mountain West crown. The 3rd-seeded Broncos are plenty used to the Fiesta Bowl, having won it in 2006, 2009 and 2014, and the 36-year-old Danielson has his team believing it is ready for another big moment behind Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty. As the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champ, Danielson and Boise State got a bye week to get well for No. 6 Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

6. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame

Why he matters: How bright a star is Freeman? Notre Dame entrusted him with the storied Fighting Irish program as a 36-year-old rookie coach in 2022 after Brian Kelly bolted for LSU. Now 38, Freeman has delivered with 31 victories in that span, including a 12-1 run this season that was tainted only by an inexplicable 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7. The Irish responded to beat 3 ranked teams over a 10-game regular season-ending winning streak and then dominated 10th-seeded Indiana 27-17 in last week’s Playoff first round. The Irish take on wounded Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

5. James Franklin, Penn State

Why he matters: Among all the first-timers on this list, Franklin is a bona fide coaching veteran. Franklin made his bones with back-to-back 9-4 seasons during a 3-year Vanderbilt stint before heading to Happy Valley in 2014. The knock on Franklin has been that his teams have never quite been able to win the big game when it matters, but quite a bit of the “Little Game James” moniker got chipped away last week when the Nittany Lions dominated 11th-seeded SMU in the Playoff first round. You simply don’t win 124 games at this level without knowing what you’re doing, and Franklin clearly does. Up next? Another big-game opportunity vs. Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

4. Steve Sarkisian, Texas

Why he matters: At 50, Steve Sarkisian was once a promising young coach before personal demons almost drove him completely out of the sport. Publicly fired by USC, Sarkisian entered the Nick Saban Coaching Reclamation Program and got himself right as a coordinator with 2 stints at Alabama and the 1 with the NFL’s Falcons before Texas came calling for a replacement for Tom Herman in 2021. Sarkisian is an offensive savant, and he has molded the Longhorns into a force that has logged consecutive 12-2 seasons that also includes a Big 12 title in their final year in that league and an SEC Championship Game berth in their first year there. Texas also looked great last week, thumping 12th-seeded Clemson 38-24 in the Playoff first round. Up next: Arizona State in the Peach Bowl.

3. Dan Lanning, Oregon

Why he matters: The strongest branch of the growing Kirby Smart coaching tree, the 38-year-old Lanning has shined up the Ducks for yet another shot at an elusive national championship. A former defensive coordinator for Smart at Georgia, Lanning was hired in 2022 to replace Mario Cristobal – and promptly went 10-3 and 12-2 in his first 2 years in Eugene. But 2024 has seen Lanning and Oregon in full, as the Ducks are a perfect 13-0 and finished the season at No. 1 – earning the Big Ten title in their first year in the conference. No matter how you try to parse it, Lanning’s 35-5 record in 3 seasons at Oregon is insanely good. And with a bye into the Playoff quarterfinals, the Ducks are headed to the Rose Bowl to take on No. 8 Ohio State.

2. Ryan Day, Ohio State

Why he matters: Love him or loathe him – and there is plenty of both surrounding Day in Columbus these days – the Buckeyes’ coach is the real deal. Mentored by Chip Kelly, who is now tOSU’s offensive coordinator, Day took over for Urban Meyer on an interim basis in 2018 and for good in 2019. Since then, all Day has done is win 2 Big Ten titles, go to the College Football Playoff in 2019 and 2024, and win a preposterous 67 out of 77 games. Yeah, yeah … 4 of those losses are in a consecutive manner to Michigan – a mark that earns Day inexplicable enmity with a vocal minority of Buckeyes fans. Ohio State rebounded from a 13-10 home loss to Michigan to end the regular season by destroying 9th-seeded Tennessee 42-17 last week in the Playoff first round to earn a trip to Pasadena with a chance to avenge its 1-point regular-season loss to Oregon.

1. Kirby Smart, Georgia

Why he matters: As the only coach left in the College Football Playoff with a national championship ring (he has 2, actually), Kirby Smart is the undisputed No. 1 on this list. Smart’s Bulldogs won the Big Enchilada in 2021 and 2022, but were left out of the 2023 Playoff after losing their only game of the season in the SEC title game to Alabama. Smart reloads in Athens year after year with oodles of 5-star talent, though the past 18 months has seen a spate of off-field motor vehicle incidents. Still, Smart celebrates his 49th birthday today, Dec. 23, with a Georgia squad that survived an insane SEC schedule that included losses at Alabama and Ole Miss by winning the conference title yet again and earn the No. 2 overall Playoff seed. Smart is 105-18 at his alma mater, and has shown precisely zero signs of letting up anytime soon. His next challenge won’t be easy: With Carson Beck out with a UCL injury, Smart and the Dawgs will turn to Gunner Stockton in their Sugar Bowl date with defensive-minded Notre Dame.