Top 25 P4 Coaches

[Duckboy33]

CBS Article

1. Curt Cignetti (Indiana)
2. Kirby Smart (Georgia)
3. Ryan Day (Ohio State)
4. Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame)
5. Dan Lanning (Oregon)
6. Steve Sarkisian (Texas)
7. Mario Cristobal (Miami FL)
8. Kalen DeBoer (Alabama)
9. Lane Kiffin (LSU)
10. Kyle Wittingham (Michigan)
11. Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
12. Kalani Sitake (BYU)
13. James Franklin (Virginia Tech)
14. Mike Elko (Texas A&M)
15. Rhett Lashlee (SMU)
16. Matt Campbell (Penn State)
17. Lincoln Riley (USC)
18. Willie Fritz (Houston)
19. Josh Heupel (Tennessee)
20. Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)
21. Joey McGuire (Texas Tech)
22. Kenny Dillingham (Arizona State)
23. Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri)
24. Jeff Brohm (Louisville)
25. Bret Bielema (Illinois)

Biggest Risers from 2025:

Joey McGuire 48th-21st (+27)
Willie Fritz 41st-18th (+23)
Curt Cignetti 21st-1st (+20)
Mike Elko 29th-15th (+14)
Kalani Sitake 26th-12th (+14)
Mario Cristobal 20th-7th (+13)

 

[NickyNooch]

No matter what Cristobal ever does, I will never rank him that high.

Dude lost a game due to trying to pad stats instead of kneeing the football. Baffling.

 

[socalduck7]

No matter what Cristobal ever does, I will never rank him that high.

Dude lost a game due to trying to pad stats instead of kneeing the football. Baffling.

Agree Moobs is who he is.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Top 5 seems kinda chalk. 6-10 seems like there could be a lot of debate. Could also see a lot of movement between 11-15 up or down.

Cristobal and Franklin seems the most egregious to me. Cristobal seems to be revisionist history with the past year, and I’m not sure I’d say Franklin is 13th if he got fired in the middle of last year after a playoff run the previous year. Him being ranked above his replacement is crazy talk. If we want to be revisionist with Cristobal, then McGuire and Dillingham need to be much higher.

Also not crazy about Lincoln Riley being ranked that high, and Clark Lea not being on the list at all.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

CBS Article

1. Curt Cignetti (Indiana)
2. Kirby Smart (Georgia)

Probably correct.......or (spoiler) is it?

3. Ryan Day (Ohio State)

Overrated

4. Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame)

Underrated

5. Dan Lanning (Oregon)

About right. Could stand to do more himself to be lower, if we're being honest here.........

6. Steve Sarkisian (Texas)

Overrated

7. Mario Cristobal (Miami FL)

Underrated

8. Kalen DeBoer (Alabama)

Slightly overrated

9. Lane Kiffin (LSU)

You don't have to like the person. I don't. But he deserves this place for now......we'll see if he went back to biting off more than he could chew by going for the money at a "bigger program" rather than staying at Ole Miss and building their program up over time.

10. Kyle Wittingham (Michigan)

As a coach in general, he's only slightly overrated here at 10. I have a ton of respect for Whittingham. But it's very clear this was just "insert current Michigan coach into Top 10"

11. Dabo Swinney (Clemson)

Overrated, and it's been fascinating watching his decline over the past several years

12. Kalani Sitake (BYU)

Probably a little overrated, but he's also got a consistent winner at BYU

13. James Franklin (Virginia Tech)

Lol overrated. And to think all this could've been avoided if he hadn't been a jackass and beat Iowa those 3 years from '17-'19. I don't forgive.....let alone forget. Oregon will do well to remember this.

14. Mike Elko (Texas A&M)

Underrated

15. Rhett Lashlee (SMU)

 Correct

16. Matt Campbell (Penn State)

Lmao no. Overrated

17. Lincoln Riley (USC)

Probably about right given his overall history, but certainly arguments can be made to move him both ways

18. Willie Fritz (Houston)

Slightly overrated

19. Josh Heupel (Tennessee)

Slightly underrated

1. Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)

Fify for accuracy /thread

21. Joey McGuire (Texas Tech)

Hard to say given the NY Yankees approach of trying to buy championships. It's like if you gave Kirk Ferentz $70 million to build a roster and told everyone else they only had $15 million to work with. At what point does the "pay to win" outweigh the coaching?

Fwiw, btw, Texas Tech was also dealing with multiple key injuries by the time the CFP happened, so you can't just automatically label him a failure in spite of their efforts to build the best roster money can buy. Money can't fix injuries.

22. Kenny Dillingham (Arizona State)

Underrated

23. Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri)

Slightly underrated, even if he's a bit of a try hard

24. Jeff Brohm (Louisville)

F*** Jeff Brohm

25. Bret Bielema (Illinois)

Lol no. Get him the f*** off my list.

 

[Xeliou66]

The top 5 look right.
I think Cristobal is overrated - that game where he alone cost them the win against GA Tech is probably the worst coaching job I’ve ever seen in any sport, and until last year he had underachieved regularly.
Dabo is an interesting case, he had great success in the 10s, but he’s flat out refused to adapt to the modern era of CFB and his refusal to do so has doomed Clemson. And I think he would rather lose than change, that’s how stubborn he is - if I were a Clemson fan I would want him gone.
Dillingham, Elko and McGuire are underrated IMO. Franklin is too high right now at 13.
DeBoer may be a bit too high, but I’ll give him some leeway since it’s always really hard to replace a legend and Saban is arguably the best coach in CFB history.

 

[Dixienormous]

No matter what Cristobal ever does, I will never rank him that high.

Dude lost a game due to trying to pad stats instead of kneeing the football. Baffling.

He did that twice. One while at Oregon against Stanford. Once while at Miami against GT

 

[Middawg]

Does Cignetti three-peat National COY when Indiana goes 16-0 again?

 

[ThomasTomasz]

The top 5 look right.
I think Cristobal is overrated - that game where he alone cost them the win against GA Tech is probably the worst coaching job I’ve ever seen in any sport, and until last year he had underachieved regularly.
Dabo is an interesting case, he had great success in the 10s, but he’s flat out refused to adapt to the modern era of CFB and his refusal to do so has doomed Clemson. And I think he would rather lose than change, that’s how stubborn he is - if I were a Clemson fan I would want him gone.
Dillingham, Elko and McGuire are underrated IMO. Franklin is too high right now at 13.
DeBoer may be a bit too high, but I’ll give him some leeway since it’s always really hard to replace a legend and Saban is arguably the best coach in CFB history.

Dabo finally got his first transfer portal recruit this past year, that’s all you need to know about adapting. The further we get into NIL, the further away from him being able to build and maintain a “brotherhood” is going to be.

 

[Clayton]

Drink beats who he is supposed to beat and loses to everyone good. He gets the fundamentals right and every year they can run the ball but Mizzous QB play has been mostly unwatchable. I think given what Mizzou looked like before he showed up he is probably ranked about right.

I think Heupel is hard to rank. Heupels system sucks at developing NFL WRs and wastes a lot of talented guys. But they coach up OL and defense well so you could argue he is underrated.

 

[Hitman Hart]

No matter what Cristobal ever does, I will never rank him that high.

Dude lost a game due to trying to pad stats instead of kneeing the football. Baffling.

He did that twice. One while at Oregon against Stanford. Once while at Miami against GT

In the aftermath of that GT game, someone on twitter revealed that Cristobal never goes into victory formation. He just runs it until time expires.

 

[Hitman Hart]

The top 5 look right.
I think Cristobal is overrated - that game where he alone cost them the win against GA Tech is probably the worst coaching job I’ve ever seen in any sport, and until last year he had underachieved regularly.
Dabo is an interesting case, he had great success in the 10s, but he’s flat out refused to adapt to the modern era of CFB and his refusal to do so has doomed Clemson. And I think he would rather lose than change, that’s how stubborn he is - if I were a Clemson fan I would want him gone.
Dillingham, Elko and McGuire are underrated IMO. Franklin is too high right now at 13.
DeBoer may be a bit too high, but I’ll give him some leeway since it’s always really hard to replace a legend and Saban is arguably the best coach in CFB history.

You could argue he still underachieved last year. Should have had an 11-1 regular season at the worst.

 

[Duckboy33]

In the aftermath of that GT game, someone on twitter revealed that Cristobal never goes into victory formation. He just runs it until time expires.

Kneeling is for pussies. Never change Mario

 

[Dixienormous]

Kneeling is for pussies. Never change Mario

Part of me agrees. But the fact I can only remember two instances of refusing to knee costing a team a win and both were Cristobal coached teams is hilarious(yes, I’m aware of the Herm Edwards scoop and score in the 70’s, it was before my time, but it’s still common knowledge, boomers)

 

[Courtsense]

CBS Article

1. Curt Cignetti (Indiana)
2. Kirby Smart (Georgia)
3. Ryan Day (Ohio State)
4. Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame)
5. Dan Lanning (Oregon)
6. Steve Sarkisian (Texas)
7. Mario Cristobal (Miami FL)
8. Kalen DeBoer (Alabama)
9. Lane Kiffin (LSU)
10. Kyle Wittingham (Michigan)
11. Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
12. Kalani Sitake (BYU)
13. James Franklin (Virginia Tech)
14. Mike Elko (Texas A&M)
15. Rhett Lashlee (SMU)
16. Matt Campbell (Penn State)
17. Lincoln Riley (USC)
18. Willie Fritz (Houston)
19. Josh Heupel (Tennessee)
20. Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)
21. Joey McGuire (Texas Tech)
22. Kenny Dillingham (Arizona State)
23. Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri)
24. Jeff Brohm (Louisville)
25. Bret Bielema (Illinois)

Biggest Risers from 2025:

Joey McGuire 48th-21st (+27)
Willie Fritz 41st-18th (+23)
Curt Cignetti 21st-1st (+20)
Mike Elko 29th-15th (+14)
Kalani Sitake 26th-12th (+14)
Mario Cristobal 20th-7th (+13)

Freeman at #4? Maybe #14

 

[Halfmilluratrojan]

Probably correct.......or (spoiler) is it?

Overrated

Underrated

About right. Could stand to do more himself to be lower, if we're being honest here.........


Overrated

Underrated

Slightly overrated

You don't have to like the person. I don't. But he deserves this place for now......we'll see if he went back to biting off more than he could chew by going for the money at a "bigger program" rather than staying at Ole Miss and building their program up over time.

As a coach in general, he's only slightly overrated here at 10. I have a ton of respect for Whittingham. But it's very clear this was just "insert current Michigan coach into Top 10"

Overrated, and it's been fascinating watching his decline over the past several years

Probably a little overrated, but he's also got a consistent winner at BYU

Lol overrated. And to think all this could've been avoided if he hadn't been a jackass and beat Iowa those 3 years from '17-'19. I don't forgive.....let alone forget. Oregon will do well to remember this.


Underrated

 Correct

Lmao no. Overrated

Probably about right given his overall history, but certainly arguments can be made to move him both ways

Slightly overrated

Slightly underrated

Fify for accuracy /thread



Hard to say given the NY Yankees approach of trying to buy championships. It's like if you gave Kirk Ferentz $70 million to build a roster and told everyone else they only had $15 million to work with. At what point does the "pay to win" outweigh the coaching?

Fwiw, btw, Texas Tech was also dealing with multiple key injuries by the time the CFP happened, so you can't just automatically label him a failure in spite of their efforts to build the best roster money can buy. Money can't fix injuries.

Underrated

Slightly underrated, even if he's a bit of a try hard


F*** Jeff Brohm


Lol no. Get him the f*** off my list.

Great post, thanks for the time and I agree, Franklin at 13 is wild. He was around 13 before the tank season and losing his team.

 

[Middawg]

Freeman at #4? Maybe #14

Agree.


Freeman and ND losing to donkeys like Marshall and Northern Illinois should require a National Title to break through a Top 20 coaching list.

 

[Jennerpeach]

Switch 1&2

 

[occupant]

I know a coach that beat 3 of those guise and took his team to the CFP, yet, he isn’t on the list.

 

[Courtsense]

Switch 1&2

There is a big gap after Cig and before Smart or whomever is #2.