1) Nick Saban
- The man is truly one of, if not the greatest coach in college football. I base this a lot on the fact that he doesn't lean on the coaches around him, but he builds the coaches around him. How many different offensive and defensive coordinators has Saban had??? It seems that it does not matter what coaches are on his staff or how many players went to the draft the previous year... the team is just as deadly if not more deadly the next year. Could Dabo say the same?
2) Dabo
- I give him this primarily due to accomplishments (national titles and conference titles). However, Clemson plays in a very weak conference and Dabo has a staff that does not have much change from year to year. Put Dabo in the SEC with the revolving coaching door that Saban has had and I don't think he would look nearly as impressive
3) Kirby
- Yes, I am biased here. Kirby beat Lincoln Riley. Kirby also only has 3 seasons of head coaching experience. What other coaches have been as successful as Kirby in their first 3 years? We will gauge more this year by seeing how he does with a new DC and new OC. In my opinion it is too early to tell, but its hard to say that Kirby isn't somewhere on the top 10 list at this time.
4) Lincoln Riley
-extremely impressive for his age and his number of years as a head coach. If he can get a defense figured out, they will be dangerous.
5) Jimbo Fisher
- Time will tell if he was a one hit wonder or not. He surely left FSU in shambles, but for a while there FSU was a pretty good team. He gets bumped up the board for the national championship
6) Tom Herman
-Texas was 6-7, 5-7, and 5-7 before Herman arrived and went 7-6 and then 10-4. Wins over Oklahoma and Georgia in a second year at Texas are impressive
7) Chris Peterson
- sure, he does a great job with what he has... but he also plays against PAC 12 schools and has a bowl record of 6-6
8) Chip Kelly
- how quickly and if he can turn around UCLA will tell us a lot
9) David Shaw
10) Scott Frost
You could make arguments for any of them. Saban and Dabo are surely at the top, but I still insist that Dabo would not be nearly as successful in the SEC with a revolving coaching door like Saban has had.