Ranking all college football head coaches as players - ESPN

Every five years or so, I take a stab at ranking all of the FBS head coaches, according to their careers as college football players.

The backgrounds of coaches — where they played, what they played, how successful they were, how often they transferred — can shed light on how they manage their rosters and oversee their programs these days. The group of coaches also changes significantly in every edition of these rankings.

What really stands out about the current crop of coaches is the increased number of ex-superstar players at the helm. Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George is an FBS coach at Bowling Green. So is Deion Sanders, a national award winner and multitime All-America selection, who then became a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Former NFL players DeShaun Foster and Trent Dilfer are also leading college teams. The coaching ranks include college stars such as Timmy Chang, Steve Sarkisian and Mike Gundy, as well as those who stood out in college football's lower divisions.

As with past rankings, I prioritized success in college football, regardless of level. Those who shined under the brightest of lights will be rewarded, but so will those who did incredible things on smaller stages. Achievements such as national awards and All-America or all-conference recognition carried weight. Reaching the FBS and the Power 4 certainly matters, but it's more about what happened when you got there.

For these rankings, I'm also categorizing the coaches as players, rather than trying to sift through some of the less decorated careers. I still will rank the 30 best overall, but others will appear in tiers.

As a reminder, these rankings spotlight what coaches did as college players, not necessarily at the pro level, although their entire