Ranking the ten best college football coaches in the country ahead of the 2026 season

Dan Dakich breaks down Indiana Football HC Curt Cignetti’s recent comments on the "Saban Way." Cignetti reflected on his time at Alabama under Nick Saban, describing the intensity of a program where every day felt like "4th and 1."

With the changes happening in college football over the last half decade, most notably NIL and the transfer portal, the proliferation of talent in the game has been as balanced as ever.

With that, you could make the argument that coaches mean more than they ever have before, since it requires more strategy than just rolling the ball out and letting your 22 five-stars "talent" their way to victory.

Despite legends like Nick Saban calling it quits a few years ago, college football is in great hands with some phenomenal coaches among its ranks.

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Speaking of which, I thought today would be as good a day as any to rank the ten best coaches in college football right now.

This list is obviously subjective, but some of the factors I'm weighing are: total resume, recent success, and whether they have overachieved or underachieved relative to the resources they've been given.

With that said, let's dive right in.

Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans looks on prior to a game against the UCLA Bruins at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)

We start this list off with a man who, five years ago, probably would have been comfortably within the top five: Lincoln Riley.

The USC head coach is heading into his fifth season in Los Angeles, and if you asked most Trojan fans, they would probably admit he has underperformed with regard to the