This is an objective measure as we try to have almost everything here at Simplified Football.
There are 3 components that went in to these rankings:
- Game Coaching. Using our formula for rating the teams and arriving at Win probabilities we have a formula that says how those teams have done in relation to what they "should" have done based on their talent/experience.
- Wins. Both pure wins and Wins Above Replacement (taking the previous years before the coach showed up and after if he has left).
- Recruiting. Pure recruiting rankings, recruiting rankings compared to others at school, and rankings compared to your geographical peers.
This is a ranking of what these coaches have done the last 5 years.
Top 25 Coaches
- Nick Saban (Alabama)
- David Shaw (Stanford)
- Mark Dantonio (Michigan St)
- Urban Meyer (Ohio St)
- Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
- Chris Peterson (Washington)
- James Franklin (Penn St)
- Rocky Long (San Diego St)
- Dan Mullen (Florida)
- Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M)
- Gary Patterson (TCU)
- Doc Holliday (Marshall)
- Jeff Brohm (Purdue)
- Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech)
- David Cutcliffe (Duke)
- Bobby Petrino (Louisville)
- Gus Malzahn (Auburn)
- Mark Richt (Miami)
- Bryan Harsin (Boise St)
- Mike Leach (Texas Tech)
- Mike Gundy (Oklahoma St)
- Larry Fedora (UNC)
- Paul Chryst (Wisconsin)
- Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)
- Brian Kelly (Notre Dame)
Coaches who have 1-3 years of HC experience are not included above (it takes at least 4 years to truly see the value of an HC). However here are the coaches who have coached less than 4 years that would have cracked the top 25: Mike Norvell (Memphis) 5th, Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma) 7th, Scott Frost (Nebraska) 8th, Tom Herman (Texas) 12th, Kirby Smart (Georgia) 16th, Jim Harbaugh (Michigan) 22nd, Butch Davis (FIU) 23rd, Jason Candle (Toledo) 24th.
These are objective measures, not my personal rankings.