This is a objective measure as we try to have almost everything here at Simplified Football.
There are 3 components that went in to these rankings:
1-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.
2-Wins. Both pure wins and Wins Above Replacement (taking the previous years before the coach showed up and after if he has left)
3-Recruiting. Few aspects here. Pure Recruiting rankings, recruiting rankings compared to others at school (before and after), and rankings compared to your geographical peers (Power 5 Southern, Power 5 West Coast, Group of 5 Southern, ec).
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)
To Note: Coaches who have 1-3 years of HC experience are not included in the above list. To us 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 *his rankings from Stanford are not included*
Butch Davis (FIU) – 23rd *his rankings from UNC/Miami are not included*
Jason Candle (Toledo) – 24th
Top 20 Recruiters:
- James Franklin
- Urban Meyer
- Brian Kelly
- Nick Saban
- Jimbo Fisher
- David Shaw
- Dabo Swinney
- Mark Dantonio
- Gus Malzahn
- Jim Harbaugh
- Mark Stoops
- Bryan Harsin
- Chris Peterson
- Mark Richt
- Willie Taggart
- Mike Norvell
- Tom Herman
- Bobby Petrino
- Matt Rhule
- Larry Fedora
Others who would be top 20:
Kirby Smart (3rd)
Clay Helton (4th)
Luke Fickell (6th)
DJ Durkin (7th)
Scott Frost (8th)
Lincoln Riley (10th)
Top 20 Game Coaches:
- Ken Niumatalolo
- Bill Snyder
- Matt Wells
- Kirk Ferentz
- Jeff Brohm
- Scott Satterfield
- Chris Peterson
- Gary Patterson
- Justin Fuente
- Mark Dantonio
- David Shaw
- Dan Mullen
- Mike Gundy
- Troy Calhoun
- Paul Johnson
- Paul Chryst
- Rod Carey
- Matt Rhule
- Willie Fritz
- Kyle Whittingham
Others who would be on this list:
Mike Norvell (1st)
Jason Candle (4th)
Tom Herman (5th)
Lincoln Riley (9th)
Tom Allen (9th)
Justin Wilcox (16th)
Jeff Tedford (16th)
This would not just be X’s and O’s, but also player development, etc. These guys get more out of their players than other coaches do.
Again these are objective measures, not my personal rankings.