Tag: head coach rankings

Kyle Shanahan ranked 4th-best NFL head coach by TD Wire

The 49ers have top-5 players at several positions. They’ve also got a top-5 head coach according to TD Wire.

The 49ers are loaded between the lines. Their roster features top-five NFL players at a slew of positions with a couple players trending that direction if they’re not already there. Another key component of their success though is having a top-five head coach, and that’s where Kyle Shanahan landed in the Touchdown Wire head coach rankings. Only Mike Tomlin, Sean McVay and Andy Reid are ahead of him.

While the discourse around Shanahan has revolved around his team’s inability to get over the hump, he gets a ton of credit for continually coaching a team that is in the mix. Via Jarrett Bailey at TD Wire:

The 49ers led the NFL in offensive EPA per play, success rate, EPA per dropback, EPA per rush, dropback success rate, and rushing success rate in 2023- that’s so incredibly difficult to do, but with Shanahan and their cast of stars, they made it look simple. No one will be surprised if they are one of the final four teams come January, nor will anyone be shocked if they are back in the Super Bowl. Let’s see if they can finally win one.

Shanahan’s value as a coach is not super easy to replace, and it’s why the 49ers are content with keeping him despite a handful of tough end-of-season losses. He’s a game-changing offensive coach which is a key component of success in the modern NFL.

He’s certainly not perfect. There are time management issues at times and questionable player usage, but overall the 49ers are a better team because Shanahan is at the helm.

Eventually he’s going to have to get over the hump and win a title if he’s going to enter the pantheon of all-time great coaches. For now though he’s top-five in the NFL and there’s not much that’s going to change that any time soon.

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Is Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer a top-10 coach in college football?

Alabama football’s new head coach has done well everywhere he’s coached. See how he ranks among other top coaches in college football.

Alabama Crimson Tide football enters a new era as legendary head coach Nick Saban enters retirement and former Washington Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer takes over in Tuscaloosa. Though he was a top coach in 2023, there are questions about how he will perform under the pressure of immediately succeeding Saban.

As odd as it may sound, 2024 may be the perfect time for DeBoer to take over in Tuscaloosa. As the program undergoes a massive shift, so does the rest of college football. Major conference realignment takes effect, the College Football Playoff is expanded and there’s still much uncertainty regarding name, image, likeness and the transfer portal.

DeBoer joins the Crimson Tide fresh off of a national title appearance in 2023, which followed an impressive conference championship run and a Sugar Bowl win over the newest members of the SEC, the Texas Longhorns.

In the latest college football head coach rankings by College Sports Wire‘s Patrick Conn, DeBoer ranks No. 7 on a list of the top-12 coaches from across the nation.

“It is never easy following a legend like Nick Saban but for the Alabama Crimson Tide they could have done much worse than Kalen DeBoer. A man who has won everywhere he has gone. He won three NAIA championships and had an impressive run at Washington with a roster in turmoil before his arrival. He won two Pac-12 titles and led the Huskies to a national championship berth. Now he takes over a Crimson Tide team that was bounced in the CFP Semifinals last season. With plenty of talent around him, this team should ready for another deep run in the expanded playoff.”

DeBoer has done an exceptional job with roster management, recruiting and the transfer portal in the few months at the program’s helm. Now, all that’s left for him to do is reassure Alabama fans that the team will pick up right where it left off under Saban by making the College Football Playoffs and be in contention to compete for a national championship.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football news as the 2024 offseason progresses.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM. 

How well is Hugh Freeze performing through the midway point? 247Sports weighs in

Brad Crawford of 247Sports believes that Auburn and Hugh Freeze will find more success in the second half of the season.

Auburn is five games into the [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] era. Although the Tigers’ 3-2 record is not satisfactory in the eyes of Tigers fans, they are pleased with the effort of the team following the turmoil of the last two seasons.

How has Freeze performed through the front end of his initial season at Auburn? Brad Crawford of 247Sports has weighed in.

As college football turns towards the back half of its schedule, Crawford has evaluated each first-year head coach’s performance and has issued each coach a grade. Out of the 11 first-year head coaches, Freeze checks in at No. 5 on the list with a “B” grade. Crawford says that Auburn’s second-half schedule is more favorable, which sets Freeze up to win more games.

Hugh Freeze doesn’t have his roster where he wants it yet, but the Tigers are closer to being a factor in the SEC than most envisioned through five games. They lost both conference contests so far, but had a lead on No. 1 Georgia in the second half last month and have to feel good about their chances this weekend at LSU. The back half of the schedule for Freeze is much more favorable SEC-wise with several winnable matchups.

Former Auburn offensive coordinator and current Arizona State head coach [autotag]Kenny Dillingham[/autotag] is at the bottom of the list, while Louisville’s Jeff Brohm tops the list after leading the Cardinals to a 6-0 record. Other coaches of note include Colorado‘s Deion Sanders, who is No. 2. Mississippi State’s Zach Arnett is No. 8.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

CBS Sports Big 12 Hot Seat Ratings: ‘Pressure is mounting’ for Brent Venables

In their updated hot seat rating for the 2023 season, CBS Sports believes “pressure is mounting” for Oklahoma’s Brent Venables.

Coming out of a 2022 season where the Oklahoma Sooners had their first losing season since 1998 with one of the worst defenses in the team’s history, it’s not unreasonable to have questions about the direction of the program.

At the same time, it’s only been one year, and we haven’t seen Venables’ recruiting classes take the field and play significant snaps yet. The team may not have much success to speak about on the field yet, but the coaching staff has done a tremendous job off of it on the recruiting trail.

They’ve put together two top 10 classes, and with the way things are shaping up, the Sooners are looking at a third straight top 10 class in the 2024 cycle.

Ahead of the 2023 season, CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd took a look at every head coach in the FBS and determined where they stood on his “hot seat rating system.”

It’s a system that rates coaches from 0-5. “Zero” represents coaches that are untouchable, like Nick Saban or Kirby Smart. “Five” represents coaches that are in must-win mode heading into 2023.

Here’s a look at where the 14 Big 12 coaches stand heading into 2023. We also included where each coach ranked in CBS Sports’ head coach rankings in the Big 12 and overall and their career winning percentages.

Where does Chiefs’ Andy Reid stand in head coach power rankings?

#Chiefs HC Andy Reid stands in a tier of his own in these NFL head coach power rankings:

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Kansas City Chiefs’ Andy Reid is one of the winningest head coaches in the history of the national football league, but where does he rank among active NFL head coaches?

In the 10 seasons that Reid has been the head coach in Kansas City, the Chiefs have enjoyed a dominant 117-45 regular season record and a 12-7 record in the postseason including the team’s win in Super Bowl LVII. Flatly put, Big Red has ushered in an era of success that this franchise has never seen before.

Tim Weaver of Seahawks Wire came up with 11 tiers in his head coach power rankings heading into 2023. He slotted Reid in the “A1” tier, all alone at the No. 1 spot. This is in part due to Reid’s impressive 247-138-1 career record, but also because of his recent successes with the Chiefs:

The cheeseburger king gets his own spot because Andy Reid is coaching in a league of his own right now. It helps to have the most dynamic quarterback in NFL history on his side, but it’s difficult to imagine Patrick Mahomes having the same success with literally any other coach. Kansas City has won two of the last four Super Bowls and at least nine games 10 years running.

Reid has set the bar so high for himself in Kansas City, that despite his successes with the Chiefs, he’s never won the AP Coach of the Year Award. At this rate, it might take coaching a perfect 20-0 NFL season for Reid to get that type of recognition.

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Ranking all 32 head coaches around the NFL going into 2023

So, how does Pete compare to the competition?

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is far from perfect. He’s entirely too interested in the run game – both on the field and in the draft room – and sometimes his conservative instincts can drive us up the wall on fourth down. That said, Carroll has long been one of the most successful coaches in the NFL and he’s now managed to make the playoffs with several different roster cores since he took over back in 2010. So, how does Pete compare to the competition? Let’s find out.

Here’s how we rank all 32 head coaches around the league going into the 2023 season.

More Seahawks Wire stories

100 photos from Seattle’s 2023 offseason program

June 1 offseason power rankings for all 32 teams

Spring Football: College Wire’s top 10 head coaches

Breaking down our way-too-early head coach rankings for 2023.

As March Madness winds down, college baseball and college football will take center stage in early April.

Currently, teams are getting their preseason work in throughout spring football as we get closer to the 2023 college football season. There are plenty of huge storylines with the Georgia Bulldogs chasing history and the movement with the coaching carousel.

One of the biggest questions among fans is who is the best head coach in the game today. Kirby Smart is putting pressure on Nick Saban as the top guy but has he done enough in his time at Georgia?

Beyond the top two, who else is among the top 10 coaches in college football? College Sports Wire put together our list for our way-too-early coaching rankings.

On3 ranks the best Year 2 coaching jobs in college football for 2022

Only Bryan Harsin ranks below Steve Sarkisian.

Texas made positive strides under second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian this season. Continue reading “On3 ranks the best Year 2 coaching jobs in college football for 2022”

Ranking the top 12 coaches in college football ahead of 2022 season

As the season approaches, College Wire Regional Editor Patrick Conn ranks his top 12 head coaches in college football for 2022.

In just over 11 days we will begin the 2022 college football season. Many teams, Clemson Tigers included, are looking to dethrone the SEC from their mantle.

It has been three consecutive champions hailing from the SEC with the LSU Tigers in 2019, Alabama Crimson Tide in 2020, and this past season with the Georgia Bulldogs. The last non-SEC champion was Clemson in 2018. If fact, it was the Tigers’ second title in three years.

With that being said, our focus today is surrounding the head coaches that are vying to win it all in 2022. The best of the best include several SEC coaches sprinkled in amongst coaches in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12.

This list of coaches ranks where they are viewed heading into the season, not just for what they have accomplished in their careers.

Ranking the second-year head coaches under the most pressure

College Wire Regional Editor Patrick Conn ranks the second-year head coaches under the most pressure in 2022.

The start of the 2022 college football season is just weeks away. The Texas Longhorns will open the campaign with Louisiana-Monroe and the Alabama Crimson Tide. We will soon find out if Quinn Ewers is ready to lead his childhood team, that is if he wins the job from Hudson Card.

There is a buzz around the team and fans want to remove the taste of the 2021 campaign from their mouths with a quickness. Not to mention the college football landscape is itching to see if Steve Sarkisian can improve this team in 2022.

There are several head coaches heading into year two that will be facing more pressure to win. I broke down my rankings for each head coach that was hired following the 2020 pandemic-shortened season.