The college football landscape is changing quickly as its top head coaches, Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh, have departed the game for new ventures.
Now that Saban and Harbaugh are out of the picture, who are college football’s top head coaches? Bruce Feldman of The Athletic has taken the best 25 current head coaches and has given them a ranking. Auburn’s Hugh Freeze is on the list, he checks in at No. 23.
Feldman cites Freeze’s lackluster 2023 season but says his past success will eventually translate to his job on the Plains.
It was an underwhelming first season for Freeze at Auburn, as the Tigers went 6-7 and lost to three top-15 teams by a touchdown or less. But Freeze is a proven winner. He got Liberty into the top 20 in his second year. At Ole Miss, he led the Rebels to a top-10 finish for the first time since the ’60s and beat Saban’s Alabama teams twice. And in his first FBS head coaching job, he got Arkansas State, a program that went 15 years without a winning season, to 10-2.
Eight coaches from the SEC made the cut, including Saban’s predecessor Kalen Deboer. Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin ranks two spots ahead of Freeze at No. 21 while Tennessee‘s Josh Heupel, Kentucky‘s Mark Stoops, and Texas‘ Steve Sarkisian are in the top 20. Three SEC coaches rank in the top 10, including Georgia‘s Kirby Smart, who takes the top spot in Feldman’s ranking.
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