As we’ve plowed through the sports-less spring and into the summer we’ve discussed a ton of various things and debated several lists here at Fighting Irish Wire.
Plenty of outlets have offered their rankings of the best current head coaches FBS college football, most of which have Brian Kelly in the top ten.
Bill Bender of The Sporting News released his head coaches ranking this week and to the surprise of nobody that has been paying attention, Brian Kelly is listed in the top ten, this time checking in sixth.
Here’s what Bender says of Kelly, who he moves up one spot compared to last year’s rankings:
There was a point when Kelly looked on the way out of South Bend, but he’s refurbished the program with success. The Irish are 33-6 the past three seasons and have a Playoff appearance. Kelly has Notre Dame in the postseason conversation in November on a yearly basis, and the chase for that elusive national championship continues. – Bill Bender of The Sporting News
The only five coaches to rank ahead of Kelly in this list are easy to name: Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Ed Orgeron, Lincoln Riley and Kirby Smart.
Of those, Saban, Swinney and Orgeron have national title’s to their names while Riley and Smart have each made the College Football Playoff, like Kelly in 2018.
Immediately after Kelly come Ryan Day of Ohio State who I’d guess is ranked in the top five a year from now, Dan Mullen of Florida who has raised the expectations in Gainsville to sky-high this fall, James Franklin who nearly led Penn State to the CFP in 2016 and Jimbo Fisher who won it all with Florida State in 2013 but hasn’t reached the same heights since taking the Texas A&M job two years ago.
I don’t have a real problem with any of the list. It’s nice to see someone not throw endless bouquets at Jim Harbaugh’s feet as he checks in 11.
Mack Brown’s rise from 24 to 14 is also interesting as I had that being a brutal hire for North Carolina in my mind, but it has looked nothing short of great just over a year in.