2026 college football coach rankings: Jon Sumrall, Brent Venables headline Power Four coaches ranked 68-26

It's late May, which means two things around these parts. One is that the college football season is drawing near. Soon, we will be awash in conference media days and the sounds of pads popping in preseason camp.

The second is that it's time for the Ball Knowers among CBSSports.com's college football literati to rank the Power Four coaches. We've done this for over a decade, and, as has been the case each time, there is no set criterion for how any of our 10 voters rank the coaches.

You can rank strictly on achievements or potential. Hell, you can rank on who gives the best press conferences or who you think the best dresser is. Sure, the rest of us will probably give you the side eye if you do that and say things about you in the group chat (the one you aren't in), but we won't stop you from doing it.

The point is, there are no wrong answers here, at least, not among the group here. I'm sure plenty of you reading this will feel that most of the answers are wrong. That's OK too. We're used to it.

68. Tavita Pritchard, Stanford

Tavita Pritchard steps into one of the toughest P4 jobs in the country. He's the hand-picked selection of his old Stanford teammate, Andrew Luck. Typically, the voting process puts the new guys without experience at the bottom of their ballots. It's no surprise Pritchard starts at 68, and he was ranked last by seven of our 10 voters. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 67, Low: 68

67. Tosh Lupoi, California

We hop across the bay to Stanford's rival Cal and find our next coach, former Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi. Lupoi is one of two Oregon coordinators to be plucked for P4 jobs this season, but he starts behind Kentucky's Will Stein in our rankings. I'm sure a friendly text will be sent about it. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 64, Low: 67

66. Collin Klein, Kansas State

The Prodigal Son returns home. Collin Klein is one of the best players in Kansas State football history, and now he's at the helm of the program after a successful stint as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. If he can do for Avery Johnson what he did for Marcel Reed and the Aggies last season, he's going to climb these rankings in a hurry. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 60, Low: 66

65. Morgan Scalley, Utah

Scalley is no longer the head coach-in-waiting. The Utah defensive coordinator has taken over as head coach in Salt Lake City, replacing Kyle Whittingham, who had been in charge since the 2004 season. Scalley inherits one of the Big 12's best programs and has extremely large shoes to fill. It's always tough being the guy who replaces The Guy. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 55, Low: 66

64. Will Stein, Kentucky

So does Stein finishing three spots ahead of Tosh Lupoi despite having the same CV mean our voters are biased toward the SEC, or offense over defense? Stein had a lot of success with quarterbacks while in charge of Oregon's offense, and now he's at a school that would really love to see any kind of success on offense because it hasn't been pretty lately. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 55, Low: 66

63. Bill Belichick, North Carolina

This is a fascinating result to me. Bill Belichick not only drops nine spots in our rankings after a 4-8 debut with the Tar Heels last season, but he's the only other coach besides Stanford's Tavita Pritchard to receive last-place votes. He got three! That's right, the coach who won six Super Bowls finished behind a coach who has never been a head coach at any level and was only 13 years old when Belichick won his first Super Bowl with the Patriots. I genuinely don't question my fellow voters' rankings too much, but I have a very difficult time seeing the logic behind those decisions. 2025 rank: 54 (-9), High: 52, Low: 68

62. Scott Frost, UCF

Scott Frost doesn't move an inch in this year's ranking. He was 62 last year, and he's 62 this year, dangit! Frost returned to UCF last season, the place where he made his name as a head coach, but didn't have a great season. The Knights finished 5-7 and only 2-7 in Big 12 play. However, Frost was only 6-7 in his first season at UCF in 2016 and then went 13-0 the next year, so if history repeats itself, I bet he's much higher than this next May. 2025 rank: 62 (0), High: 58, Low: 63

61. Bill O'Brien, Boston College

O'Brien didn't climb too high on anybody's ballot last season, but there was a level of respect for his 7-6 mark at Boston College. It's not an easy place to win football games, and that was a lot more evident in 2025 when the Eagles finished 2-10. Results like that tend to lead to drops in the rankings. 2025 rank: 50 (-11), High: 56, Low: 64

60. Deion Sanders, Colorado

Last year, Coach Prime was one of our biggest climbers, going from No. 61 to No. 33. He didn't finish lower than 43 on any of our ballots. This year, after a 3-9 season, he didn't finish higher than 52nd on any of our ballots. The 2024 season was special in Boulder, but it's sandwiched by two 1-8 seasons in conference play. 2025 rank: 33 (-27), High: 52, Low: 63

59. Jimmy Rogers, Iowa State

It didn't take long for Iowa State to identify Rogers as Matt Campbell's replacement. The former South Dakota State linebacker won an FCS national title at his alma mater in 2023 and went 6-6 at Washington State last year as the Cougars wandered the conference wilderness. If nothing else, the man clearly knows what it takes to win football games at schools that aren't easy to find on the map. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 44, Low: 63

58. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State

Jeff Lebby finished last in our rankings last season in a fashion that amused me greatly. He didn't receive a single last-place vote, but since one of our voters had Stanford's Frank Reich 59th (how'd that work out?), it pushed Lebby to the bottom. Lebby made sure there wouldn't be any such chicanery this season, improving on his 2-10 debut in 2024 with a 5-8 record in 2025. He's still only 1-15 in SEC play, which makes it hard to justify putting him any higher than 50th on your ballot, but at least he's got some room between himself and the bottom now. 2025 rank: 68 (+10), High: 52, Low: 63

57. David Braun, Northwestern

Braun has kept the late-Fitzgerald Era tradition of yo-yo seasons alive and well at Northwestern. After an 8-5 debut in 2023, the Wildcats fell to 4-8 in 2024 before bouncing back with a respectable 7-6 last season. It's still one of the toughest places to win in the P4, but the team will move into a new stadium this year and hopes the additional revenue will help them compete better at a time when money matters more than ever. 2025 rank: 64 (+7), High: 42, Low: 62

56. Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas

Silverfield can be a tough coach to peg when putting together your board. You can't ignore that he went 50-25 at Memphis, including a 29-9 mark over the last three seasons, but at the same time, he never won a conference title with the Tigers, despite being at a financial advantage compared to other schools in the league. While Arkansas certainly has more money to spend than Memphis, Silverfield will no longer have that edge compared to spending across the SEC. It's proven to be a tough place to win games for a while now. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 39, Low: 61

55. Mike Locksley, Maryland

Mr. September has fallen on tough times at Maryland in recent years. After three straight winning seasons, the Terps have gone 8-16 the last two years, including 2-16 in Big Ten play. It's surprising to see Locks climb four spots because of it, but that's more about the number of coaches who were fired and replaced by new hires than it is Locks. The good news is that most of the young talent Maryland showcased last year is back. Whether or not Locksley takes advantage of that will probably be what determines if he's ranked here at all next season. 2025 rank: 59 (+4), High: 48, Low: 62

54. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia

Perhaps we were all a little too excited about Rich Rodriguez's return to West Virginia last year. Forgive us, for our voting panel largely came of age when RichRod was lighting it up with the Mountaineers, and perhaps we got lost in nostalgia. The Eers went 4-8, Rodriguez's first losing season anywhere since 2016, and it hurt him amongst our voters. That said, most of us still hope for a rekindling of those Pat White, Steve Slaton, and Noel Devine teams of yore. 2025 rank: 42 (-12), High: 48, Low: 57

53. Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati

Every once in a while, we'll see a coach in our rankings that has one outlier vote or two that skews things a bit. Satterfield is an example this year. Eight of our voters had him pegged between 51st and 59th, but he also received 35th- and 40th-place votes, which put him up the board a bit compared to last year. The Bearcats went 7-6 last year, posting a winning conference record to reach a bowl game for the first time under Satterfield, so the climb is justified to some extent. 2025 rank: 60 (+7), High: 35, Low: 59

52. Greg Schiano, Rutgers

Schiano has received plenty of respect from our panel in the past, but it looks like we're all kind of moving on to shinier, newer things. The Knights went 5-7 last year and only 2-7 in Big Ten play. Schiano has been back at Rutgers for six years now and has yet to finish with a winning conference record as a Big Ten school. It's another place that isn't easy to win, but it's hard to justify putting him too high on your ballot without a "breakthrough" season to hang his hat on. 2025 rank: 43 (-9), High: 41, Low: 60

51. Pete Golding, Ole Miss

I couldn't wait to see how our voters would view Pete Golding, and the results did not disappoint. This is not an easy evaluation! On the one hand, Pete Golding has not only won a playoff game, but he has won two playoff games, including one against Georgia. There are plenty of coaches ranked well ahead of him who have never coached a playoff game, let alone two. There are also plenty who have never beaten Georgia in the regular season, let alone postseason. At the same time, Golding didn't build the team that did all that. He took it over after Lane Kiffin left in a very graceful and respectful way. So how much credit do you give him? As you can see from his high and low marks, opinions vary! 2025 rank: N/A, High: 38, Low: 65

50. Barry Odom, Purdue

Barry Odom's first season at Purdue went about as well as could be reasonably expected. The Boilermakers were only 2-10 overall and didn't win a Big Ten game, but the team looked far more competent on the field than it did in 2024. Odom finished as high as 39th on our ballots for what he did at Missouri and UNLV, but it will be interesting to see what happens if the Boilermakers don't make a more tangible improvement in 2026. 2025 rank: 51 (+1), High: 39, Low: 59

49. Fran Brown, Syracuse

If only winners get washed, Fran Brown was a lot dirtier in 2025 than in 2024. After going 10-3 in his debut season with the Orange, Syracuse backslid to 3-9 last year and 1-7 in the ACC. Quarterback injuries played a big role, but the truth is Syracuse was probably never quite as good as its 10-3 mark suggested in 2024, and not as bad as its 3-9 record last year. I'd expect them to land somewhere between both this year. 2025 rank: 46 (-3), High: 42, Low: 57

48. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin

Luke Fickell's stock is falling. There were extremely high hopes for Fickell in Madison when he was hired, but after going 5-7 in 2024, he fell from 17th to 40th in our rankings last year. Now, after another losing season (one in which the Badgers overhauled the roster), he drops another eight spots. Fickell has been hurt by injuries in his time with the Badgers, but with only one bowl appearance in three seasons and a new athletic director incoming, you can't help but wonder if 2026 is his last chance to prove it at Wisconsin. 2025 rank: 40 (-8), High: 44, Low: 61

47. Dave Aranda, Baylor

Ranking coaches in the middle of the Big 12 is tough because the league can be so volatile. After going 8-5 in 2024, Aranda climbed from 55th to 38th last year. Now, after falling back to Earth with a 5-7 mark last year, he drops nine spots to 38th. Like many coaches in this range of the rankings, Aranda isn't on solid footing and needs a successful season to ensure we're still ranking him next year. 2025 rank: 38 (-9), High: 42, Low: 56

46. Eric Morris, Oklahoma State

There was not as much variance in Morris' results as anticipated, and that lack of variance compared to coaches below him in the rankings worked to his benefit, as he begins his Oklahoma State tenure at 46th. Morris has been a head coach for seven seasons at Incarnate Word and North Texas. He won 10 or more games in 2021 and 2025, but has finished somewhere between 5-7 and 6-5 in his other five seasons. Who is Oklahoma State getting? 2025 rank: N/A, High: 42, Low: 52

45. Alex Golesh, Auburn

A lot of the things I just said about Eric Morris can be said for Alex Golesh. He finished between 40th and 49th on our ballots, and that consistency helped prop up his final ranking, but there isn't a long track record of success here. Golesh has been a head coach for only three seasons, and while he went 9-3 at South Florida last year, he was 23-15 overall, with a 14-10 mark in conference play. Now he's at Auburn, which is a great place to win at if you can, but the natives aren't considered the most patient group. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 40, Low: 49

44. Jake Dickert, Wake Forest

Dickert is probably one of the most underrated coaches in the country. I see where I ultimately end up placing him on my ballot, and I feel it's too low. He left a very difficult situation at Washington State for another extremely difficult situation at Wake Forest and immediately exceeded expectations, going 9-4 last year. He climbs 12 spots in our rankings as a result, but if he wins nine games again, I promise you he'll be closer to 25th than 45th next year. 2025 rank: 56 (+12), High: 36, Low: 53

43. Pat Fitzgerald, Michigan State

Pat Fitzgerald returns to the Big Ten sidelines at Michigan State this year, and the move offers many varying opinions. Only two coaches (Jedd Fisch and Pete Golding) saw a wider range of finishing spots on our ballots. Fitz ranged from 30th to 56th. Where you place him probably depends on how you view the end of his tenure at Northwestern. You either respect what he did early in his tenure or look at the last few seasons and wonder if he knows how to win in the current landscape. The good news is we'll all have a better idea of how to answer these questions a year from now. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 30, Low: 56

42. Mike Norvell, Florida State

I predict Florida State fans will see this ranking and be angry for two reasons. The first will be that they think we've ranked Norvell too high, and the other will be that he's still eligible to be ranked at all. It's been a tough couple of seasons since The Great Screw Job of 2023, as the Noles are only 7-17 and 3-13 in ACC play in that span. Norvell enters 2026 in one of the hottest seats in the country, and it's hard to find anybody who's optimistic that Norvell will be able to put out the fire. 2025 rank: 25 (-17), High: 34, Low: 47

41. Brent Brennan, Arizona

I mentioned earlier that figuring out how to view results in the middle of the Big 12 can be difficult, and Brennan is a good example. He was 66th last year when nobody expected much from Arizona, but then the Wildcats went 9-4, propelling Brennan 25 spots to 41st. Were the results sustainable or the result of Big 12 randomness? We'll find out soon enough! 2025 rank: 66 (+25), High: 35, Low: 52

40. Shane Beamer, South Carolina

Beamer's ranking reflects South Carolina's win-loss record in a given season. In 2024, the Gamecocks were flirting with a College Football Playoff berth and finished 9-4 with a 5-3 mark in the SEC. As a result, Beamer rocketed up 18 spots from 46th to 28th in last year's rankings. Now, after a 4-8 season, he didn't finish higher than 33rd on anybody's ballot and fell 12 spots to 40th. This is another name that isn't guaranteed to be on anybody's ballot next year unless there's a marked improvement in the standings. 2025 rank: 28 (-12), High: 33, Low: 46

39. Tony Elliott, Virginia

Tony Elliott has had to deal with a lot of things during his tenure at Virginia that no coach wants to go through, and he came out the other side of it last year with his best season as a head coach. After going 11-23 in his first three seasons with the Hoos, the team finished last season 11-3 and reached the ACC Championship. Some of our voters responded to that success more strongly than others, but everybody bumped him up considerably, which led to a 26-spot climb from 65th last year to the top 40 this year. 2025 rank: 65 (+26), High: 25, Low: 47

38. Bob Chesney, UCLA

Bob Chesney is one of two coaches making their Power Four debut this season who already have a playoff berth on their resume. Chesney went 21-6 in his two seasons at James Madison, picking up where Curt Cignetti left off and improving upon it. Now he's tasked with making UCLA a force in the Big Ten, and early returns on the recruiting trail are promising. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 26, Low: 43

37. Matt Rhule, Nebraska

There were hopes that when Matt Rhule landed Dylan Raiola, it would return the Cornhuskers to glory. That's not how it worked out, though, and after going only 14-12 in two seasons with Raiola, Rhule falls in our rankings for a second consecutive season. While he put an end to Nebraska's bowl drought and has reached the postseason each of the last two years, Rhule is yet to finish a season with a winning record in the Big Ten, and is starting over again at QB. 2025 rank: 32 (-5), High: 31, Low: 46

36. Jon Sumrall, Florida

Sumrall is the other Power Four debutante with a playoff berth to his name. Sumrall has only four years of head coaching experience to his name, but the man has a lot of wins in those four seasons. Seriously, his worst year as a head coach was 9-5 at Tulane in 2024, and that was with a 7-1 conference record. Seriously, between Troy and Tulane, he's 28-4 in conference play as a head coach. While it's no guarantee, historically, a strong overall record in conference -- no matter the conference -- is the best indicator of future success. There's a reason Florida was high on him, and a reason our voters all seem to be too. 2025 rank: N/A, High: 25, Low: 41

35. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh

One of my favorite personalities in the sport, Pat Narduzzi, has also been one of the most consistent coaches in the country. The Panthers haven't matched that magical 11-3 mark of the 2021 season since, but they've gone bowling in eight of 11 seasons under Narduzzi and are 52-39 in the ACC. 2025 rank: 37 (+2), High: 31, Low: 39

34. Lance Leipold, Kansas

Last year, Lance Leipold was coming off a 5-7 mark but still received plenty of love from our voters for what he'd accomplished in his career, and for turning Kansas around. After a second straight losing record, he did not receive nearly as much love. He didn't finish higher than 30th on anybody's ballot and fell 19 spots from 15th to 34th. That said, we all know that if he wins nine games or more at Kansas again, he's going to jump right back into the top 25. 2025 rank: 15 (-19), High: 30, Low: 38

33. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota

P.J. Fleck has always been one of the most polarizing coaches in the country, and that didn't change this season. He was as high as 23rd on our ballots and as low as 45th. I finished on the higher side of the board. Minnesota is not an easy place to win a lot of football games, and while Fleck hasn't matched the stretch of 32 wins from 2019 to 2022, the consistency of what he's done with the Gophers reminds me a lot of what Kirk Ferentz has done at Iowa. 2025 rank: 27 (-6), High: 23, Low: 45

32. Jedd Fisch, Washington

The Huskies took a significant step forward in Fisch's second season in charge, improving from 6-7 to 9-4. Their record in conference play only improved by a game, though, and they will have to improve further if Washington wants to get into that mix of Big Ten teams in the playoff hunt. It will be very interesting to see how Fisch handles things this season, considering Demond Williams Jr.'s attempt to leave Washington via the portal over the winter and being forced to return. That's the kind of thing that can divide a locker room quickly. 2025 rank: 39 (+7), High: 21, Low: 49

31. Dave Doeren, NC State

Dave Doeren is another hallmark of consistency. He's never won more than nine games in 13 years with the Wolfpack, but he's only missed out on a bowl game twice in that time. You do get the sense, however, that some State fans are tiring of that consistency, but our voters aren't. Even his final ranking is consistent. He was 31st last year, and darn it, he's 31st again this year. 2025 rank: 31 (0), High: 28, Low: 36

30. Manny Diaz, Duke

You can look at Manny Diaz's ranking and say, "Now wait just a dang second here, this man just won the freaking ACC at Duke, and he can't even crack your top 25!?" You'd have a point. The counter, though, is that he did win the ACC, but with a 7-5 regular-season record and losses to Tulane and UConn. It's just one of those things! You respect the achievement, but you also have to consider the context. I'd argue a 14-point climb from last year is a perfectly reasonable response to what Diaz did last year. 2025 rank: 44 (+14), High: 21, Low: 36

29. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

Who could've seen the Vanderbilt coach making a huge leap in our rankings after nearly getting to the College Football Playoff with a Heisman finalist at QB? There was clearly a sense of "wait and see" from some of our voters after a 7-6 mark in 2024 (and considering he finished 47th on one ballot, at least one holdout remains), but when you go 10-3 at Vandy with wins over LSU and Tennessee, you're going to climb. There's no getting around it. 2025 rank: 53 (+24), High: 21, Low: 47

28. Brent Venables, Oklahoma

The good news for Brent Venables is that he climbs 24 spots in our rankings after getting Oklahoma to the College Football Playoff last year. The bad news is that he's one of only four coaches who reached the CFP last year and didn't crack the top 25. The other three are Jon Sumrall (Tulane), Bob Chesney (James Madison) and Pete Golding (wasn't the head coach until the playoff). So, clearly, there's still some respect to be earned among our panel, but a 24-spot climb from 52nd is nothing to sneeze at. 2025 rank: 52 (+24), High: 22, Low: 35

27. Brent Key, Georgia Tech

Brent Key has now finished four seasons (OK, 3 2/3) at Georgia Tech, and each year has seen improvement. Last year's 9-4 mark, with a 6-2 record in the ACC, was Key's best yet, and those results saw him finish as high as 20th on our ballots. The 2026 season will be interesting, though. Not only does Key lose his veteran QB Haynes King, but offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner left for the same role at Florida and took King's backup, Aaron Philo, with him. If Key can maintain his pace despite all those changes, he's going to crack the top 25 next year. 2025 rank: 30 (+3), High: 20, Low: 41

26. Sonny Dykes, TCU

Sonny Dykes fell from 22nd to 35th in our rankings last season despite going 9-4, and now another 9-4 mark has him on the precipice of returning to our top 25. What happened to cause our voters to change their minds so drastically despite similar results? I've no idea. What I know is that there just wasn't that lone Hater (Dykes worst vote last year was 45th, and it's only 32nd this year) dragging his score down. 2025 rank: 35 (+9), High: 18, Low: 32