The USC head coaching job finally opening up this week, after years of hot-seat speculation, has sparked plenty of debate about its place among the best and most coveted positions in the sport.
As USC athletic director Mike Bohn embarks on a massively important search process, this does seem like an ideal time to ask the question: What are the five best head coaching jobs in college football?
We could tell you our opinions, but we figured it might be wiser to actually ask the people who hope to someday hold these jobs. So we (Max Olson, Bruce Feldman, Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples) polled more than 100 people working in college football — athletic directors, head coaches, assistant coaches, recruiting coordinators, analysts and staffers — to get their take on this question.
It’s a loaded question, and these voters all had to weigh a wide variety of factors and personal preferences in coming up with their lists. “Guess it depends on what ‘best job’ means,” one Big Ten staffer pointed out. “Ability to win a national championship? Pay? Job security? Lifestyle?” But the list of considerations doesn’t stop there: recruiting region and history, administrative buy-in and alignment, fan support, academics, facilities, budgets, conference affiliation, past glory, present-day dominance … you can go in all sorts of directions with this one. And our voters did.
Considering all the changes that have already occurred in 2021 and are still to come, it’s clear the landscape is likely to change again in a few years, perhaps dramatically. But here’s how these college football insiders see it today. Voters were asked to list their top five jobs in order of preference. Nine different schools received first-place votes, but the voting for the No. 1 spot was not close.
Here are the results and the top five head coaching jobs in college football.
Total votes: 98
First-place votes: 55
Alabama has incredible history, one of the most passionate fan bases of any sports team on the planet, excellent — but not ostentatious — facilities and a location drivable for many of the nation’s best recruits. But that’s not why so many people in the business chose the Crimson Tide job as the best.
The real reason is that everyone who touches the football program at Alabama is dedicated to one thing and one thing only: winning the national title. The program gets what it needs and what it wants. If Nick Saban wants to add five analysts whose only job is to dissect every time an opposing coach has punted in the past 20 years, then he’s not going to have to fight anyone to get those jobs created.
Everyone at Alabama works toward the same goal. It wasn’t always this way. Mike DuBose and Mike Shula didn’t get treated like this. But one of Saban’s conditions for leaving the Miami Dolphins for Alabama — then-AD Mal Moore was out of options and not in a strong position to negotiate — was that if Saban could prove it could help the program win, he’d get his requests granted. The result of that has been six national titles since 2009.
Total votes: 97
First-place votes: 11
Ohio State is one of the few programs in college football that has the significant recruiting advantage of being the only Power 5 program in an incredibly deep state for high school talent. Ohio State has 10 elite-level prospects in the Midwest who are automatic commitments once they get offers, plus its national brand makes it relevant in every high school hallway from coast to coast.
That combined with a crazy-passionate fan base, an iconic stadium, an intense rival and an athletic director willing to give the coach all the resources under the sun to be successful, and you have the reason why the Buckeyes are the only program in college football that has never had a prolonged era of being down. While college football staffers had a wide variety of opinions on which schools belonged in the top two, the two jobs that received the most total votes were Alabama (98) and Ohio State (97).
Total votes: 72
First-place votes: 11
A population shift that started a generation ago helped turn Georgia into one of the nation’s best jobs. Metro Atlanta’s population began exploding in the 1980s, and the result is a deep pool of talent that also happens to get some of the nation’s best coaching.
Georgia high school coaches tend to be paid better than those in neighboring states, and this creates a wealth of highly developed talent throughout the state. (While Atlanta has the highest concentration of players, middle and south Georgia also are quite talent-rich with the same coaching advantage.) And although many of today’s high schoolers have parents who grew up rooting for some other school back home, they’re still bombarded with that red and black G everywhere they go.
Total votes: 55
First-place votes: 11
No surprise that this was one of the more divisive jobs and still one of the most prized positions in the sport. Other schools beneath the Longhorns on this list received more first-place or second-place votes, but they’re a tough program to leave off the ballot. Even with all the turmoil that has occurred at Texas over the last decade and the lack of Big 12 titles since 2009, the belief that this job has few peers in terms of upside still persists.
They still make more money than anyone. They’re still located in an attractive city. They’re still living in an incredibly talent-rich state. Tom Herman and Charlie Strong were able to recruit at a top-five level early in their tenures regardless of record. The Longhorns haven’t done a great job lately of leveraging all that into the steady high-level success Mack Brown enjoyed, but it’s easy to see why many in the industry still believe this job can be one of the finest when fully optimized.
“Too many meddlers over the last 10 years have hurt them,” one ACC staffer said.
Total votes: 49
First-place votes: 14
LSU has had three head coaches over the past 20 years, and all three have won a national championship. No other program can say that. If you want to counter that by knocking Les Miles and Ed Orgeron, you’d just be strengthening the argument that this job is set up to contend at the highest level no matter who’s in charge. When it comes to talent acquisition, few programs are in a more advantageous position. LSU runs an especially talent-rich state and has no trouble recruiting at a top-five level and producing NFL Draft picks.
“Georgia, LSU and Ohio State have a stranglehold on the talent,” one Big Ten staffer said.
Their school is completely committed to competing at the highest level, and their program has excellent support, facilities and a gameday atmosphere that’s hard to beat. For those reasons, LSU was the job that received the second-most first-place votes, which ultimately made the difference in voting between the No. 5 and No. 6 job.
Total votes: 64
First-place votes: 5
The search to fill this newly vacant and highly coveted job will be fascinating to follow. We’ve already covered the pros and cons of the job this week, and it’s clear that getting back to the championship standard is the mission in moving on from Clay Helton. USC appeared on more ballots than Texas or LSU but also received the most fifth-place votes of any job. It’s possible there’s some recency bias here, since this opening is so fresh on everyone’s minds and thus has people thinking ahead optimistically about what it could once again become.
Here’s how one ACC recruiting coordinator justified putting USC at No. 1 on their ballot: “Major city, airport, potential life after football opportunities in that town and NIL.” Another staffer cited location in choosing USC over Clemson for the final spot on theirs. There’s plenty of appeal in the Hollywood pitch and the access to blue-chip recruits, even if keeping them home isn’t getting any easier. This administration and fan base will get behind the next coach in a way they never did for Helton.
As USC athletic director Mike Bohn embarks on a massively important search process, this does seem like an ideal time to ask the question: What are the five best head coaching jobs in college football?
We could tell you our opinions, but we figured it might be wiser to actually ask the people who hope to someday hold these jobs. So we (Max Olson, Bruce Feldman, Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples) polled more than 100 people working in college football — athletic directors, head coaches, assistant coaches, recruiting coordinators, analysts and staffers — to get their take on this question.
It’s a loaded question, and these voters all had to weigh a wide variety of factors and personal preferences in coming up with their lists. “Guess it depends on what ‘best job’ means,” one Big Ten staffer pointed out. “Ability to win a national championship? Pay? Job security? Lifestyle?” But the list of considerations doesn’t stop there: recruiting region and history, administrative buy-in and alignment, fan support, academics, facilities, budgets, conference affiliation, past glory, present-day dominance … you can go in all sorts of directions with this one. And our voters did.
Considering all the changes that have already occurred in 2021 and are still to come, it’s clear the landscape is likely to change again in a few years, perhaps dramatically. But here’s how these college football insiders see it today. Voters were asked to list their top five jobs in order of preference. Nine different schools received first-place votes, but the voting for the No. 1 spot was not close.
Here are the results and the top five head coaching jobs in college football.
1. Alabama
Points: 406Total votes: 98
First-place votes: 55
Alabama has incredible history, one of the most passionate fan bases of any sports team on the planet, excellent — but not ostentatious — facilities and a location drivable for many of the nation’s best recruits. But that’s not why so many people in the business chose the Crimson Tide job as the best.
The real reason is that everyone who touches the football program at Alabama is dedicated to one thing and one thing only: winning the national title. The program gets what it needs and what it wants. If Nick Saban wants to add five analysts whose only job is to dissect every time an opposing coach has punted in the past 20 years, then he’s not going to have to fight anyone to get those jobs created.
Everyone at Alabama works toward the same goal. It wasn’t always this way. Mike DuBose and Mike Shula didn’t get treated like this. But one of Saban’s conditions for leaving the Miami Dolphins for Alabama — then-AD Mal Moore was out of options and not in a strong position to negotiate — was that if Saban could prove it could help the program win, he’d get his requests granted. The result of that has been six national titles since 2009.
2. Ohio State
Points: 308Total votes: 97
First-place votes: 11
Ohio State is one of the few programs in college football that has the significant recruiting advantage of being the only Power 5 program in an incredibly deep state for high school talent. Ohio State has 10 elite-level prospects in the Midwest who are automatic commitments once they get offers, plus its national brand makes it relevant in every high school hallway from coast to coast.
That combined with a crazy-passionate fan base, an iconic stadium, an intense rival and an athletic director willing to give the coach all the resources under the sun to be successful, and you have the reason why the Buckeyes are the only program in college football that has never had a prolonged era of being down. While college football staffers had a wide variety of opinions on which schools belonged in the top two, the two jobs that received the most total votes were Alabama (98) and Ohio State (97).
3. Georgia
Points: 224Total votes: 72
First-place votes: 11
A population shift that started a generation ago helped turn Georgia into one of the nation’s best jobs. Metro Atlanta’s population began exploding in the 1980s, and the result is a deep pool of talent that also happens to get some of the nation’s best coaching.
Georgia high school coaches tend to be paid better than those in neighboring states, and this creates a wealth of highly developed talent throughout the state. (While Atlanta has the highest concentration of players, middle and south Georgia also are quite talent-rich with the same coaching advantage.) And although many of today’s high schoolers have parents who grew up rooting for some other school back home, they’re still bombarded with that red and black G everywhere they go.
4. Texas
Points: 164Total votes: 55
First-place votes: 11
No surprise that this was one of the more divisive jobs and still one of the most prized positions in the sport. Other schools beneath the Longhorns on this list received more first-place or second-place votes, but they’re a tough program to leave off the ballot. Even with all the turmoil that has occurred at Texas over the last decade and the lack of Big 12 titles since 2009, the belief that this job has few peers in terms of upside still persists.
They still make more money than anyone. They’re still located in an attractive city. They’re still living in an incredibly talent-rich state. Tom Herman and Charlie Strong were able to recruit at a top-five level early in their tenures regardless of record. The Longhorns haven’t done a great job lately of leveraging all that into the steady high-level success Mack Brown enjoyed, but it’s easy to see why many in the industry still believe this job can be one of the finest when fully optimized.
“Too many meddlers over the last 10 years have hurt them,” one ACC staffer said.
5. LSU
Points: 159Total votes: 49
First-place votes: 14
LSU has had three head coaches over the past 20 years, and all three have won a national championship. No other program can say that. If you want to counter that by knocking Les Miles and Ed Orgeron, you’d just be strengthening the argument that this job is set up to contend at the highest level no matter who’s in charge. When it comes to talent acquisition, few programs are in a more advantageous position. LSU runs an especially talent-rich state and has no trouble recruiting at a top-five level and producing NFL Draft picks.
“Georgia, LSU and Ohio State have a stranglehold on the talent,” one Big Ten staffer said.
Their school is completely committed to competing at the highest level, and their program has excellent support, facilities and a gameday atmosphere that’s hard to beat. For those reasons, LSU was the job that received the second-most first-place votes, which ultimately made the difference in voting between the No. 5 and No. 6 job.
6. USC
Points: 151Total votes: 64
First-place votes: 5
The search to fill this newly vacant and highly coveted job will be fascinating to follow. We’ve already covered the pros and cons of the job this week, and it’s clear that getting back to the championship standard is the mission in moving on from Clay Helton. USC appeared on more ballots than Texas or LSU but also received the most fifth-place votes of any job. It’s possible there’s some recency bias here, since this opening is so fresh on everyone’s minds and thus has people thinking ahead optimistically about what it could once again become.
Here’s how one ACC recruiting coordinator justified putting USC at No. 1 on their ballot: “Major city, airport, potential life after football opportunities in that town and NIL.” Another staffer cited location in choosing USC over Clemson for the final spot on theirs. There’s plenty of appeal in the Hollywood pitch and the access to blue-chip recruits, even if keeping them home isn’t getting any easier. This administration and fan base will get behind the next coach in a way they never did for Helton.
