247Sports lists the Top 35 best football coaches going into 2023

35. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
34. Mike Elko, Duke
33. Dave Doeren, N.C. State
32. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
31. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota

30. Billy Napier, Florida
Napier's first season at Florida didn't go as planned, but he's 46-19 as a head coach including his tenure at Louisiana. He's an ace recruiter too.

29. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
28. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh
27. Dan Lanning, Oregon
26. Chip Kelly, UCLA

25. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
After a 5-7 hiccup in 2021, the Longhorns showed signs of competitive spirit with an 8-5 season behind a notable campaign from Doak Walker Award winner Bijan Robinson. And equipped with one of the nation's top signing classes ahead of this fall, Sarkisian is primed to make his next move toward the front of the pack in the Big 12.

24. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Beamer cashed in during Year 2 with the Gamecocks after ending the regular season with back-to-back wins over top-10 competition for the first time in program history. South Carolina snapped Clemson's 40-game home winning streak in the finale and scored 63 points during a victory over Tennessee, the most ever by an unranked team against a top-five opponent. His star is rising.

23. Mack Brown, North Carolina
22. Dave Aranda, Baylor
21. Mike Norvell, Florida State

20. Mario Cristobal, Miami
19. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
18. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
17. Kalen DeBoer, Washington
16. Willie Fritz, Tulane

15. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
Stoops has done more with less at Kentucky, where he has posted a pair of 10-win seasons and a couple top-15 finishes in recent years. In 2023, the Wildcats feel great about their chances to contend for second in the SEC East with NC State transfer quarterback Devin Leary coming in.

14. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
No coach in college football faces more pressure to win than Fisher in 2023. He's one of a handful active coaches nationally with a national championship to his credit, but fell out of our preseason top 10 this spring after failing to live up to expectations last fall. This is where the rubber meets the road in College Station for Fisher.

13. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
Kiffin has had at least one double-digit win season everywhere he's been, but he'll be the first to tell you the Rebels' 2022 season did not end the way he had hoped. Ole Miss jumped out to a 7-0 start inside the top 10 before faltering late amid coaching search distractions for Kiffin. He's 23-13 at the program entering Year 4.

12. Sonny Dykes, TCU
11. James Franklin, Penn State

10. JOSH HEUPEL, TENNESSEE
With a win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl, Tennessee nearly finished inside of the AP's top five for the first time since 2001. The Volunteers were No. 6, right behind Alabama — a team they beat earlier in the campaign. That's an incredible accomplishment for Josh Heupel, whose Vols debuted at No. 1 in the first playoff rankings in November before losses at Georgia and South Carolina pushed Tennessee out of the final four picture. It was an unforgettable season nonetheless for the Volunteers, who ended lengthy losing skids to rivals Florida and Alabama and had the nation's most exciting offense. Heupel is now 46-16 as a head coach, including his stint at UCF.

9. LUKE FICKELL, WISCONSIN
8. KYLE WHITTINGHAM, UTAH
7. LINCOLN RILEY, USC
6. RYAN DAY, OHIO STATE

5. BRIAN KELLY, LSU
We're not going to dock Brian Kelly too much for LSU's late-season fade with losses to Texas A&M and Georgia, because over the course of the season, his Tigers impressed. SEC West champions in Year 1? This is exactly why LSU wrote a blank check to Kelly to take over a program whose last national championship came in 2019. Kelly shook off a season-opening loss to Florida State, after which many national media members buried his potential, to win eight of his next nine prior to the Texas A&M setback. He even toppled Nick Saban last fall.

4. DABO SWINNEY, CLEMSON
3. JIM HARBAUGH, MICHIGAN

2. NICK SABAN, ALABAMA
Don't think Saban has lost a step just because the Crimson Tide missed the playoff in 2022. However, the upcoming campaign could be a turning point for Alabama if two new coordinator hires aren't home runs. This team committed too many penalties last fall and in late-game situations didn't quite execute as flawlessly as we've come to expect for the Crimson Tide. Saban's team will be motivated to get back to Atlanta and unseat Georgia at the top of the SEC with another top-ranked signing class, but it's going to be a challenge.

1. KIRBY SMART, GEORGIA
Kirby Smart is getting the Saban treatment now given what he's building at Georgia, an annual monster at the front of the annual national championship hunt. With one of the nation's most talented rosters, the Bulldogs ran roughshod through SEC play last fall and destroyed TCU en route to their second consecutive title. Smart has done this each of the past two years with a former walk-on at quarterback in Stetson Bennett, and last season's team didn't missed a beat after replacing 15 NFL Draft picks from the juggernaut 2021 team. Incredible display of coaching from one of the nation's best. A three-peat would be sweet.

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