It's here. The annual scientific breakdown of every single college football coach if we treated them as recruits. The premise is a simple one; we give them stars: 1-5. Those stars are based on their performance and accomplishments. Real, tangible accomplishments. Folks, I wish I could argue with you on these, but it's sweet, sweet science and as we have learned: no one can argue with science.
The formula is a deep, thorough analysis of what accomplishments mean the most and through significant introspection, meditation and an extreme lack of consultation with anyone else I have landed on the following as the key coaching milestone criteria:
+ Bowl Game Appearance
+ Bowl Win
+ 10-Win Season
+ Conference Championship
+ National Championship
Each coach received a "star" for each criteria they have met in their career. If a coach has met a certain set of criteria multiple times, he only receives a "star" for one accomplished task. So if a coach has won three bowl games, for example, he still only gets one star for being a bowl-winning coach. The number of times he notched that criteria becomes applicable in the ranking of his stature amongst the coaches who have also met the same number of criteria stated above. For transparency, I have attached the hardcore data for you. Small note: there are five coaches (Terry Bowden, Butch Davis, Hugh Freeze, Brian Kelly and Nick Saban) that have wins stripped from their official records and as a fan of the NCAA, I recognize this authority in terms of ranking of by-law abiding coaches. With the methodology being revealed, an inarguable science I remind you, I can reveal the inarguable Coaches as Recruits Rankings for 2021.
The 5-Stars:
1. Nick Saban, Alabama
2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
3. Mack Brown, North Carolina
4. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
5. Ed Oregeron, LSU
6. Scott Frost, Nebraska
The 4-Stars:
7. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
8. Gary Patterson, TCU
9. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
10. Ryan Day, Ohio State
11. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
12. Kirby Smart, Georgia
13. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
14. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
15. David Shaw, Stanford
16. Bryan Harsin, Auburn
17. Chip Kelly, UCLA
18. Scott Satterfield, Louisville
19. Gus Malzahn, UCF
20. Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia
21. James Franklin, Penn State
22. Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech
23. Butch Jones, Arkansas State
24. Butch Davis, FIU
25. Bill Clark, UAB
26. Billy Napier, Louisiana
27. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
28. Dave Doeren, North Carolina State
29. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
30. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech
31. Terry Bowden, Louisiana-Monroe
32. Mario Cristobal, Oregon
33. Dana Holgorsen, Houston
34. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
35. Clay Helton, USC
36. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
37. Neal Brown, West Virginia
38. Jason Candle, Toledo
39. Bret Bielema, Illinois
40. Sonny Dykes, SMU
41. Hugh Freeze, Liberty
42. Jeff Brohm, Purdue
43. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
44. Dino Babers, Syracuse
The 3-Stars:
45. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
46. Dan Mullen, Florida
47. Mike Leach, Mississippi State
48. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
49. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
50. Todd Graham, Hawaii
51. Troy Calhoun, Air Force
52. David Cutcliffe, Duke
53. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
54. Rod Carey, Temple
55. Marcus Arroyo, UNLV
56. Mike Norvell, Florida State
57. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee State
58. Jim McElwain, Central Michigan
59. Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern
60. Kalani Sitake, BYU
61. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
62. Jeff Monken, Army
63. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
64. Brady Hoke, San Diego State
65. Karl Dorrell, Colorado
66. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
67. Randy Edsall, Connecticut
68. Willie Fritz, Tulane
69. Matt Wells, Texas Tech
70. Lance Leipold, Kansas
71. Nick Rolovich, Washington State 72. Philip Montgomery, Tulsa
73. Mike Neu, Ball State
74. Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina
The 2-Stars:
75. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
76. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
77. Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh
78. Blake Anderson, Utah State
79. Jay Norvell, Nevada
80. Shawn Clark, Appalachian State
81. Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky
82. Herm Edwards, Arizona State
83. Steve Addazio, Colorado State
84. Justin Wilcox, California
85. Willie Taggert, Florida Atlantic
86. Craig Bohl, Wyoming
87. Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
88. Shawn Elliott, Georgia State
89. Brent Brennan, San Jose State
90. Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech
91. Ryan Silverfield, Memphis
92. Doug Martin, New Mexico State
93. Sean Lewis, Kent State
The 1-Stars:
94. Manny Diaz, Miami (Florida)
95. Tim Lester, Western Michigan
96. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
97. Tom Allen, Indiana
98. Seth Littrell, North Texas
99. Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan
100. Will Healy, Charlotte
101. Jeff Traylor, UTSA
102. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
103. Jedd Fisch, Arizona
The 0-Stars:
104. Jimmy Lake, Washington
105. Jeff Hafley, Boston College
106. Kalen DeBoer, Fresno State
107. Chip Lindsey, Troy
108. Jonathan Smith, Oregon State
109. Mike Bloomgren, Rice
110. Jake Spavital, Texas State
111. Mel Tucker, Michigan State
112. Mike Houston, East Carolina
113. Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois
114. Dana Dimel, UTEP
115. Mike Locksley, Maryland
116. Dave Aranda, Baylor
117. Danny Gonzales, New Mexico
118. Scott Loeffler, Bowling Green
119. Jeff Scott, South Florida
120. Tom Arth, Akron
121. Walt Bell, UMass
122. Will Hall, Southern Miss
123. Andy Avalos, Boise State
124. Tim Albin, Ohio
125. Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion
126. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
127. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
128. Kane Wommack, South Alabama
129. Charles Huff, Marshall
130. Maurice Linguist, Buffalo
If you were keeping track, in the FBS ranks this season we will have 130 coaches on the sideline. Their prowess coming into 2021:
5-Stars: 6
4-Stars: 38
3-Stars: 30
2-Stars: 19
1-Star: 10
0-Stars: 27