College Football: Power ranking every Power Five head coach for 2020
. Ryan Day. 26. player. 812. .
Ryan Day went a fantastic 13-1 with a Big Ten title and playoff appearance in his first year as Buckeyes head coach but still has a lot more to prove before jumping too high on this list.
Bronco Mendenhall . 25. player. 888. . .
Bronco Mendenhall has turned Virginia into a winner. After going 2-10 in year one, he has led the Cavaliers to three bowl appearances with two victories and in 2019 led the team to an ACC Coastal title and Orange Bowl appearance.
825. . . . David Cutcliffe . 24. player
David Cutcliffe went 44–29 in seven seasons at Ole Miss before heading to Duke in 2008. In Durham, he’s taken over a poor program and led them to three bowl titles and produced a top draft pick in Daniel Jones at quarterback. Before Jones, he coached Eli Manning at Ole Miss and was Peyton Manning’s offensive coordinator at Tennessee. This guy knows football.
23. player. 852. . . . P.J. Fleck
P.J. Fleck led Western Michigan to a 13-1 season and Cotton Bowl appearance in 2016 before landing the Minnesota gig. Now, he’s turning around the Golden Gophers program as he’s won two straight bowl games and led the team to an 11-2 season that included an Outback Bowl victory over Auburn in 2019.
811. . . . Jim Harbaugh. 22. player
Jim Harbaugh has a 47-18 record since returning to college football to coach Michigan in 2015. This looks pretty good, but he has yet to win a Big Ten East title, has not beaten Ohio State and is just 1-4 in bowl games. That’s not great.
David Shaw. 21. player. 871. . .
Since taking over for Harbaugh at Stanford, David Shaw is 86-34 with three Pac-12 titles and four Pac-12 coach of the year awards. That’s darn good.
Mario Cristobal. 20. player. 820. . .
Mario Cristobal is 21-7 at Oregon with a Pac-12 title and a Rose Bowl title. The next step: get to the College Football Playoff.
. . . Gus Malzahn. 19. player. 842
Gus Malzahn takes a lot of heat but has a record of 71-34, has taken Auburn to the national championship game, defeated Alabama three times and won two SEC West titles and two bowl games.
James Franklin. 18. player. 806. . .
Not many people remember before arriving at Penn State, James Franklin led Vanderbilt to a pair of nine-win seasons and a 25-15 record. Since arriving in Happy Valley, he has brought a Penn State program back from an unfathomable scandal and back into a national title contender each year.
856. . . . Mike Gundy. 17. player
In 19 seasons at Oklahoma State, Mike Gundy is 129-64 with a 9-5 bowl record. He has guided the Pokes to one Big 12 title and has earned both national and Big 12 coach of the year honors. Oh, and his hair is the best among any coach in the nation.
843. . . . Kyle Whittingham . 16. player
Since taking over for Urban Meyer in 2005, Kyle Whittingham is 131-64 as Utes head coach with just two losing seasons (both 5-7) and 10 bowl titles. That’s under-appreciated.
15. player. 893. . . . Mike Leach
After going 84-43 at Texas Tech, Mike Leach turned around a Washington State program that had struggled for several years. He went 55-47 in Pullman and produced one of the nation’s top air attacks. With SEC talent at Mississippi State, Leach should thrive.
. Mark Stoops . 14. player. 833. .
From 2014-18, Kentucky was the only program in the nation that did not see a decline in win total each year. The 2018 SEC coach of the year, Mark Stoops, who inherited a mess, has led Kentucky to an 18-8 record the past two seasons and won bowl games over Penn State and Virginia Tech.