Power ranking Big Ten football head coaches ahead of 2022 season

The 2022 season is almost upon us and this is how all the Big Ten football coaches rank ahead of the year. Who’s No. 1 heading into the season?

Jim Harbaugh got over the hump in 2021, winning his first Big Ten football title after beating Ryan Day and Ohio State (finally) in the season finale and then blowing the doors off of Iowa in the championship game.

Does that make him the Big Ten’s best coach heading into the 2022 season? I guess you’ll see where I rank him after his best season since taking over in Ann Arbor.

The Big Ten is loaded with top-tier coaches and it’s hard to really rank someone No. 14 heading into the year, but you may find the recipient of that ranking surprising.

Here are the Big Ten coaches heading into the 2022 season, ranked.

Being born in Lincoln, Neb., Scott Frost was destined to be a Nebraska legend. He started his career at Stanford before transferring home to lead Nebraska to a national title. Fans expected that same energy when he took over as head coach following an undefeated “national title” season with UCF, but he has fallen flat. He’s No. 14 on this list because he has fallen short of expectations every year and is 15-29 with no bowl appearances in five years.

That hot seat has his name written all over it.

Bret Bielema spent time in the Big Ten earlier in the 2010s and had plenty of success with Wisconsin, but he made the decision to ditch the league for Arkansas and the SEC.

Bad move.

Now, he’s back with Illinois and had to start over. After leading Wisconsin to a 68-24 record with three Big Ten titles and three Rose Bowl appearances, he’s in year two with bottom-dwelling Illinois and he’s fresh off a 5-7 season. Winning five games in his first year at Illinois was actually impressive and I see the program trending in the right direction.