Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly Ranked No. 5 Among Power Five Conference Coaches
In CBS Sports’ annual ranking of the 65 Power Five conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) coaches in college football, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly achieved a career-high No. 5 spot.
The poll manifests the “what have you done for me lately?” approach of judging a head coach.
Three years ago, LSU’s Ed Orgeron was No. 48 on the chart, while Kelly was No. 27.
Last year’s 15-0 outcome vaulted Orgeron 26 spots, all the way from No. 30 in the spring of 2019 to No. 4 a year later, one spot ahead of Kelly.
A 33-6 record posted by Kelly over the past three seasons, highlighted by a berth to the four-team College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2018, is the sixth best among the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams during that stretch.
In addition to Orgeron, the other three coaches ahead of Kelly are Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley — whose Sooners have been in the CFP all three of his seasons — and then the two lone multiple national title coaches active today: Clemson’s Dabo Swinney at No. 2 with two and Alabama’s Nick Saban, who has six national title rings (one of them at LSU in 2003), but has not won one in — gasp! — the last two seasons.
Although Ohio State’s Ryan Day debuted with a 13-1 mark and a CFP bid, he was at No. 10 because he inherited a gold mine from Urban Meyer. But if he sustains similar success, he likely will join the top five shortly the way Riley has.
Wrote CBS Sports of Kelly’s ranking, which rose from No. 7 last year: “He took over a program that found itself on the brink of becoming a historical relic and has restored the shine to the golden dome.”
Among the 10 Power Five coaches Kelly is scheduled to face in 2020, here were their rankings, from lowest to highest:
No. 65 Sam Pittman (Arkansas) — A main reason the former Georgia offensive line coach was dead last was not so much because he had not been a head coach but because he has never even been a coordinator.
No. 57 Geoff Collins (Georgia Tech) — Debuted with a 3-9 mark last year while installing a completely new system on offense.
No. 41 Clay Helton (USC) — Moved up 10 spots from 2019, but is on a hot a seat as any coach with his 5-7 and 8-5 marks the past two years.
No. 40 Pat Narduzzi (Pitt) — The sixth -year Panthers head coach moved up six spots after an 8-5 mark in 2019, making him 36-29 overall.
No. 32 Dave Clawson (Wake Forest) — Achieving superb results (30-22 the past four years) at a highly difficult place to win.
No. 31 Scott Satterfield (Louisville) — Former Appalachian State head coach moved up six spots after debuting with 8-5 mark from an outfit that was 2-10 the year prior.
No. 26 David Cutcliffe (Duke) — Inherited the worst Power Five program in 2008 and made it respectable with his career 72-79 mark. He did drop five spots from last year and is 24-26 the past four seasons.
No. 19 David Shaw (Stanford) — In his first six seasons (2011-16), Shaw’s Cardinal was 64-17 and he was ranked No. 8. But Stanford is only 22-17 the past three seasons, with his 4-8 mark last year (same as Kelly in 2016) the nadir.
No. 17 Paul Chryst (Wisconsin) — The Badgers are 52-16 — a .765 winning percentage, which is what Lou Holtz had at Notre Dame from 1986-96 — in his five seasons.
Also noteworthy is behind Kelly at No. 6 and No. 7 are Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, respectively, while Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh is No. 12.
Smart is 36-7 the past three seasons at Georgia, including 2-0 versus Kelly.
Fisher won the 2013 national title at Florida State and is 100-32 overall, which also practically matches Holtz’s 100-30-2 record with the Irish.
Harbaugh is 47-18 with the Wolverines, a .723 winning percentage that barely tops Kelly’s .713 at Notre Dame (not including 21 vacated games). But with Harbaugh, the focus is more on what he hasn’t achieved at Michigan than what he has.
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