A new era of Big Ten Football will begin this season with the addition of four new teams to the conference.
USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon are moving from the now defunct PAC-12 conference into the one of the best football conferences in the country.
The PAC 12 had a solid brand of football, but it wasn’t the Big 10 so it remains to be seen how quickly and if these four programs are able to replicate the same success they enjoyed out West.
USC’s Lincoln Riley, Oregon’s Dan Lanning add to the reputable coaching tree of the Big 10 conference, but where do they stack up in their new conference?
Prior to the start of the season, Nittany Sports Now will share our opinion on how the Big 10 coaches rank in order. However, since this is their first full season as head coaches, we’ll leave out Michigan’s Sherrone Moore and UCLA’s DeShaun Foster.
Nittany Sports Now’s Big 10 Football Coaches Ranking
1. Ryan Day
Say what you want about how easy it is to coach at Ohio State because of the talent level but since taking over for Urban Myer, Day is 56-8 and 39-3 in conference. Yes, he hasn’t won “the big one” but it just seems like a matter of time until that happens.
2. Dan Lanning
Lanning is one of the best young coaches in football and could soon be jumping up one spot on this list. With the deep pockets of Phil Knight at Oregon, Lanning will have the opportunity to pull in elite talent thru the transfer portal and recruiting in general.
3. James Franklin
Sure, Franklin’s critics will mention his inability to beat Michigan or Ohio State but let’s be real. Those are two of the best programs in all of football. Bottom line is Franklin can recruit with the best of them, get his players to the NFL and has a career record of 88-39.
4. Kirk Ferentz
Over the last 25 years, Ferentz has been one of the most consistent coaches in the country. Iowa isn’t an easy place to consistently bring top talent to but that hasn’t stopped Ferentz as he’s racked up a record of 196-119.
5. Luke Fickell
Like with Lanning, I believe Fickell is one of the best young coaches in the game and has Wisconsin on an upward trajectory. Fickell made his name at Cincinnati going 57-18. In his first year at Wisconsin, Fickell went 7-6. That will no doubt get a lot better.
6. Lincoln Riley
While Riley is praised by the national media, I’m not as high on him as most are. Yes, he’s a good coach but despite having tremendous talent, has gone 19-8 the last two years at USC. Way too many loses when you have that amount of talent. Since becoming a head coach, his teams have yet to learn how to play defense.
7. Matt Rhule
Rhule’s biggest mistake in terms of his football coaching career, not money wise, was going to the NFL. He has all the attributes to be a great college coach and showed that at Temple and Baylor. Was only 5-7 last year at Nebraska but unlike others before him, he’ll turn Nebraska around.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.8. PJ Fleck
Prior to last year’s 6-7 record, PJ Fleck had gone 32-14 the previous four seasons. That’s a pretty good stretch at a school that isn’t easy to coach at. Prior to arriving at Minnesota, Fleck made his mark at Western Michigan, where he finished his last 3 seasons with a record of 29-11. Fleck is a good coach and is a good fit for Minnesota.
9. Bret Bielema
Illinois has a solid head coach in Bielema. In his first stint coaching in the Big 10 at Wisconsin, Bielma went 68-24 before leaving for Arkansas, where things didn’t go as well (29-34). Entering his 4th season at Illinois, Bielma has gone 18-19. If the school is patient with him, Bielema will return Illinois to being a competitive program.
10. Greg Schiano
Like with Rhule, Schiano’s biggest career slip was running to the NFL. Schiano was doing the impossible of turning Rutgers into a winning football program and he left for the job at Tampa Bay. In his second stint with Rutgers, it’s been very average, but he did have a winning record in 2023 and currently has an outstanding recruiting class.
11. Curt Cignetti
Cignetti enters his first year as head coach at Indiana, but he’s been a consistent winner. The question now is whether the success that he enjoyed at James Madison can be duplicated in the Big 10 and more specifically Indiana, which has been a graveyard for coaches.
12. Jonathan Smith
Can Smith return winning football to East Lansing? He did it at Oregon State and quietly was one of the better hirings of the off-season. Smith’s biggest obstacle could be the talent he’ll be facing week in and week out in the Big 10.
13. Jedd Fisch
I know the national media is really high on Fisch, following his success last year at Arizona but let’s slow the breaks. It was just one year. The previous two seasons, his teams went 6-18. I realize Arizona football was a mess, but I want to see more before I start comparing Fisch to some of the best in football.
14. Mike Locksley
Despite being in a strong recruiting territory, Locksley has been just average at Maryland. He hasn’t been bad, but he’s just been blah. In his five seasons as head coach, Maryland has been just 15-32 in conference. That’s not good enough.
15. David Braun
Considering the circumstances in which he was hired, Braun did a really good job in his first year replacing Pat Fitzgerald. Northwestern is in the midst of making bigtime improvements to their facilities so it’ll be interesting to see what Braun can do.
16. Ryan Walters
Walters went just 4-8 in his first year at Purdue, so it goes without saying that the jury is very much out on him.
Incomplete
Sherrone Moore (?)
DeShaun Foster (?)
