Four Pac-12 Coaches in Top 25 of CBS Sports Coaching Rankings

Although no Pac-12 coaches ranked among the top 10 in CBS Sports’ ranking of all 65 Power Five coaches, four were placed in the top 25.

Cal’s Justin Wilcox was not one of those four, although he ranked fifth among Pac-12 coaches despite falling five spots from last year’s ranking.

---Click here for CBS Sports top 25 coaches rankings. Click here for rankings 26 through 65.---

The highest ranking among Pac-12 coaches went to Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, who came in at No. 14 overall.

Not surprisingly, Whittingham, who will be starting his 17th season with the Utes in 2021, is also the longest-tenured coach in the conference. He is also virtually tied with two others as the best-paid coach in the conference. According to USA Today’s annual report of FBS coaching salaries posted last November, Whittingham made about $4.8 million in 2020 after taking a slight pay cut during the pandemic. Stanford’s David Shaw and USC’s Clay Helton were also in that pay range, although those two have very different rankings. Shaw came in a No. 24 in CBS Sports’ rankings, while Helton was back at No. 48. (Those salaries are about half what Alabama's Nick Saban earns.)

The two biggest gains among Pac-12 coaches were made by Colorado’s Karl Dorrell, who moved up 10 spots from his 2020 ranking, and Arizona State’s Herm Edwards, who rose nine slots.

Here is the ranking order of Pac-12 coaches (with their overall national ranking in parentheses), followed by CBS Sports' explanation of its ranking.

1. (14) Kyle Whittingham, Utah

Kyle Whittingham: The names of his players change, and even the conference in which they play changed that one time, but Whittingham's results at Utah have been remarkably consistent. He's won three Pac-12 South titles in the last six years, and the Utes were considered playoff contenders for a large portion of the 2019 season. There isn't a program in the Pac-12 South that's done a better job taking advantage of USC's lack of success than Whittingham's. 2020 rank: 11 (-3).

2. (16) Mario Cristobal, Oregon

Mario Cristobal: I mean, Cristobal won the Pac-12 despite not even winning his division. How many other coaches can say that? Of course he's going to climb! Seriously, Cristobal's won two Pac-12 titles now, and he's shaken up the recruiting game in the conference. While a College Football Playoff berth still eludes him, the way things are going, nobody would be shocked to see Oregon get back to the CFP in the next few years. 2020 rank: 24 (+8)

3. (21) Herm Edwards, Arizona State

Herm Edwards: Here's a fun exercise. Compare the reaction to Harbaugh's hire at Michigan when it happened to the reaction to Arizona State hiring Herm. Harbaugh was a grand slam hire, while Edwards was met with bewilderment. Yet here we are with Edwards ranked higher than Harbaugh a few years later. It's an excellent example of how expectations can skew your view of a coach because Edwards is only 17-13 at Arizona State and 11-11 in conference play. His best season of 8-5 in 2019 matches Harbaugh's worst record at Michigan. And yet ... 2020 rank: 30 (+9)

4. (24) David Shaw, Stanford

David Shaw: He has experienced a steady decline in our rankings in the last few years. Shaw was still a top-10 coach in 2019, hanging on at No. 9 after a 9-4 season. Since then, though, Stanford has gone 8-10 overall and 7-8 in the Pac-12. The program hasn't performed up to the standard that Shaw helped put in place, and he's now barely managing to hang on to top-25 status. 2020 rank: 19 (-5)

5. (38) Justin Wilcox, Cal

Justin Wilcox: I'm assuming Wilcox fell five spots this season because while he remained static on everybody else's ballot, our David Cobb punished him for not living up to the 10-win season that Cobb had promised Cal fans. That's not fair for David to do that, but this is America, and he's allowed to feel however he wants. Seriously, though, I'm not surprised to see Wilcox slip a little after a 1-3 season, but I'm not sure it's deserved. While every coach had new things to deal with in 2020, I've shown Pac-12 coaches a bit more leniency than others. 2020 rank: 33 (-5)

6. (39) Chip Kelly, UCLA

Chip Kelly: I think it's safe to say the shine has come off Kelly at the college level in the minds of our voters. While nobody can deny the success he had at Oregon and how he helped change the offensive landscape, he's only gone 10-21 at UCLA and is 10-15 in the conference. 2020 rank: 36 (-3)

7. (48) Clay Helton, USC

Clay Helton: Helton's stock is fascinating to chart when it comes to our rankings. USC went 5-1 last season, reached the Pac-12 title game ... and he falls seven spots in the rankings. If you look at his overall record at USC (45-23 with a conference title), there's no way he should be ranked this low, but that's not how it's viewed. Helton's performance is compared to what a coach's record at USC should be. He hasn't done enough in the minds of our voters. 2020 rank: 41 (-7)

8. (51) Jimmy Lake, Washington

Jimmy Lake: I think Lake's first season at Washington showed promise, as the Huskies went 3-1 and won the Pac-12 North despite not being able to play for the Pac-12 championship. It didn't take long for Lake to establish his personality and identity on the program. 2020 rank: 56 (+5)

9. (54) Karl Dorrell, Colorado

Karl Dorrell: It feels like the voters wanted to reward Dorrell for an excellent first season in Boulder, but they didn't want to get carried away. As a result, Dorrell climbs 10 spots after shocking the world with a 4-2 year, but he's still solidly in the mid-50s. Dorrell's career seems to be one of coaching teams with a high floor but limited ceiling. Should he continue that at Colorado, he'll likely have a similar performance in these rankings. 2020 rank: 64 (+10)

10. (56) Jonathan Smith, Oregon State

Jonathan Smith: I'm going to pin Smith's drop on the absence of Barton Simmons as a voter. Simmons was always a Smith booster. Like Rolovich and the rest of the Pac-12, Smith didn't give us much of anything to work with last season. The Beavers followed up a promising 5-7 season in 2019 with a 2-5 campaign last year. The 2021 season should give us all a better idea of what to expect going forward. 2020 rank: 52 (-4).

11. (58) Nick Rolovich, Washington State

Nick Rolovich: Honestly, what was there to evaluate? Rolovich's first season at Washington State consisted of only four games, and he went 1-3. Rolovich probably dropped eight spots in the rankings due to being "forgotten" more than anything else. 2020 rank: 50 (-8)

12. (64) Judd Fisch, Arizona

Jedd Fisch: Fisch has never been the head coach at any previous stops, but he does have experience as an offensive coordinator at both the college and NFL levels. This gives him a bit of a bump against Beamer. 2020 rank: n/a

The top five overall are:

1. Nick Saban, Alabama

2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

3. Lincoln, Riley, Oklahoma

4. Ryan Day, Ohio State

5. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame.

These make sense with the possible exception of Day, whose resume seems a bit light to warrant a top-five ranking.

Cover photo of Kyle Whittingham by Isaiah J. Downing, USA TODAY Sports

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