Ranking Top-25 Coaches: Oregon Ducks’ Dan Lanning, Ohio State's Ryan Day

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning is among one of the top college football coaches in the country. On3’s Ari Wasserman released his updated top 25 college football head coach rankings heading into the 2025 season.

Where did Lanning end up on the list?

Dan Lanning Ranked As No. 3 College Football Coach

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and Oregon head coach Dan Lanning meet during warm ups before the start of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff NCAA college football game between Oregon and Georgia in Atlanta, on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022. News Joshua L Jones | Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK

Dan Lanning has been a coach for three years with the Oregon Ducks. In his first three seasons, Lanning has a record of 35-6, including a 2-1 record in bowl games, and a Big Ten Championship. Lanning has also been one of the best recruiters in the country. He has brought in back to back top five recruiting classes in 2024 and 2025. This doesn’t even include the hauls of transfers the Ducks have gotten. They have also had back to back top five transfer classes.

The only two coaches above Lanning in the top 25 coach rankings are Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart at No. 1 and Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day at No. 2. Smart and Day are the two most recent active coaches in college football to win the national championship. Smart’s Bulldogs won the title in 2021 and 2022 while Day’s Buckeyes just won the 2024 national title.

With Smart, Day, and Lanning making up the top three, what coaches were behind them?

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Steve Sarkisian and Marcus Freeman Behind Lanning

Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman in the second half in the CFP National Championship college football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Two coaches that could make a case for being ahead of Lanning are Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian and Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman. Sarkisian and Freeman each led their teams to multiple wins in the college football playoff, something Lanning was not able to do this season. Sarkisian is ranked at No. 4 while Freeman is at No. 5.

Sarkisian has been at Texas since 2021 and has a record of 38-17 record. Freeman just finished his third full season at Notre Dame and has a record of 33-10.

Some other notable coaches on Wasserman's top 25 list are Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders at No. 7, Alabama Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer at No. 9, Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal at No. 11, Penn State Nittany Lions coach James Franklin at No. 15, and North Carolina Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick at No. 21.

Putting Belichick this high in college football coaches could be viewed as controversial as he has never coached at this level before. However, he is regarded as one of, if not the greatest coach in NFL history.

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