Ranking UCLA's DeShaun Foster, Rest of Big Ten Head Coaches Entering 2025

The Big Ten was a gauntlet in 2024, and with new coaches comes new expectations. This is a power ranking of the 18 current head coaches in the Big Ten. Rankings are based on history as a head coach, team success in comparison to talent on the roster, and ability to compete in the current landscape of college football.

1. Ryan Day, Ohio State

Not much more needs to be said. The reigning national champion extinguished any doubts about his ability to lead the Buckeyes to the promised land.

2. Bret Bielema, Illinois

Probably the most shocking ranking on the list, Bielema continually gets disrespected as a head coach. As long as his program isn't located in the south, Bielema wins. From 2011 to 2021, the year Bielema took over the Illinois program, the Illini had one winning season. Bielema has two including a ten-win season in 2024.

3. Sherrone Moore, Michigan

Despite losing nearly his entire roster and not having an actual functioning quarterback in 2024, Moore guided the Wolverines to a winning season including wins over Ohio State in the Shoe and over Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

4. Dan Lanning, Oregon

Lanning finally got over the hump, winning the Big Ten title in Oregon's inaugural season in the conference, but his blowout loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl continues to bring up questions if he can beat the big dogs in the big moments. Especially since his program is financed by a billionaire sports mogul.

5. Curt Cignetti, Indiana

In one season, Cignetti turned a historically awful football program into a national championship contender. Say what you want, the Hoosiers' only two losses in 2024 came at the homes of the eventual national champions and the national runner-ups.

6. Jedd Fisch, Washington

Fisch is building something special in Seattle and the fact he got the Huskies bowl-eligible after they lost their entire roster speaks volumes about his ability to turn a program around. Remember he took a winless Arizona Wildcats team to a 10-win season in three years.

7. James Franklin, Penn State

While Franklin continues to have overall success as a coach, his inability to beat any top Power Five program led to his drop down the rankings. After a herculean effort by his defense in the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame, it was Franklin's inability to build a potent offense that led to their stunning defeat.

8. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa

The legendary head coach put in another winning season but they had the easiest path to the college football playoffs and still lost four games in the regular season.

9. PJ Fleck, Minnesota

Fleck might be number one if he ever finds a quarterback but another winning season in Minneapolis keeps hopes high for the Golden Gophers.

10. Greg Schiano, Rutgers

Perhaps no coach in the Big Ten gets more out of his players than Schiano, but several shocking losses in 2024 keeps him as the gatekeeper to the top ten.

11. Barry Odom, Purdue

Odom turned around a UNLV program that had failed to be bowl-eligible for ten years into the Mountain West runner-up in 2023. He then achieved the program's best season in 2024. If anyone knows how to rebuild a team, especially a defense through the portal, it's Odom.

12. DeShaun Foster, UCLA

Despite having an extremely tough schedule and having gotten a late start to the season due to Chip Kelly's sudden departure, Foster put together a second-half rally to end the season on a high.

13. Lincoln Riley, USC

While Riley did defeat Foster for the Victory Bell, there is no coach in America who has done less with more (outside of Brian Kelly) than the head man at USC. However, with a new general manager and assistant head coach, Riley is set to rewrite the narrative on his Trojan tenure in 2025.

14. Matt Rhule, Nebraska

At one point, Rhule was considered a top-five coach in the conference, and rightfully so, after leading the Cornhuskers to a 5-1 start to the 2024 season. Rhule and Nebraska would proceed to lose five out of their next six games. A win against Wisconsin at home got them bowl-eligible for the first time since 2016, and a win over Boston College gave them their first bowl win since 2015. With a full offseason for OC Dana Holgorsen to install his offense and a promising star in Dylan Raiola at QB, it might be time to buy stock in the Cornhuskers again.

15. Jonathan Smith, Michigan State

It was a tough 2024 for Smith as he tried to erase the on-field and off-field issues associated with Mel Tucker. While the Spartans did have a losing season, Smith's history as a defensive developer gives him a little boost as he looks toward a better 2025.

16. Mike Locksley, Maryland

It went off the rails for Maryland in 2024 as Locksley's four-win squad ended a streak of three straight winning seasons. The Terrapins were terrible, and if not for a wild and dramatic comeback over USC, they would have been winless in conference play.

17. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin

If Maryland was bad, Wisconsin was worse. Unlike Maryland, Wisconsin has been known as a collegiate powerhouse and not one of those teams that were great in the 90s but haven't won anything in 30 years, but more as in they had seven double-digit win seasons from 2010 to 2022. Fickell has gone 13-13 in 26 games at Wisconsin. The 2024 Badgers achieved the program's first losing season since 2001.

18. David Braun, Northwestern

After winning the Big Ten's Coach of the Year award in 2023, Braun's Wildcats suffered in 2024, winning four games and defeating only two Power Five opponents. The Wildcats lost by three scores on six different occasions. To Braun's credit, Northwestern is playing in a field built for recreational sports as their new stadium continues construction.

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