List Of Active College Football Coaches Winning Percentage

Ryan Day has a winning percentage of .891 which is the best among the active Division I FBS college football coaches. He has recorded 49 wins.

Day has a 49-6 record in his head coaching career starting from 2019. He led the Buckeyes to a 12-0 record in his first season as the head coach.

The former college football player played for the University of New Hampshire and started his coaching career in 2002. He began as a tight ends coach for his alma mater. He went on to become the offensive coordinator for the Temple Owls in 2012 and for Boston College the following year.

He was the quarterbacks coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for the 2015 season and for the San Francisco 49ers for the 2016 season.

He first landed at Ohio State as a co-offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2017. He was then appointed as the acting head coach in place of Urban Meyer in 2018, where he won all three games. He took on full-time HC duties in 2019.

The breakdown of his 49-6 head coaching record over the years:

• 2019 (13-1)
• 2020 (7-1)
• 2021 (11-2)
• 2022 (11-2)
• 2023 (4-0)*

Kirby Smart has been the head coach of Georgia Bulldogs football since 2016. The current year is his eighth season and has recorded a win percentage of .850.

He has 85 wins in his career as the head coach and only 15 losses. His $10.5 million annual salary is very well justified given his coaching record.

Smart's coaching career started in 1999 when he served as an administrative assistant for the University of Georgia. He has been part of the coaching unit of several other colleges in the past as well mainly holding the defensive backs coach position.

He has also been part of an NFL team's coaching staff when he was the safeties coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2006.

His longest tenure came with the Alabama Crimson Tide from 2007-2015 where he started as an assistant coach and later as a defensive coordinator.

Smart became the 26th head coach of the Bulldogs in December 2016. His coaching record throughout the years looks like this:

• 2016 (8-5)
• 2017 (13-2)
• 2018 (11-3)
• 2019 (12-2)
• 2020 (8-2)
• 2021 (14-1)
• 2022 (15-0)
• 2023 (4-0)*

He has two National championships to his name in 2021, and 2022, two Conference titles in 2017 and 2022, and five SEC East Division titles in 2017-2019 and 2021-2022.

His personal accolades are as follows:

• George Munger Award (2017)
• 3x SEC Coach of the Year (2017, 2021, 2022)
• Broyles Award (2009)
• AFCA Assitant Coach of the Year (2012)

Cignetti has a winning percentage of .849 in Division I FBS college football. His percentage is quite high given he has only managed 53 games in DI FBS since 2019.

He started his career in 1983 as a graduate assistant for the Pittsburgh Panthers and has been part of several college football teams' coaching rosters.

His first experience as a head coach was in 2011 when he took on the role for the IUP Crimson Hawks of the DII level until 2016. He then took on the head coach role for the Division I side Elon Phoenix of the FCS.

Since joining the Dukes, he has had a good record (45-8) and started the current season on winning terms.

• 2019 (14-2)
• 2020 (7-1)
• 2021 (12-2)
• 2022 (8-3)
• 2023 (4-0)*

Cignetti has won 3 CAA Conference titles (2019-2021) and 1 Sun Belt East title as well in 2022. He was named the CAA Coach of the Year in 2017 and CFN Sunbelt Coach of the Year in 2022.

Lincoln Michael Riley is a former Texas Tech quarterback and has been the head coach for the USC Trojans since 2022. His 70-13 head coaching record ranks him fourth with a .843 winning percentage among the current coaches.

Riley started his coaching career with his alma mater in 2003 as a student assistant until 2005. He later became a graduate assistant and later a WR coach.

He later joined East Carolina Pirates as an offensive coordinator and QB coach and later became the assistant head coach and carried on with his two previous roles as well.

Before joining USC, he was the OC/QB coach for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2015-2016 and later became the head coach in 2017.

His win-loss records as a head coach are as follows:

• 2017 (12-2)
• 2018 (12-2)
• 2019 (12-2)
• 2020 (9-2)
• 2021 (10-2)
• 2022 (11-3)
• 2023 (4-0)*

Riley has won 4 Big 12 Conference titles (2017-2020) along with other personal accolades as well.

• Broyles Award (2015)
• Big 12 Coach of the Year (2018)
• AP Big 12 Coach of the Year (2018)

Dan Lanning is among the youngest coaches in college football aged 37. He previously played as a linebacker for Division II members William Jewell Cardinals.

Lanning is a young coach in terms of both age and experience as he has only managed 17 games so far including the ongoing 2023 season. He averages .824 and has made a bright start to his career.

He started his career with Park Hill South High School as a special teams coordinator, DB, and WR coach from 2008-2010. He too has gained a lot of experience serving as a graduate assistant in several colleges before becoming a defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs.

He began his head coaching career with the Oregon Ducks in 2022 and had a good first season. He had a 10-3 record in his debut year and also won the 2022 Holiday Bowl.

He has started the 2023 season with a 4-match winning streak.

Football coaches with most wins among active coaches is Nick Saban with 283 wins in his Divison I FBS college football coaching career.

He has an overall winning percentage of .802.

Saban is one of the most experienced and accomplished coaches in the history of college football. The former defensive back has almost three decades of experience serving as a head coach for several teams.

His coaching career started at Kent State in 1973 where he also played college football from 1970 to 1972. Starting from 1977, he has been part of Syracuse Orange, West Virginia Mountaineers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Navy Midshipmen, and  Michigan State Spartans.

He mainly served as the DB coach and was the defensive coordinator for the Spartans. He then became the DB coach for the NFL side Houston Oilers in 1988-1989.

His first stint as a head coach came in 1990 when he was appointed as the head of the coaching staff for the Toledo Rockets. After one season he became the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns.

He was the head coach for the Spartans from 1995 to 1999, for the LSUTigers from 2000-2004, and then the Miami Dolphins from 2005-2006. He then joined the Crimson Tide football program in 2007. 

He has a 283-70-1 record in his head coaching career.

• 1990 - Toledo (9-2)
• 1995-1999 - Michigan State Spartans (34-24-1)
• 2000-2004 - LSU Tigers (48-16)
• 2007-present - Alabama Crimson Tide (192-28)

Saban has accomplished a lot in his career from team awards to individual as well.

• 7x National titles (2003, 2009, 2011-2012, 2015, 2017, 2020)
• 10x Conference titles (2001, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2014-2016, 2018, 2020-2021)
• Mis American Conference (1990)
• 11x SEC Western Conference (2001, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014-2018, 2020-2021)
• 2x Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (2003, 2020)
• 2x Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2008, 2018)
• George Munger Award (2016)
• Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year (2014)
• 2x AP College Football Coach of the Year (2003, 2008)
• Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (2003, 2008)
• 5x SEC Coach of the Year (2003, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2020)

William Christopher "Dabo Swinney has held the position of head coach of the Clemson Tigers since 2009. He has an amazing 163-41 record and a .799 winning percentage.

Swinney played college football for the Crimson Tide and then served as a graduate assistant. He was then made the WR/TE coach and joined the Clemson Tigers in 2003-2006.

He served as the assistant head coach in 2007 and later as the interim head coach in 2008. He was then made the permanent coach in 2009.

• 2008 (4-3)
• 2009 (9-5)
• 2010 (6-7)
• 2011 (10-4)
• 2012 (11-2)
• 2013 - (11-2)
• 2014 (10-3)
• 2015 (14-1)
• 2016 (14-1)
• 2017 (12-2)
• 2018 (15-0)
• 2019 (14-1)
• 2020 (10-2)
• 2021 (10-3)
• 2022 (11-3)
• 2023 (2-2)*

In his long career, he has won two National titles in 2016 and 2018. He also has:

• 8x ACC titles (2011, 2015-2020, 2022)
• 10x ACC Atlantic Division titles (2009, 2011-2012, 2015-2020, 2022)
• 3x Paul "Bear" Bryant Award (2015, 2016, 2018)
• AFCA Coach of the Year (2015)
• AP College Football Coach of the Year (2015)
• Sporting News Coach of the Year (2015)
• Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2015)
• Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year (2011)
• 2x ACC Coach of the Year (2015, 2018)

Sumrall is also a comparatively young coach aged 41. He started his coaching career in 2005. He has a 14-4 record as a head coach with a .778 winning percentage.

He began as a graduate assistant for the Kentucky Wildcats where he played as a linebacker during his college career. After mainly serving as a co-DC/LB coach in many colleges, Sumrall landed the HC position with the Trojans in December 2021.

• 2022 (12-2)
• 2023 (2-2)

In his first season, he won the Sun Belt Conference title and also the Sun Belt West Division title. He was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 2022.

DeBoer has gained quite a lot of experience as a head coach in a very short span of time. He started his coaching career with the Division II side Sioux Falls in 1997.

His first stint in Division I came in 2010 when he was appointed OC/WR for the Salukis of the FCS. In 2014, he joined FBS member Eastern Michigan Eagles and later moved to Fresno State. He also became their head coach from 2020 to 2021.

He has been the head of the coaching department for the Huskies since 2022 and his overall FBS coaching record is 27-8 and has a winning percentage of .771.

• 2020 (3-3)
• 2021 (9-3)
• 2022 (11-2)
• 2023 (4-0)*

He also won the 2022 Pac-12 Coach of the Year award as he helped the team win the 2022 Alamo Bowl.

Michael Elko makes the top 10 list of football coaches with most wins percentage with .765 as the Duke Blue Devils head coach. He has a 13-4 career record.

Elko has had quite a lot of experience in coaching since he started his 1999 as a graduate assistant for the Stony Brook Seawolves. He has also been under the guidance of David Clawson and has learned a lot from him as well.

Prior to joining the Blue Devils, he was the defensive coordinator and safeties coach for the Texas A&M Aggies.

• 2022 (9-4)
• 2023 (4-0)

In his first season a head coach, he was named the 2022 ACC Coach of the Year.