College Football: Ranking the Top 25 Playing Careers of Current FBS Coaches

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Before becoming a Pro Football Hall of Famer and, now, an FBS coach, Deion Sanders was a superstar at Florida State. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect The 2026 college football season features 138 teams competing at the FBS level.

All but 15 programs are helmed by coaches who, years ago, suited up at the college level themselves. Some were superstars—though a surprising few went on to play in the NFL to any extent, and only one has a gold jacket and his visage enshrined in Canton, Ohio. Far more were role-players and walk-ons, plus a fair number competed in the Division II, III and NAIA ranks, only experiencing the sport’s premier level once they entered coaching.

Sports history has some examples of great players who became great coaches, though it is fairly rare. North Carolina’s Bill Belichick is regarded as the greatest NFL coach of all time, but his playing career was fairly humble, as he played center and tight end at D-III Wesleyan, a small private school in Connecticut.

His former assistant and longtime friend Nick Saban played safety in the MAC at Kent State, but was not a standout. That is one area in which he inarguably did not one-up fellow former Alabama legend Paul “Bear” Bryant—a third-team All-American end for the Crimson Tide in 1935.

Most current FBS coaches were closer to Saban and Belichick than Bryant as players, though there are some obvious standouts.reviewed the playing stats, records and accolades of all 138 current FBS coaches. These 25 stand above the rest:Venables’s college career with the Wildcats began as so many K-State greats’ have: at the junior college level. He was a dominant linebacker at Garden City Community College, recorded 276 tackles in two seasons with the Broncbusters before matriculating to Manhattan, Kans.

, where he kept an impressive college career going in the Big Eight. Venables was an all-conference honorable mention as a senior in 1992, finishing the season with 124 total tackles. He remained at Kansas State the following year as a graduate assistant, beginning his coaching career under program legend Bill Snyder. —24.

Matt Campbell Campbell returns to Pennsylvania this season as coach of the Nittany Lions, the same state where he began his college football life—albeit, fleetingly. Campbell attended Pitt for one season before transferring down to the Division III powerhouse Purple Raiders, a fruitful move. Campbell won three consecutive D-III national titles with undefeated teams at Mount Union from 2000 to ’02, and finished with a four-year record of 54–1.

Campbell was a first-team D-III All-American as a junior and senior and was the back-to-back winner of the Paul Hoernemann Award, given to the Ohio Athletic Conference’s top defensive lineman. —D.L. Fleck is amazingly the second-longest tenured coach in the Big Ten entering the 2026 season with the Golden Gophers, but MACtion runs in his veins.

Before leading Western Michigan to a 13–1 season and a Cotton Bowl berth in his first head coaching stop, Fleck was a standout wide receiver for the Huskies Hall, a native of Amory, Miss.

, had a unique path through college football that began at Northwest Mississippi Community College—where he was an NJCAA All-American quarterback, setting multiple records at that level—before making the jump up to FCS at Murray State and then down to Division II at North Alabama. He was near unstoppable with the Lions, throwing for over 6,000 yards across two seasons, including school records with 3,531 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2003.

That season, he led UNA to a 13–1 record, with the sole loss coming in the D-II semifinals, and captured the Harlon Hill Trophy, D-II’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, along with unanimous first-team All-American honors. —D.L. The four-year run from 1997 to 2000 was an incredibly successful one for George O’Leary’s Yellow Jackets program.

Georgia Tech went 34–14 with an ACC title, four consecutive AP Top 25 finishes Perhaps most importantly, to those in Atlanta at least, the Ramblin’ Wreck beat rival Georgia three consecutive years from 1998 to 2000, something the program hadn’t done since the early 1960s and hasn’t done since.

Lined up at guard during that stretch was Key, a four-year starter for the Yellow Jackets offense who finished his career with a first-team All-ACC nod in 2000. Key would enter coaching as a graduate assistant as his alma mater the next year, and after beginning a stint as assistant coach in 2019, now leads the program and is seeking to lead it to a fourth straight bowl game in ’26. —D.L.

, the peak of Miami football came in the late 1980s and early ’90s, when the Canes captured three national titles in five years. Cristobal was a key member of that run, winning national titles as an offensive tackle in 1989 and ’91 and earning All–Big East honors in ’92. Miami was a remarkable 44–4 in Crisotbal’s four years as a player, including a 12–0 run in ’91. —D.L.

Born and raised in the Buckeyes’ Columbus backyard, Fickell was a mainstay of Ohio State’s most fertile four years under coach John Cooper. He made two All–Big Ten teams playing alongside stars like defensive end Matt Finkes and linebacker Mike Vrabel, and famously played the 1997 Rose Bowl against Arizona State on a torn pectoral muscle.

A torn ACL in the Saints’ ’97 training camp led him to go the graduate assistant route for Ohio State in 1999, and he hasn't looked back. —P.A. Freeman, who turned 40 in January, cut his teeth on several ferocious defenses overseen by Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel. Jumping headfirst into the regular lineup in 2006, he piled up 71 tackles in 13 games and also picked off a pair of passes.

His tackle total ballooned to 109 in ’07 , and he garnered All–Big Ten honors that year and the year after. The Bears drafted him 154th in ’09, but he didn’t stick, and an enlarged heart hastened his 2010 retirement and move to the sidelines. —P.A. Now one of the nation’s top coaches at Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman was an All-Big Ten linebacker at Ohio State as a player.

| John Biever/Sports IllustratedA number of coaches on this list have forged coaching careers to eclipse their playing accomplishments, and Smart is no exception, but his stint with the Bulldogs is also overlooked because of his more successful defensive backfield-mate . No matter: Smart was a gifted ballhawk in his own right, picking off five passes in 1998 to lead the SEC. An NFL training camp stint with the Colts ended quickly, and it was off to coaching for the Montgomery, Ala.

, native. —P.A. Before he set off on his coaching career, Frost was the last of legendary Cornhuskers coach Tom Osborne’s endless parade of option quarterbacks, and the architect of one of college football’s most controversial plays. The son of an Olympic discus thrower authored a rocky start to his career with the Cardinal, but Nebraska—where his father had played—proved a much better fit.

In 1997, he steered Nebraska to a national championship with 1,095 yards on the ground . The Jets drafted him in the third round and immediately moved him to defensive back, where he played five years for three teams. —P.A. Scott Frost’s tenure as Nebraska coach did not go well, but he will always have a national title as Huskers quarterback under his belt.

| Bill Frakes/Sports IllustratedMike Leach’s Red Raiders program built an impressive legacy of quarterbacks putting up video game numbers, and Cumbie—a walk-on who ultimately earned a scholarship after a year with the program—was no different. The Abilene, Texas, native sat behind Kliff Kingsbury and B.J. Symons before earning the starting nod in 2004. He became the third consecutive Texas Tech gunslinger to lead the nation in passing, throwing for 4,742 and 32 touchdowns with 18 interceptions.

The Red Raiders finished the season by winning a shootout against Aaron Rodgers and No. 4 Cal in the Holiday Bowl, 45–31. Cumbie threw for 520 yards and three touchdowns in the upset, handing the Golden Bears just their second loss of the season. —D.L. Sonny Cumbie is one of five Texas Tech quarterbacks to lead the FBS in passing for a full season.

| Peter Read Miller/Sports IllustratedKinne, just 37 and one of college football’s top rising offensive minds, put together an accomplished career for the Golden Hurricane during an exciting era of Conference USA football. The Longhorns transfer became Tulsa’s starter in 2009, and passed for 81 touchdowns against 32 interceptions in 38 career games. The Golden Hurricane rode their star to a No. 24 AP poll finish in ’10, their highest since 1991.

He bounced around the professional ranks for five years before entering coaching. —P.A. Whittingham may be the winningest coach in Utah history, but he played on the other side of the Holy War, as a standout linebacker for the Cougars in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Whittingham was an impactful player for the legendary LaVell Edwards, earning second-team All-WAC honors as a junior in 1980 before breaking into the first team the following year.

He was an honorable mention AP All-American selection as a senior, and won the WAC’s defensive player of the year award. Whittingham was a team leader during the first great peak of Edwards’s tenure in Provo, Utah; the Cougars were 43–8 during his career, winning double-digit games in each of his final three seasons, finishing in the top 13 of both the AP and coaches polls each year. —D.L.

Before he went on to become the intense and aggressive defensive coordinator, and now head coach, of the Utes, Scalley was a key piece of Utah’s secondary in the early 2000s. The ball-hawking defensive back picked off six passes while helping the BCS-buster Utes go 12–0 and win the Fiesta Bowl. Scalley, whose father also played for Utah, has a chance to continue adding to the family legacy as he takes over for longtime Utah coach Whittingham.

—Morgan Scalley was an All-American defensive back for Utah, and also occasionally returned kicks for the Utes. | John W. McDonough/Sports IllustratedApplewhite was riding high for three seasons with the Longhorns, owning as many as 44 program records while throwing for 7,900-plus yards and earning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors in 1999 before a knee injury forced him to the bench in favor of upstart Chris Simms in 2000.

Applewhite lost his job to Simms in ’01, then found himself the starter again after Simms imploded in a four-interception game in a Red River Rivalry loss. Applewhite, seizing his chance in the last game of his career, threw for 473 yards and four touchdowns to help the Longhorns score 27 fourth-quarter points and erase a 19-point deficit in the Holiday Bowl vs. Washington. —T.C.

Texas quarterback Major Applewhite shared the backfield with Longhorns superstar running back Ricky Williams early in his college career. | John W. McDonough/Sports IllustratedOriginally committed to play baseball at USC, Sarkisian, with his path to playing time with the Trojans murky, pivoted to play football at El Camino, a junior college where he enjoyed two standout seasons.

He transferred to BYU, where he helped the Cougars soar to its winningest season in program history in 1996 while throwing for 4,027 yards and 33 touchdowns. In the season’s opening game, Sarkisian carved up Texas A&M’s “Wrecking Crew” defense to the tune of 536 yards and six touchdowns. The Aggies would, of course, become one of his primary rivals once his coaching career brought him to the Longhorns. —T.C.

In one of the biggest flexes of any coach on this list, Chang authored a record-breaking career at quarterback for the Rainbow Warriors in the early 2000s playing in the program’s up-tempo, run-and-shoot offense, then installed the same offensive system when he became the program’s coach in the 2020s. Regularly chucking the ball over 600 times in a season—unheard of back then—Chang thrived in Hawai’i’s aerial attack, exceeding 4,000 passing yards and 25 touchdowns three times while ending his five-year career in 2004 as the FBS’s career passing yards leader.

—T.C. Hawai’i great Timmy Chang is third all-time in career passing yards at the FBS level. | Al Tielemans/Sports IllustratedBefore signing on to coach current dual-threat starting quarterback Avery Johnson, Wildcats coach Collin Klein was a dynamic, dual-threat signal-caller himself for K-State.

One of the greatest players in program history, Klein led the Wildcats to a 21–5 record in two years as the starter, becoming the first quarterback from a Power 5 school to throw for at least 10 passing touchdowns and rush for at least 20 in consecutive seasons since 1998. His playing career peaked in 2012, finishing third in the Heisman Trophy vote while leading the Wildcats to an 11–2 record and a Big 12 title. —T.C.

Collin Klein finished third in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior in 2012. | David E. Klutho/Sports IllustratedHeupel might coach for an SEC rival now, but warm feelings remain for him in Norman, Okla. , considering all he’s done for the Sooners. Heupel arrived at Oklahoma a little-known journeyman who suffered a season-ending injury at Weber State and spent a year with junior college Snow, and left a national champion and Heisman-caliber quarterback.

Playing in the early versions of Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, the accurate Heupel led the Big 12 in passing yards and touchdowns in 1999, then followed that up by finishing second in the Heisman Trophy vote while leading Oklahoma to a national championship in 2000. —T.C. Josh Heupel quarterbacked Oklahoma to its only national championship under longtime coach Bob Stoops in 2000.

| Al Tielemans/Sports IllustratedWhile Fitzgerald’s tenure as Northwestern coach came to a bitter end, his tenure as a Wildcats player is nestled firmly atop the annals of the sport. Once described by” version of Bears legend Dick Butkus, Fitzgerald in 1995 helped lead the Wildcats to their first winning season since 1971, as well as a Big Ten title.

He tallied 299 total tackles, five forced fumbles and three interceptions while becoming the only two-time winner of the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik Awards. —T.C.on Broadway, George sharpened his showmanship skills with the Buckeyes as one of their all-time greatest players. Slowly building from limited action as a freshman, George capped his senior year in 1995 with 1,826 rushing yards, 23 rushing touchdowns and a Heisman Trophy.

He didn’t miss a beat after being drafted by the Oilers, making four Pro Bowls and helping smooth the franchise's relocation from Houston to Memphis to its current home in Nashville. —P.A. Eddie George set a school record with 314 rushing yards against Illinois in 1995. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectThe No. 1 player on our list is one of the greatest players to ever put on a pair of cleats.

Before Sanders was Coach Prime in Boulder, Colo. , he was Neon Deion, lighting it up for the Seminoles in the late 1980s before a legendary pro career that saw him star for the Falcons, 49ers and Cowboys, among others. Sanders was a two-time All-American at Florida State, took home the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back and has been enshrined in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. —D.L.

Dan Lyons is a staff writer and editor on Sports Illustrated's Breaking and Trending News team. He joined SI for his second stint in November 2024 after a stint as a senior college football writer at Athlon Sports, and a previous run with SI spanning multiple years as a writer and editor. Outside of sports, you can find Dan at an indie concert venue or movie theater.

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

Tim Capurso is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated, primarily covering MLB, college football and college basketball. Before joining SI in November 2023, Capurso worked at RotoBaller and ClutchPoints and is a graduate of Assumption University. When he's not working, he can be found at the gym, reading a book or enjoying a good hike. A resident of New York, Capurso openly wonders if the Giants will ever be a winning football team again.

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