Ranking the top 20 college football coaches for 2021

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Being a head coach in any sport at any level is a demanding job. There is a lot of responsibility (and blame) that falls on the shoulders of the leader on the sidelines. However, that role is perhaps more important in college football than in any other arena. What’s asked of head coaches in college football is simply enormous.

From recruiting to hiring the right staff, to developing players, to game-planning, to motivating a team (and that’s just the generalized picture of what they have to do), head coaches take on the weight of so much within a college football program. So when fans see the truly best head coaches, it’s pretty easy to identify them. And entering the 2021 season, we’re ranking the 20 best in the country.

Now, not every job is created equal, so we’re trying to look at the entire picture. We’ll not just look at the level of recruiting but also the player development. Similarly, we’ll also look at performance in relation to expectations and so on. And we start by rowing the dang boat.

20. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota

Considering that the Golden Gophers only went 3-4 in the 2020 season, this might seem like a strange inclusion on the back end of the top 20. However, P.J. Fleck has more than earned his keep and a spot in the top 20.

Addressing last season, Fleck was dealt an inordinate amount of challenges due to COVID. Yes, every team in the country was having to deal with the virus to some degree but Minnesota’s roster was often severely depleted due to positive tests and contact tracing. When you then factor in the short offseason with a new offensive coordinator on the staff to install, it was bound to go poorly.

The body of work for Fleck beyond the 2020 campaign, however, is hard to argue with. He completely turned around a Western Michigan that won one game in his first season before having the Broncos at 13-1 in and in a New Year’s Six bowl after four years. He worked similarly quick at Minnesota, going 11-2 with the Golden Gophers in 2019, just his third season with the program.

Undoubtedly, rebounding from the three-win showing last season will be important for Fleck to remain his status as one of the best coaches in college football. But he’s done nothing but turn programs around to this point, so what’s to make us believe that’s not exactly what he has in store for the 2021 season?