Poll: Georgia, Texas, Ohio State Among Top 5 CFB Jobs According to Insiders

Five of the biggest programs in college football provide the most desirable situations for coaches, according to a recent poll.

Antonio Morales and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic conducted a poll of 50 people who work in college football, including head coaches, general managers, assistant coaches, analysts and recruiting staffers, and they chose Georgia as the best job.

Georgia received 16 first-place votes and 173 overall points, followed by Texas (12 and 155), Ohio State (eight and 143), Alabama (six and 123) and LSU (three and 53).

Rounding out the top 10 on the list of best college football jobs are Oregon, Michigan, USC, Florida and Miami.

Georgia’s spot at the top comes as little surprise given that the Bulldogs entered 2024 having lost a grand total of two games over the previous three seasons.

Led by head coach Kirby Smart, Georgia won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022, and the Bulldogs were undefeated last season until their loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, which kept them out of the final four-team College Football Playoff.

An anonymous Big Ten assistant listed several reasons for Georgia being such an attractive, landing spot, saying: “Georgia is No. 1 because of the pool of [money] they have to pay, donor support, the facilities, the ability to consistently compete for a national championship, the tradition, the recruiting base they have in the South and the NFL pedigree that they can sell to recruits.”

Georgia suffered its first loss of the 2024 season last week, falling 41-34 to Alabama in a thriller, but the Bulldogs are still expected to be top national title contenders.

Unlike Georgia, Texas has not won a national championship since 2005, but the Longhorns are on the rise as the No. 2-ranked team in the country.

A Group of 5 offensive coordinator said Texas has “absolutely unlimited resources,” while an SEC coordinator said the Longhorns have “such a great recruiting pool” in the Lone Star State.

The next two teams on the list in Ohio State and Alabama are also ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll currently.

OSU, which is ranked third, is searching for its first national title since 2014, but the Buckeyes are seemingly always in the mix.

An AAC head coach said Ohio State can “recruit nationally better than anyone else up there,” which speaks to the type of talent the school has been able to bring in over the years under current head coach Ryan Day and previous head coach Urban Meyer.

As for the Crimson Tide, who won six national championships under Nick Saban, they are up to their old tricks under new head coach Kalen DeBoer with an undefeated record and the No. 1 ranking in the country.

That type of consistent excellence suggests Alabama should perhaps be No. 1 on the list of best jobs as well, but an AAC assistant coach called it a “sneaky hard” job because of the high expectations.

LSU has not won more than 10 games in a single season since going a perfect 15-0 and winning the national title in 2019, but the Tigers consistently have a ton of talent on both sides of the ball.

That included quarterback Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy last season before going No. 2 overall to the Washington Commanders in the 2024 NFL draft.

The Tigers are 4-1 this season and ranked 13th in the nation, but head coach Brian Kelly has faced quite a bit of criticism, which speaks to the pressure to win down in the Bayou.