College Football Rankings: Who Are The Best Coaches In The G6?

Fans of Power Four teams seem to think they have an inherent advantage over anyone in the Group of Six. But a lot of those P4 teams sure love to hire coaches from the G6.

Look at the American Conference this offseason alone. Jon Sumrall of Tulane is at Florida. Alex Golesh of USF is at Auburn. Ryan Silverfield of Memphis is at Arkansas. And Eric Morris of North Texas is at Oklahoma State.

Even after all of that movement, the G6 as a whole still has plenty of talented coaches in place going into 2026. 

Here’s my rankings of the best coaches among those conferences:

Top 10 Ranking Of CFB Coaches In The G6

10. Billy Napier, JMU

Napier was the toughest for me to rank. I ultimately landed on putting him in the top 10.

On one hand, I could see why someone would put him in the top five. He was exceptional at Louisiana, going 40-12 in four seasons. The Ragin’ Cajuns won a Sun Belt Championship in 2021 – a season in which they were ranked as highly as 16th – and nearly won another in 2019.

On the other hand, I could see why someone would have him outside of the top 10. His tenure at Florida was highly disappointing in the eyes of Gator fans. Florida had just one winning season over four years, and Napier went 22-23 overall before he was fired.

I think he’s going to bounce back and be great at JMU, so I ultimately landed him at 10th.

9. Jason Eck, New Mexico

I moved many coaches around quite a bit when putting this ranking together. But I don’t think I moved anyone as much as Eck. There’s a part of me that wants to put him in the top five. But it’s tough to do that after just one season. That’s also why I have Jerry Mack from Kennesaw State at 12th. He’s been great at KSU, and I think the Owls will be good again in 2026, but these others have a few more years as head coaches on their resumes.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Eck could even be in the top three after 2026. Or he may even be at Power Four school by then. Being able to lead New Mexico to a 9-4 overall record in his first year with the Lobos was nothing short of impressive. And don’t forget he was a great head coach at Idaho before this, helping the Vandals go 26-13 from 2022-24 with two appearances in the FCS playoff quarterfinals.

8. Charles Huff, Memphis

I’m eager to see what Huff can do at a place like Memphis. He led Marshall to a Sun Belt Championship in 2024. Then he helped Southern Miss turn things around and put a winning regular season together, USM’s first since 2019. The Golden Eagles also nearly made it to the Sun Belt title game.

And now he’s at a place like Memphis, which has all the resources and everything in place to make a run at a College Football Playoff berth. I don’t know about this season, but I think Huff can get the Tigers there in the near future.

7. Jason Candle, UConn

Candle is a winner and consistently had Toledo in position to contend for MAC titles before he left for UConn this offseason. He was the MAC Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2023, leading the Rockets to conference championships in 2017 and 2022. 

He went 81-44 in 11 years at Toledo. He also helped Division III Mount Union win four national championships as an assistant coach.

Now we’ll see how he does at UConn, but I have a feeling the Huskies are going to keep winning.

6. Jeff Monken, Army

Monken has been the head coach at Army since 2014. After going 6-18 in his first two seasons, the Black Knights have gone 83-45 since then. They’ve gone 6-1 in bowl games, appeared in the AP Top 25 in three different years, and have suffered just one losing season over the last 10 years. In 2024, their first season in the American, the Black Knights went 12-2 overall and won the conference title over Tulane.

But after how things have gone the past two years against Army’s rival, it’s tough to rank him higher than the next coach on this list.

5. Brian Newberry, Navy

I’m putting Newberry just one spot ahead of Monken because the Midshipmen have won the Army-Navy game the last two years. Plus, I think Newberry simply is a great coach. It shows on the field.

Newberry took over at Navy after the Midshipmen had won four or fewer games in four of the previous five years. After going 5-7 in 2023, Navy was 10-3 overall in 2024 and 11-2 last season, appearing in the AP Top 25 both years.

And most importantly for a lot of Navy fans: Navy beat Army and won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy the past two years. 

Navy is now the favorite to win the American in 2026, and that’s in part because Newberry is excellent at his job.

4. Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State

Mendenhall’s 146 career wins as a head coach puts him fourth among all active FBS head coaches. He deserves a spot in the top five.

One could look at his last four seasons as a head coach and maybe wouldn’t be as impressed. But you have to take into account what Mendenhall has done through his entire career. 

He went 99-43 over 11 years at BYU, including two Mountain West titles in 2006 and 2007. BYU played in 11 consecutive bowl games during his tenure there with five 10-win seasons. He went 36-38 at Virginia, but his teams were only below .500 during the regular season once, his first season there in 2016. 

Mendenhall became the head coach at New Mexico in 2024. The Lobos nearly earned bowl-eligibility with a 5-7 overall record. But even winning five games at UNM was impressive considering the Lobos hadn’t done that since 2016. 

Then Mendenhall led Utah State to bowl-eligibility in 2025, and now he will guide the Aggies as they move to the Pac-12 this year.

3. Dan Mullen, UNLV

Another former Florida coach who’s currently in the Group of Six is on this list. But this one has already proven he can win at his current G6 school.

Mullen was also a bit more successful than Napier at Florida. After going 69-46 at Mississippi State with a 5-2 record in bowl games from 2009-2017, Mullen went 34-15 with the Gators from 2018-21. 

And after going 10-4 in his first season at UNLV in 2025, he’s 113-65 overall as a head coach in the FBS. Mullen is clearly one of the best coaches in the G6. However, he had two chances to beat the next coach on this list last season, including in the Mountain West Championship, but didn’t.

2. Spencer Danielson, Boise State

Some people, including some Boise State fans, would say the Broncos should have been even better than what they have been under Danielson.

But in all three seasons he’s been the head coach, Danielson has won Mountain West Championships and even led the Broncos to a CFP berth in 2024.

Doubters might say Boise State was only 12-2 and only appeared in the Fiesta Bowl two years ago because of Ashton Jeanty, a Heisman Trophy finalist. But Danielson was the one who managed to keep Jeanty at Boise State when he very well could’ve left for a Power Four team. Boise State has also produced a lot more talented players aside from Jeanty with Danielson on staff.

Also, I think of Danielson so highly in part because of what he was able to do in 2023. Boise State fired Andy Avalos late that season when the Broncos were struggling. Danielson stepped in and got them back on track. They won three straight games after he took over, including the Mountain West Championship over UNLV.

And while it wasn’t always smooth last year, Boise State did still win the Mountain West in 2025 and is the heavy favorite to win the Pac-12 in 2026.

Winning conference titles, even at Boise State, is difficult. But the Broncos have only won championships with Danielson as their coach. So it’s hard to rank him any lower than this.

1. Jim Mora, Colorado State

Mora has such a unique resume compared to others on this list.

Most of Mora’s experience has been in the NFL. He even led the Atlanta Falcons to an NFC Championship appearance as their head coach. At 31-33 overall, he was just shy of .500 as a head coach in the NFL.

He’s also 73-53 as a collegiate head coach. He went 46-30 as the head coach at UCLA with four eight-win seasons from 2012-15, a time in which the Bruins made four consecutive bowl games and were ranked in the top 15 in the AP poll each year.

And Mora accomplished several things at UConn that many believed weren’t possible. As head coach of the Huskies, Mora helped them win nine games in back-to-back seasons, the first time they did so as members of the FBS.

After helping UConn go 9-3 during the regular season in 2025, Mora left for Colorado State. Who knows how well he’ll do at CSU with the Rams going to the Pac-12. But based on what he did at UConn, I expect they’ll be just fine.

G6 College Football Teams, Ranked

Rank	Coach	Team
1	Jim Mora	Colorado State
2	Spencer Danielson	Boise State
3	Dan Mullen	UNLV
4	Bronco Mendenhall	Utah State
5	Brian Newberry	Navy
6	Jeff Monken	Army
7	Jason Candle	UConn
8	Jason Eck	New Mexico
9	Charles Huff	Memphis
10	Billy Napier	JMU
11	Jeff Traylor	UTSA
12	Jerry Mack	Kennesaw State
13	Sean Lewis	San Diego State
14	GJ Kinne	Texas State
15	Troy Calhoun	Air Force
16	Ken Niumatalolo	San Jose State
17	Jamey Chadwell	Liberty
18	Neal Brown	North Texas
19	Lance Taylor	Western Michigan
20	Chuck Martin	Miami (Ohio)
21	KC Keeler	Temple
22	Matt Entz	Fresno State
23	Tyson Helton	Western Kentucky
24	Ryan Beard	Coastal Carolina
25	Willie Simmons	FIU