Dissecting CBS Sports' G5 Coach Rankings

Kevin Barral | May 20, 2024

Nov 24, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; UTSA Roadrunners head coach Jeff Traylor reacts to a pass / Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

CBS Sports David Cobb recently introduced their Group of Five coach rankings for the upcoming college football season. Cobb ranked every G5 coach (66-1) and gave a short summary of what each coach has done since arriving to their respective school.

Who’s Last?

Ranked dead last is first-year coach Tony Sanchez with the New Mexico State Aggies. Before becoming the Aggies head coach, Sanchez was the program's wide receivers coach. Prior to that, Sanchez was the head coach at UNLV where he went 20-40 without a bowl game appearance.

It’s arguably fair to have Sanchez last, given the uncertainty within the program from the high amount of starters they lost to the transfer portal, including starting quarterback Diego Pavia. Reaching the Conference USA title game becomes less likely this year for the Aggies.

RELATED: CBS Names Liberty's Jamey Chadwell as Top G5 Head Coach

FCS to FBS Coaches

Entering his first season at the FBS level, CBS Sports placed Kennesaw State’s Brian Bohannon at number 48. At the FCS level, Bohannon posted a 71-30 record and the program posted their highest-rated recruiting class this offseason.

Scotty Walden, who was ranked #42, injected a jolt of energy into the UTEP Miners football program right when he stepped foot on campus. He had a strong four-year stretch at the FCS level (Austin Peay), making the playoffs once.

Walden does have a lot of work to do nonetheless. Losing receiver Tyrin Smith, running backs Deion Hankins and Torrance Burgess Jr. along with quarterback Gavin Hardison strips the Miners of the plenty of talent from last season.

Walden’s biggest get in the portal has been former Florida State and TCU running back Corey Tren. He should receive significant reps as the lead back of the group.

After a historic season at James Madison, head coach Curt Cignetti departed for Indiana. To replace him, they brought in Bob Chesney from the FCS level. Chesney led Holy Cross to four straight playoff appearances but has never worked at the FBS level.

Despite the uncertainty entering his first year, CBS Sports ranked him at #28. What JMU did last season was no fluke and Chesney has plenty of experience building winning teams, so that can’t be ignored.

Interesting choice

Despite being 4-1 in bowl games at Western Kentucky, CBS Sports ranked head coach Tyson Helton #22 on the list. Although Helton lost his two strongest offensive pieces in quarterback Austin Reed and wide receiver Malachi Corely, he should be over some coaches that come after him.

One coach who had a disappointing season is Tom Herman at Florida Atlantic. He posted a 4-8 record in 2023 but seems like his prior head coaching tenure at Texas and Houston still carries weight on his ranking. The case can certainly be made that Helton should be ranked higher than Herman, who has a lot of questions to answer with FAU entering his second year.

Top Three

UTSA’s Jeff Traylor is ranked as the third-best Group of Five coach according to CBS. The resume speaks for itself. He’s led the Roadrunners to a 39-14 record, two Conference USA titles and as they made the move to the AAC, he led the team to a 7-1 record. UTSA feels like a team that’s always going to find success with Traylor at the helm

At number two, proven Group of Five coach Jon Sumrall enters his first season with Tulane, but is coming off back-to-back Sun Belt titles with the Troy Trojans. Sumrall enters a rather great situation as Tulane just came short of winning the American Athletic title game, but still have a strong team that looks to bounce back in 2024.

Seems like number one was the perfect choice here. Jamey Chadwell led the Liberty Flames to an undefeated regular season, won the Conference USA title game and were the Group of Five representatives in the New Year's Six bowl. Although the Flames fell to Oregon in the New Year’s six bowl, Chadwell still has quarterback Kaidon Salter and a good core of players that were on last year’s team.