Twitter Ranks College Football's Best Coach: Marcus Freeman's Surprising Rank

Twitter (X) metrics revealed who users of the social media platform believe are college football's best coaches. Marcus Freeman's ranking was unexpected.

Aug 31, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reacts in the fourth quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Now that Nick Saban has left the sidelines, who is posied to become the best head coach in college football? Twitter has an opinion. When doesn't Twitter have an opinion? And the fine folks at BetOnline have aggregated those opinions over the last 30 days to determine who fans believe is poised to become the next coaching kingpin.

Over 80,000 tweets were analyzed, tracking comments, hashtags, and phrases such as "Kirby Smart is the best coach in college football," "Kirby Smart is the GOAT," "Kirby Smart is a great coach," "Kirby Smart is a genius," "Kirby Smart is a winner". And these were the findings from the unique exercise:

With Nick Saban retired, who's the best head coach in college football? Twitter weighed in at the beginning of the season... pic.twitter.com/uzqco3opse

— Rich Cirminiello (@RichCirminiello) September 11, 2024

Kirby Smart leading the way is absolutely no surprise. And Kalen DeBoer at No. 2 makes sense, especially after last season's title run with Washington. But fans clearly have not caught up with what's happening at Clemson under Dabo Swinney, and Ryan Day at No. 14 just reeks of a ridiculously high bar at Ohio State. Utah's Kyle Whittingham at No. 19 is a blatant display of ignorance.

Finally, Marcus Freeman deserves more love than being 24th overall, below the likes of Sonny Dykes, Mike Locksley, and Pat Narduzzi. Okay, the timing here is awful, with the Northern Illinois loss still in the rear view mirror. But Freeman has Notre Dame trending in the right direction, both on the field and in recruiting.

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