'EA Sports College Football 26' coach rankings: How Kirby Smart, Ryan Day and more rate in new video game
It is release week for the second edition of EA Sports' College Football video game series, and one of the big additions to this year's game is actual college football coaches being part of it. The '25 edition had the actual players but didn't get coaches licensed, but that changed this year with more than 300 coaches and coordinators signing up for the game.
There are some notable exceptions. Bill Belichick (North Carolina), Deion Sanders (Colorado), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa) and Mario Cristobal (Miami) opted against being part of the game -- Steve Belichick, however, is in there as UNC's defensive coordinator -- but aside from the handful of holdouts, the game features the majority of coaches around the country. That means the folks at EA Sports had to hand out ratings and archetypes for each college football coach for the first time, which always leads to some fun debates about what they got right and what they got wrong.
Three coaches received the "CEO" archetype, which is the top archetype one can reach in the game: Georgia's Kirby Smart, Clemson's Dabo Swinney and Ohio State's Ryan Day. All three have an A+ in coach prestige, with Smart and Swinney topping the "coach level" rankings at an 80, with Day at a 72. In total, 11 real world coaches received an A+ in coach prestige -- plus the created stand-ins for Mario Cristobal and Deion Sanders, who each have a coaching level of 40.
| School | Coach | Prestige | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
Georgia | Kirby Smart | A+ | 80 |
Clemson | Dabo Swinney | A+ | 80 |
Ohio State | Ryan Day | A+ | 72 |
Steve Sarkisian | A+ | 68 | |
Dan Lanning | A+ | 66 | |
James Franklin | A+ | 64 | |
Marcus Freeman | A+ | 63 | |
Kalen DeBoer | A+ | 62 | |
Brian Kelly | A+ | 62 | |
Lane Kiffin | A+ | 61 | |
Lincoln Riley | A+ | 59 |
On the other end of the spectrum, Delaware's Ryan Carty, FAU's Zach Kittley, Ohio's Brian Smith and Marshall's Tony Gibson are the four real world coaches at the bottom of the prestige totem pole at a D- and coaching levels all below a 22. There is only one coach with an F prestige rating: the CPU generated coach for Kent State, whose interim coach, Mark Carney, is not in the game.
Below you can find the full breakdown of the coach prestige ratings, coach level and archetype for every coach in each conference. CPU coaches are designated by an asterisk.
Big Ten| Team | Coach | Prestige | Level | Archetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | Ryan Day | A+ | 72 | CEO |
| Oregon | Dan Lanning | A+ | 66 | Program Builder |
| Penn State | James Franklin | A+ | 64 | Program Builder |
| USC | Lincoln Riley | A+ | 59 | Program Builder |
| Indiana | Curt Cignetti | A | 57 | Strategist |
| Nebraska | Matt Rhule | A | 55 | Program Builder |
| Iowa | Mick Cloud* | A | 40 | Program Builder |
| Illinois | Bret Bielema | A- | 61 | Program Builder |
| Michigan | Sherrone Moore | A- | 54 | Architect |
| Michigan State | Jonathan Smith | B+ | 55 | Strategist |
| Wisconsin | Luke Fickell | B | 45 | Program Builder |
| Minnesota | P.J. Fleck | B | 44 | Master Motivator |
| Rutgers | Greg Schiano | B | 40 | Master Motivator |
| Washington | Jedd Fisch | B- | 43 | Elite Recruiter |
| Purdue | Barry Odom | C+ | 37 | Architect |
| Northwestern | David Braun | C+ | 35 | Master Motivator |
| Maryland | Mike Locksley | C | 35 | Scheme Guru |
| UCLA | DeShaun Foster | C | 29 | Master Motivator |
| Team | Coach | Prestige | Level | Archetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | Kirby Smart | A+ | 80 | CEO |
| Texas | Steve Sarkisian | A+ | 68 | Program Builder |
| Alabama | Kalen DeBoer | A+ | 62 | Talent Developer |
| LSU | Brian Kelly | A+ | 62 | Program Builder |
| Ole Miss | Lane Kiffin | A+ | 61 | Program Builder |
| Auburn | Hugh Freeze | A | 57 | Strategist |
| Tennessee | Josh Heupel | A | 61 | Elite Recruiter |
| Florida | Billy Napier | A | 52 | Strategist |
| Texas A&M | Mike Elko | A- | 54 | Architect |
| Kentucky | Mark Stoops | A- | 50 | Scheme Guru |
| South Carolina | Shane Beamer | B+ | 58 | Strategist |
| Missouri | Eli Drinkwitz | B+ | 56 | Strategist |
| Oklahoma | Brent Venables | B+ | 50 | Scheme Guru |
| Arkansas | Sam Pittman | B+ | 41 | Talent Developer |
| Vanderbilt | Clark Lea | C+ | 32 | Master Motivator |
| Mississippi State | Jeff Lebby | C | 40 | Scheme Guru |
| Team | Coach | Prestige | Level | Archetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame | Marcus Freeman | A+ | 63 | Program Builder |
| UConn | Jim Mora Jr. | C+ | 37 | Architect |
| Team | Coach | Prestige | Level | Archetype |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | Jeff Monken | B+ | 38 | Master Motivator |
| Tulane | Jon Sumrall | B+ | 36 | Strategist |
| Memphis | Ryan Silverfield | B | 35 | Strategist |
| Navy | Brian Newberry | B | 30 | Scheme Guru |
| Charlotte | Tim Albin | C+ | 24 | Architect |
| UTSA | Jeff Traylor | C | 35 | Scheme Guru |
| South Florida | Alex Golesh | C | 29 | Strategist |
| Temple | K.C. Keeler | C | 25 | Talent Developer |
| North Texas | Eric Morris | C- | 24 | Master Motivator |
| Rice | Scott Abell | C- | 23 | Architect |
| East Carolina | Blake Harrell | D | 23 | Motivator |
| Tulsa | Tre Lamb | D | 21 | Tactician |
| FAU | Zach Kittley | D- | 20 | Strategist |
| UAB | Lamar Davis* | D- | 20 | Architect |
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