Kirby Smart is CFB's new top dawg with Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh gone

For years, Nick Saban has been the undisputed best head coach in college football. Don't believe it, just check is trophy case. He won six national championships at Alabama and one at LSU. That's a tough resume to beat.

The latest national champion head coach, Jim Harbaugh, has been making a case over the past few seasons of being one of the top college coaches in the country.

The problem? Saban and Harbaugh are now old news as far as college football is concerned. Saban hung up his whistle, and Harbaugh returned to the NFL.

Who takes up their mantle as the best coach in the land? Well, of course, it's Georgia's Kirby Smart.

That is, at least, according to a ranking from On3, which ranks Smart ahead of LSU's Brian Kelly, new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, Ohio State's Ryan Day and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.

"Smart is the undisputed top-ranked coach in America right now. He’s won at least 11 games in six of the last seven years, has a pair of national titles and just inked the No. 1 recruiting class," On3's Jesse Simonton wrote. "Georgia has sent more talent to the NFL than any program in the country in the last few seasons, and the Bulldogs are the early favorites for the national championship in 2024."

Kelly is interestingly ranked ahead of DeBoer, Day and Sarkisian despite the fact that DeBoer just took Washington to the College Football Playoff Championship Game and Sarkisian had his Longhorns in the CFP semifinals. Day didn't make it to the CFP this year, but he had OSU in the playoffs in the 2020, 2021 and 2023 seasons. 

Kelly has done a nice job at LSU, but he did lose four games in year one and three last season. He's hardly had LSU in elite territory, so it's interesting to see him right behind Smart in these rankings.