The varied coaching paths of the College Football Playoff's 12 head coaches

There’s nothing linear about climbing the college football coaching totem pole.

From taking on different positions inside the same program to moving across the country for a new gig, the opportunity to take the next step in one’s career is priceless.

The 12 coaches in the 2025 College Football Playoff are the epitome of that, each making stops at several schools, spanning across one year or a decade-plus, before reaching their current destinations. All of them have held seven or more coaching positions — 14 at most.

And although their paths are different, many of them shared similar routes, whether it was the same starting point or coaching for one of college football’s household names.

Here’s a look at the commonalities between the 12 that led their teams to the CFP. 

8 — Coached at their alma mater

Mario Cristobal, Kalen DeBoer, Ryan Day, Mike Elko, Pete Golding, Kirby Smart, Jon Sumrall and Brent Venables 

For some, there’s something special about pouring back into an alma mater. Eight of the 12 CFP coaches resonated with that statement, all coming back to their old stomping grounds early in their coaching careers.

A few of them started there. Mario Cristobal (Miami, 1998–2000), Jon Sumrall (Kentucky, 2005–2006), Brent Venables (Kansas State, 1993–1995) and Pete Golding (DII Delta State, 2006) all started as grad assistants after their playing days were over. Kirby Smart worked as an administrative assistant at Georgia in 1999. 

Before Sioux Falls moved to NCAA DII, Kalen DeBoer coached at his alma mater in 1997 and from 2000 to 2009. Holding three positions, he led the Cougars to three NAIA national championships as the head coach in 2006, 2008 and 2009. 

Ryan Day joined the New Hampshire staff in 2002 as the tight ends coach for a single season, while Mike Elko, who played at UPenn, was the defensive backs coach for the Quakers in 2000.  

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7 — Changed schools in 2022

Kalen DeBoer, Mario Cristobal, Mike Elko, Dan Lanning, Joey McGuire, Jon Sumrall and Brent Venables

The 2022 coaching carousel in college football was one of the wildest in recent memory, featuring major Power 5 across the country. It was mayhem, to say the least. 

Seven coaches involved in the chaos reached this year’s CFP, some with the teams they joined three years ago, and others not.  

Mario Cristobal, Dan Lanning, Joey McGuire and Brent Venables are nearing their four year anniversaries. Cristobal returned home to Miami after four seasons at Oregon, while Lanning took over for the Ducks and his former co-worker after three years as Georgia’s defensive coordinator. 

McGuire stayed in-state, going from Baylor’s associate head coach and outside linebackers coach to Texas Tech. Like Cristobal, Brent Venables returned to Oklahoma, where he coached from 1999 to 2011, leaving Clemson. 

For the three others, Kalen DeBoer went to Washington before Alabama, Mike Elko headed to Duke then Texas A&M and Jon Sumall went to Troy before Tulane.

6 — Awarded National (Head or Assistant) Coach of the Year recognition

Bob Chesney, Curt Cignetti, Mario Cristobal, Kalen DeBoer, Kirby Smart and Brent Venables

The conference Coach of the Year award isn’t an unfamiliar accolade for most of the coaches in the CFP — eight have won it since 2019. Only six have won a national coaching award for their respective position, though.

Kalen DeBoer and Curt Cignetti were deemed the best in the sport the last three years. DeBoer won AP Coach of the Year in 2023 after taking Washington to the CFP national championship. Cignetti secured it in 2024 and 2025, leading Indiana to its best regular season records in school history. 

Bob Chesney’s name is enshrined in Holy Cross history following its 11-0 regular season in 2022, helping him win the AFCA FCS Region 1 Coach of the Year. Mario Cristobal won 247Sports National Recruiter of the Year honor in 2015 while at Alabama. 

Kirby Smart and Brent Venables took home the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s best assistant coach, during their respective team’s national championship season. Smart won it in 2009 with Alabama and Venables in 2016 at Clemson.

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5 — Coached under Nick Saban at Alabama

Curt Cignetti, Mario Cristobal, Pete Golding, Dan Lanning and Kirby Smart

The college football community has raved for years about legend Nick Saban’s coaching tree. It feels like every few years, a budding star emerges that has ties to Saban through his time at Tuscaloosa, a random relative that played for him or a former coach that coached under him.

Just transitive property madness.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that five of 12 CFP head coaches are a part of the Saban tree. Kirby Smart, Mario Cristobal and Dan Lanning were all on the 2015 national championship’s coaching staff. Smart is the longest-tenured Saban assistant, coaching under him at LSU in 2004, the Miami Dolphins in 2006 and at Alabama mainly as the defensive coordinator from 2007 to 2015.

Cristobal manned assistant head coach, offensive live coach and recruiting coordinator duties from 2013 to 2016 for the Crimson Tide, while Lanning worked as a grad assistant in 2015. 

Curt Cignetti, like Smart, was a member of Saban's initial coaching staff at Alabama, working as recruiting coordinator and wide receiver coach that featured star wideout Julio Jones from 2007 to 2011. Pete Golding was Saban’s co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach from 2018 to 2022.

Expect the many branches of Saban’s coaching tree to continue growing in the years to come. 

5 — How many played FBS

Curt Cignetti, Mario Cristobal, Kirby Smart, Jon Sumrall and Brent Venables

Five coaches turned college playing careers at the FBS level into coaching gigs.

Kirby Smart and Mario Cristobal are the most well-known to do so, both head coaching at their alma maters. 

Smart played defensive back at UGA from 1995 to 1998, receiving first-team All-SEC in 1998. Cristobal was an offensive tackle for the Hurricanes from 1989 to 1992, winning two national championships and making the first-team All-Big East for the Hurricanes in 1992. 

Jon Sumrall led Kentucky in tackles as a linebacker in 2004, playing for the Wildcats from 2002 to 2004. Curt Cignetti was a quarterback for West Virginia from 1979 to 1982 and Brent Venables was a linebacker at Kansas State from 1991 and 1992. 

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5 — Coached on the DII/DIII level

Bob Chesney, Curt Cignetti, Kalen DeBoer, Mike Elko and Kirby Smart

Before the DI level, five coaches’ journeys included stops at DII and DIII programs. 

Bob Chesney's career was largely at those levels, coaching DII and DIII for 17 years from 2000 to 2017. Stopping at six different schools, he helped produce over 100 all-conference selections. 
 
After leaving Alabama, Curt Cignetti became the head coach at DII Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Over six seasons, he led the Crimson Hawks to the NCAA DII playoffs twice. Before Sioux Falls joined the NCAA DII, Kalen DeBoer coached at the NAIA school for 11 seasons. 

Mike Elko and Kirby Smart had quick stops at the DII/DIII level, both as their respective team’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. Elko worked for DIII Merchant Marine in 2001 and Smart from 2000 and 2001 at Valdosta State.

3 — Coached at the high school level

Kalen DeBoer, Dan Lanning and Joey McGuire

A few coaches’ first few ‘baby’ coaching steps came at the high school level. 

Two coached at the high schools they attended in Joey McGuire and Dan Lanning. McGuire was the defensive line coach at Crowley high school in Texas from 1995 and 1996, before moving on to Cedar Hill high school for the next two decades from 1997 to 2016 as the defensive backs coach for three years and then head coach. There, he brought the Longhorns four state championships. 

Lanning returned to Park Hill South high school in Kansas City, Missouri as the wide receivers and defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator in 2008 to 2010. Kalen DeBoer worked as an assistant coach at Washington High School in South Dakota in 1998 and 1999.