Mora Ranked #10 G5 Coach

[BlueandOG]

The Athletic ranked him #10. That's pretty good!

 

[BlueandOG]

1. Jamey Chadwell, Liberty (2024 ranking: No. 1)​

The 2024 Flames’ 8-4 campaign represented a step back, but Chadwell is 52-11 over the last five years across stints at Coastal Carolina and Liberty, including two undefeated regular seasons and a Fiesta Bowl appearance in 2023.

2. Jon Sumrall, Tulane (2024: No. 3)​

In three years as a head coach, Sumrall has reached three conference championship games and won two Sun Belt titles at Troy. He’s 32-9 as a head coach, and he took Tulane to nine wins and an AAC title game appearance last fall after having to replace much of the Green Wave’s top talent.

3. Jeff Monken, Army (2024: No. 7)​

Monken slid in last year’s rankings after consecutive 6-6 seasons without bowl appearances, but Army won the American Athletic Conference in its first season in the league, finishing 8-0 in league play and 12-2 overall (with a nonconference loss to AAC member Navy and an AAC title win against Tulane). Monken has turned the Black Knights into a consistent force after the program struggled for decades.

4. Dan Mullen, UNLV (2024: Not eligible)​

Mullen is hard to place because he hasn’t coached since 2021, but his resume is strong. He took Mississippi State to a No. 1 ranking in 2014 and reached eight consecutive bowl games at a place where qualifying for the postseason is hard. He also reached three New Year’s Six games in three years at Florida before a bad 2021 got him fired. His 34-15 record in Gainesville is much better than his successor’s. Mullen seems to thrive in the underdog role, and UNLV’s recent success gives him something on which to build.

5. Jeff Traylor, UTSA (2024: No. 2)​

Traylor has taken UTSA to five bowl games in five years; the program had just one in the previous seven years. In the first year following quarterback Frank Harris’ graduation, the Roadrunners dipped to 7-6 after racking up 32 wins and two CUSA titles over the previous three years. However, they won five of their last seven games, and the two losses came by a combined six points.

6. Troy Calhoun, Air Force (2024: No. 4)​

After posting at least nine wins in each of the previous four non-pandemic-altered seasons, Air Force slipped to 5-7 in 2024, though it closed on a four-game winning streak. The Falcons have reached a bowl game in 13 of Calhoun’s 18 seasons.

7. Ryan Silverfield, Memphis (2024: No. 14)​

Silverfield found his breakthrough at Memphis and can now build off the first consecutive 10-win seasons in program history and four consecutive bowl wins. He’s 42-21 after following in the successful footsteps of Mike Norvell and Justin Fuente. He’s also 12-4 in AAC play over the last two years.

8. Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State (2024: No. 9)​

Mendenhall moved from New Mexico to Utah State after one season in Albuquerque, highlighting just how impressive the Lobos’ 5-7 record was. It was so good that all of his top players transferred to Power 4 schools. Mendenhall is 140-88 as a head coach, regularly won eight-plus games at BYU and took Virginia to an Orange Bowl before stepping away from coaching.

9. Tim Albin, Charlotte (2024: Not ranked)​

Albin went 30-10 in the past three years at Ohio, bringing the Bobcats their first MAC championship since 1968. He took the Charlotte job later that day. Albin inherited a good Ohio program from Frank Solich and went 3-9 his first year. Then he took the Bobcats to a place even Solich couldn’t.

10. Jim Mora, UConn (2024: NR)​

Mora has done a solid job in Storrs, taking the previously moribund Huskies to two bowl games in three years. UConn’s nine wins last fall were the program’s most since 2007. He also went 46-30 in six years at UCLA. He flamed out as the program began to slip, but his two 10-win seasons are the Bruins’ only such campaigns since 2005.

11. Spencer Danielson, Boise State (2024: Not eligible)​

Danielson is only this low because he has been a head coach for barely a year. He’s 15-3 overall, with those three losses coming to No. 1 Oregon on a last-second field goal, to Penn State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals and in a bowl game against UCLA in which Boise State played its third-string quarterback. Danielson must replace Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty this year, but expect the coach to move up this list quickly in the years ahead.

12. Jason Candle, Toledo (2024: No. 10)​

Candle is 73-40 overall at Toledo and 28-13 over the last three years with a MAC title. It’s sustained, high-level success in a league where that’s hard to come by.

13. Chuck Martin, Miami Ohio (2024: No. 11)​

Martin’s 65-67 overall record is deceiving, as he’s 51-32 in MAC play. Miami is 20-8 over the last two seasons with two MAC title game appearances and one league title, plus a 15-3 record against MAC teams in that span. Martin also went 74-7 with two national titles at Division II Grand Valley State from 2004 to ‘09.

14. Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky (2024: No. 12)​

Helton has won at least eight games in five of his six years as a head coach, though never more than nine. The Hilltoppers are consistently good despite seemingly annual raids of the program’s roster and coaching staff by Power 4 schools.

15. K.C. Keeler, Temple (2024: NR)​

Keeler turned Sam Houston State into a Football Championship Subdivision powerhouse, winning a national championship, and then took the Bearkats to nine wins in their second FBS season. He also won an FCS national title at Delaware and is now headed back to the Northeast, replacing Stan Drayton at Temple.

16. GJ Kinne, Texas State (2024: NR)​

In two seasons, Kinne has directed Texas State to its first two bowl games in program history, finishing with 8-5 records. He also went 12-2 and finished with a top-three national ranking in his lone season at FCS Incarnate Word.

17. Bob Chesney, James Madison (2024: Not eligible)​

Chesney had to rebuild a JMU program decimated by the transfer portal and still went 9-4 in his first season, including a 70-50 win at North Carolina. Before JMU, Chesney made Holy Cross an annual top-25 FCS team and did the same at Assumption University in Division II before that.

18. Pete Lembo, Buffalo (2024: Not eligible)​

Lembo wins everywhere. He’s 121-69 as a head coach across four jobs and led Buffalo to a 9-4 record in his first season. He took Ball State to a 10-win season in 2013 and regularly made the FCS playoffs at Lehigh and Elon.

19. Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State (2024: NR)​

Niumatalolo returned to head coaching to prove he still had it and that he could win without running a triple-option offense. The result was a solid 7-6 debut season at San Jose State. He posted nine seasons of at least eight wins at Navy before three losing seasons ended his tenure.

20. Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan (2024: No. 13)​

Creighton has done the impossible job of turning Eastern Michigan into an annual bowl contender, though last year’s 5-7 record was the program’s first sub-.500 finish in a non-pandemic-altered season since 2017.

Just missed: Butch Jones (Arkansas State), Clay Helton (Georgia Southern), Charles Huff (Southern Miss), Jay Norvell (Colorado State), Alex Golesh (USF), Sean Lewis (San Diego State), Major Applewhite (South Alabama), Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois), Michael Desormeaux (Louisiana).

 

[Gburyhusky]

Important metric. Based on where the program was when he took over, and the challenges of being the only true independent, he probably deserves to be in the top 5.

 

[noeynox]

I love Dan Mullen off that list, but Mora has fit like a glove here. No ego, not driven by money, solid coach and recruiter, and knows BB is king here. He just asks for the basics to compete.

 

[Chuck]

Mora should be higher in my opinion. We were REALLY bad and have no conference bowl tie ins. We were a running joke and always in that un-clever Bottom 10 list as a default. He's changed the results and the perception.

 

[UConnDan97]

It's hard to understand how he wouldn't be top 3 if we're only looking at the G5. #10 feels like a gigantic slight to either Mora, UConn, or both...

 

[UCMB88]

The list is flawed by having coaches on it who haven't coached one game yet at their new school. Sure, Mullen was successful at Miss. St. and he was OK at Florida, but who knows how the heck he'll do at UNLV, who traditionally have not been a strong program. The turnaround Mora has accomplished at UConn in just 3 years, all while being a dreaded independent FBS program in the Northeast, is nothing short of spectacular.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

It's hard to understand how he wouldn't be top 3 if we're only looking at the G5. #10 feels like a gigantic slight to either Mora, UConn, or both...

I think he was underrated at UCLA and he is underrated at UConn. I think it’s pretty amazing that he has adapted so well in the NIL environment. If it was so easy to be successful as an independent, you would see more independents.

 

[Enrique]

He is the coach it UConn. UConn football will always be underrated, due to their recent past. Underrating UConn will magnify their future success under Mora.