Former Alabama QB disputes where ESPN has Kalen DeBoer ranked in its list of top coaches in college football

ESPN released its rankings of the top college football coaches heading into the 2026 season on Thursday. The list was headlined by Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, with Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer tied with, but listed behind, Miami’s Mario Cristobal at No. 10.

Ahead of DeBoer and Cristobal were also Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, LSU’s Lane Kiffin, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Georgia’s Kirby Smart.

Though all of the coaches on the list have achieved national and prestigious recognition for the jobs they have done at some point in their careers, former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy had something to say about the rankings.

“He’s never had a losing season at any level, anywhere,” McElroy said on his McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning podcast. “Very few people in college football coaching can tell you that they’ve won a national championship first and foremost. You could tell me the level, I could care less. 
Winning a national championship at the NAIA level, D3, D2, they’re hard to win. It’s not like Sioux Falls had some remarkable advantage over every other team in NAIA. They didn’t; they won it with coaching acumen. 
So the fact that he’s won 86% of his games is absurd. That’s higher than just about anybody that sits in front of him. That’s significantly higher than Mario Cristobal’s at 55%.”

McElroy continued to criticize the coaches ranked ahead of DeBoer, noting that the majority of them, including Smart, have lower winning percentages. He also mentioned how Lanning, whose tied with DeBoer at 86%, and Day, who has a better winning percentage, both stepped into their head coaching careers in great positions with tons of talent.

The former Tide quarterback, who went 24-3 as a starter and recorded over 5,000 passing yards in his career, made an argument for DeBoer to be closer to the top of the rankings based on the overall success he’s had, dating back to his days at Sioux Falls.

“Three NAIA titles; he went 67-3 in that run. He went 14-1 at Washington and, at one game short, lost to Michigan in the national championship game,” McElroy said. “In the process, he is undefeated against Dan Landing, who came in at No. 5. 
And reminder, when he got to Washington, he didn’t step into a great situation. The year before he arrived, that team went 4-8. 4-8, if you look at his performances, he is the first coach to ever win a college football playoff game on the road after erasing a 17-0 hole to beat Oklahoma last year.”

The former 2009 national champion with the Crimson Tide continued his argument by pointing out DeBoer’s 30-9 record in one-score games, saying that his success in close games comes from his ability to out-coach the opponent.

“Would you love for him to win games by 40? Awesome, cool. I just want him to win games,” McElroy said.

DeBoer will kick off his third season in Tuscaloosa with East Carolina at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Sept. 5, a relatively easy opener before he gets his chance to prove just how capable a coach he is over the course of a new nine-game SEC schedule.