FOX Sports' Joel Klatt recently dropped his "Top 10 CFB Head Coaches" list, and some might say that Texas' Steve Sarkisian got majorly disrespected despite only being one or two spots lower than he should be.
Then again, Klatt has been known to basically do random things to elicit reactions from fans, so who's to say that he even believes in these rankings.
Thoughts on @joelklatt's Top 10 head coaches in college football? pic.twitter.com/FYULiDqCvM
— The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football on FOX Pod (@JoelKlattShow) February 23, 2026
It's completely understandable and warranted to have Curt Cignetti, Ryan Day, Kirby Smart, and Dan Lanning ahead of Sarkisian. Where the insanity comes in is with somebody like Marcus Freeman ahead of him.
What on earth has Notre Dame done that makes Freeman a better head coach than Steve Sarkisian? This has the same type of feeling that it did when the Irish were ranked ahead of the Longhorns in the 2026 College Football Playoff rankings.
It's wild that the media and voters have such a weirdly high amount of respect for Notre Dame in general. It's great that they have a pretty good win-loss record in the regular season every year, but once they decide to play anybody good (which is rare), they completely disappoint.
When you also take into consideration what Steve Sarkisian has done at Texas and what he's built, it's also light-years ahead of what Freeman's done at Notre Dame. Freeman inherited a program that was already a consistent winner (5 straight seasons of 10+ wins before he took over), and has continued to take credit for what Brian Kelly built in South Bend.
Who knows, maybe Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish can do something in 2026, but Steve Sarkisian should 110% be ahead of him right now in the rankings.