Professional football is a thinking man’s game, a battle that begins far before the opening kickoff when coaches and assistants began to plot and scheme the best routes to victory. So it only makes sense that this week’s Absurd Power Rankings values each franchise according to where its head coach attended college, based on the U.S. News & World Report National University Rankings. The better the college, the better the coach, and therefore the better the team.
Ranking NFL coaches by their alma maters
Jason Garrett went to Princeton, people forget that.
Tom Szczerbowski
As always, these are highly official and should be debated hotly as if they will change the future of history.
1. Dallas. Jason Garrett, Princeton (1st)
Photo: Princeton Magazine
2. Houston. Bill O’Brien, Brown (16th)
3. Carolina. Ron Rivera, Cal (20th)
4. Cleveland. Mike Pettine, UVA (23rd)
5. St. Louis. Jeff Fisher, USC (25th)
6. San Francisco. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan (29th)
7. Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin, William & Mary (33rd)
8. Tennessee. Ken Whisenhunt, Georgia Tech (35th)
9 (tie). Buffalo. Doug Marrone, Syracuse (58th)
9 (tie). New York Giants. Tom Coughlin, Syracuse (58th)
Photo: Syracuse University
11. Kansas City. Andy Reid, BYU (62nd)
12 (tie). Chicago. Marc Trestman, Minnesota (71st)
12 (tie). Arizona. Bruce Arians, Virginia Tech (71st)
12 (tie). Detroit. Jim Caldwell, Iowa (71st)
15. Baltimore. John Harbaugh, Miami of Ohio (76th)
16. Tampa Bay. Lovie Smith, Tulsa (88th)
17. Philadelphia. Chip Kelly, University of New Hampshire (99th)
18. Seattle. Pete Carroll, Pacific (116th)
Photo: University of the Pacific
19. San Diego. Mike McCoy, Utah (129th)
20. Minnesota. Mike Zimmer, Illinois State (142nd)
21. Denver. John Fox, San Diego State (149th)
22 (tie). Washington. Jay Gruden, Louisville (161st)
22 (tie). Indianapolis. Chuck Pagano, Wyoming (161st)
24. Jacksonville. Gus Bradley, North Dakota State (181st)
The following teams are all tied for 25th because the school their head coach attended is not ranked on the U.S. News national list. None of them will win the Super Bowl.
Atlanta. Mike Smith, East Tennessee
Cincinnati. Marvin Lewis, Idaho State
Photo: Idaho State University
Green Bay. Mike McCarthy, Baker University
Miami. Joe Philbin, Washington & Jefferson
New England. Bill Belichick, Wesleyan
New Orleans. Sean Payton, Eastern Illinois
New York Jets. Rex Ryan, Southwestern Oklahoma State
Oakland. Tony Sparano, University of New Haven
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