Ranking the Best Offensive Coordinators In College Football In 2026

College football is a sport generally defined by strong coaching staffs and effective quarterback play. 

To correctly bet in the college football odds market – especially before the season starts – bettors must first read the tea leaves on which programs have assembled competent coach-quarterback batteries. 

One deeply overlooked piece of that formula is the offensive coordinator. It’s no coincidence that the top two names on my list for 2024 – Chip Kelly and Mike Denbrock – both coached their teams in the national championship game. 

Here are some of the top offensive coordinators in college football for 2026.

Best Offensive Coordinators In College Football (2026)

Chip Kelly, Northwestern

The last two years of Chip Kelly’s professional life could adequately be referred to as The Agony and the Ecstasy. Kelly helped Ohio State win a national title. A year later, he was back in the NFL with the Raiders, and his offense was getting absolutely destroyed.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out what happened there. At Ohio State, Kelly had the most talent he’s ever had, relative to his competition. In Las Vegas, the opposite was true. He might not have even had the personnel required to run his scheme, and his head coach was a 74-year-old at the end of his career. Not exactly a position to succeed.

Kelly’s resume has to be respected. But at Northwestern, he’s probably a little closer to the Vegas end of the talent spectrum than what he got at Ohio State. Still, Kelly’s creativity and historical success in college might be enough to move the Wildcats up another level in the Big Ten.

Kendal Briles, South Carolina

Briles effectively uses misdirection and route tree verticality to stress opposing defenses. He routinely creates one of the most efficient offenses on a yards per play basis, and he’s creative enough to make year-to-year installs on the fly. 

Briles was at TCU for three years, but he’s jumping back to the SEC. Before TCU, his previous role was as OC at Arkansas from 2020-22. Plenty of coaches don’t work out in Fayetteville these days, so perhaps his partnership with Shane Beamer will be more fruitful. 

Arthur Smith, Ohio State

Arthur Smith might be the most interesting name in all of college football this year. Smith earned a lot of respect as the Tennessee Titans OC under Mike Vrabel in the late 2010s, turning Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry into an inexplicable, unstoppable offensive force. 

Recent stints with the Falcons (head coach) and Steelers (OC) were less successful, and so Smith is looking to reestablish himself as a coach with an offensive vision that works. 

The step down to college is an interesting wrinkle. Smith hasn’t held a college position since he was a defensive intern with Ole Miss in 2010. But like Kelly in 2024, Smith’s opportunity to work with an abundance of talent at Ohio State might provide him with the opportunity to reinvigorate his career. 

Given the slow pace the Buckeyes played with last year, it’s easy to see Smith supercharging that with masterful offensive line control and an emphasis on power football. 

Andy Kotelnicki, Kansas

After the deconstruction of the James Franklin coaching staff at Penn State, presnap maestro Andy Kotelnicki returned to his previous post at Kansas, where he helped Lance Leipold revive a Jayhawks program that had become an embarrassing afterthought.

With Kotelnicki’s return, Kansas might stand a chance to look more like the 2023 team that won nine games. 

Charlie Weis Jr, LSU

Charlie Weis Jr. is only 33 years old, but he’s already one of the most effective coordinators in college football. He joined the Ole Miss staff in 2023 as co-OC and followed head coach Lane Kiffin to LSU at the end of last season.

Ole Miss ranked eighth in college football last year with 6.6 yards per play. If LSU can recreate that with Sam Leavitt playing quarterback, the Tigers should be in playoff contention, and Leavitt will be a Heisman front-runner. 

Jason Beck, Michigan 

Nobody builds statues of offensive coordinators after a great season at a G6 school. But if they did, Jason Beck would probably get one at New Mexico. His partnership with Bronco Mendenhall turned New Mexico into a tough out almost immediately.

New Mexico went 5-7 in 2024, and both coaches left after the year was over. But that season became the springboard that now has New Mexico looking like a Mountain West favorite in 2026. And Beck, for his part, was immediately scooped up by Kyle Whittingham to be the OC for the Utes. 

That’s how Beck went from a no-name OC to head of the Michigan offense in two years flat. And with blue chip recruits now at his disposal, Beck should be able to create a dangerous hybrid offense that could utilize both spread and power concepts. Utah ranked third nationally in red zone touchdown rate last year, so Big Ten fans should expect Michigan to find pay dirt at an alarming rate this fall. 

Kyle Flood, Texas

The 2025 season was a challenging season for Kyle Flood, who has featured prominently in my list of top OCs in previous years. A lot of that came down to Arch Manning and execution, but Flood inevitably shoulders some of that blame. 

Flood can afford to take a one-year hit because he hasn’t jumped around, climbing the ladder in pursuit of every last opportunity. Instead, the Texas OC has done something radical and rare in this hyper-mobile age: stayed put. 

A years-long working partnership with Steve Sarkesian at a resource-rich program like Texas has allowed Flood to continually refine his power run game and intermediate passing tree with five-star talents.

Drew Mehringer, Oregon

The way Drew Mehringer transformed an FCS offense that was primarily known for its conservative approach felt revolutionary. 

Mehringer has been co-OC for the Ducks since 2022, working as a partner to Will Stein. With Stein now taking up residence as the new head coach at Kentucky, it’s solely Mehringer’s offense to work with. 

Oregon fans have to feel at least a little bit nervous about the coaching talent that walked out the door this past offseason. But with Mehringer still patrolling the sideline, the Oregon offense should stay humming. 

Shannon Dawson, Miami

It is easy to look like a genius when your offense is cranking out NFL quarterbacks and running past defenders with Florida speed. But Shannon Dawson has helped head coach Mario Cristobal grow something remarkable at Miami: a college offense that holds people’s attention in distracted South Beach.

Last year’s incredible defensive talent on the line of scrimmage was why Miami ultimately made a run to the national title game. But the offense was good enough to handle its business, ranking second nationally in scoring (42 points per game) and racking a respectable 5.8 yards per play. It should be a big year for Malachi Toney.

Mike Shanahan, Indiana

No, not that one. Indiana’s Mike Shanahan – who carries no relation to the longtime NFL head coach – has been with head coach Curt Cignetti since 2016, when they were at IUP together. The following season, they made the jump to Elon, then flipped to Harrisonburg in 2019, and … well, you probably know the rest.

Over the course of their partnership, Shanahan has tinkered with his offense. But what makes Shanahan so lethal is how his offensive mastery pairs with Cignetti’s talent evaluation. Shanahan and Cignetti get exactly the player they want, and they coach them to fit exactly the role they want. 

The result is exactly what fans saw in the storybook 2025 season, where Indiana led FBS in red zone touchdown rate. 

Mike Denbrock, Notre Dame

Denbrock has created quite a resume for himself over the last couple of years. In 2023, his mentorship as the LSU OC helped nab Jayden Daniels a Heisman Trophy. 

When he returned to Notre Dame for the 2024 season, he helped the playoff win-starved Irish mount a run through the new expanded postseason format and reach the national title game.

Denbrock blends scheme elements better than most and sequences incredibly effective red zone ideas. He’s the best offensive coordinator in America right now.

Don’t be surprised if he’s pulled up to another job soon – perhaps a college football head coaching job at a premium institution. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the NFL grab him for a high-profile OC job, either. His concept mixes are exactly what the NFL is looking for these days.