Third-year coaching grades: Where Kenny Dillingham, Deion Sanders and Brent Key rank A to F originally appeared on Sports news. Add The Sporting News as Favorite source by clicking here.
The end of the 2025 college football season concluded year three for eight power-four college football coaches. Kenny Dillingham-Arizona State, Hugh Freeze-Auburn, Scott Satterfield-Cincinnati, Deion Sanders-Colorado, Brent Key-Georgia Tech, Jeff Brohm-Louisville, Matt Rhule-Nebraska and Luke Fickell-Wisconsin.
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CBS Sports compiled the ratings of these eight coaches. Within their ranks, these coaches can be classified on three levels. He does a good job, in the hot seat and he gets fired.
The eight coaches have varying degrees of notoriety, hype and expectations. Based on these factors and on-field results, grades are taken into account. However, grades and order can be far from predictable.
Third year coaching notes: Doing a good job
No. 1 Kenny Dillingham – Grade A
Coach Dillingham is the only coach on this list of third year coaches with the hardware. In 2024, the Dillingham Sun Devils won a Big 12 Conference Championship. Despite an early 3-9 start to his ASU coaching tenure, Dillingham enjoyed unqualified success at his alma mater.
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Since joining the Big 12, Arizona State is 13-5 against its conference opponents. In addition to the Big 12 championship, Dillingham led the Sun Devils to a College Football Playoff berth and a top 10 finish in 2024.
Dillingham has one win against a top-10 ranked Texas Tech team, as well as a 6-2 record against ranked opponents over the past two seasons.
Brent Key n°2 – Category: A
Key at Georgia Tech is another example of a former player at the helm. A former Yellow Jackets offensive lineman has done an admirable job of bringing Georgia Tech back into the national conversation.
The Yellow Jackets under Key have been bowl eligible every year under his leadership and the win total peaked in 2025 at nine. He’s a long way from making the College Football Playoff.
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In three short seasons, Key turned Georgia Tech into an ACC contender. Key is 20-11 against conference opponents. He also has highlight wins against Miami and Clemson. The only ACC teams to play in a national championship game in the playoff era.
#3 Jeff Brohm – Grade: A
The final “A” goes to Louisville coach Brohm. Brohm immediately found success at Louisville. The 2023 Cardinals were in the ACC championship game and finished that season with a top-20 finish.
The former Louisville quarterback took the head coaching job in 2023 and quickly compiled nine-win dual seasons (2024, 2025). Brohm has 28 victories in three seasons. Giving him the best winning percentage on this list.
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Brohm’s record against conference opponents has been inconsistent, in part due to a late-season losing streak in 2025. Regardless of where the wins come from, Brohm earns a spot in first place with the best win total in the group.
Third-year coaching notes: In the hot seat
No. 4 Deion Sanders – Grade: C+
Objectively, this seems a bit high. More than any other coach on this list, Sanders has capitalized on the hype. With his Louis Luggage following him to Boulder, 2023 had some highlights but was an objectively unsuccessful season.
After beating TCU following their appearance in the 2022 title game, Sanders’ Buffs would improve to 3-0. Overnight, Colorado became must-see television. In week four, they were convincingly beaten by Oregon and lost a close game to USC shortly after.
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In 2024, Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders led a successful offense to a 9-3 regular season record. They also played at the Alamo Bowl. Colorado was in the Big 12 title race until Week 11.
Despite trending in the right direction in 2024, the Buffaloes had their worst season under Sanders in 2025. Sanders faced significant medical issues during the offseason and the 2025 recruiting schedule. Since then, Sanders has promised changes and reshuffled the roster again. Sanders is the highest-ranked coach on this list with a losing record.
No. 5 Matt Rhule – Grade: C
Rhule at five when Sanders is at four is slightly confusing. However, this could be a comparison between where these respective programs are and where they were before. While Sanders has brought enthusiasm back to Colorado, Rhule has yet to live up to expectations.
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A program once considered a national contender is coming off two bowl-eligible seasons and the first playoff victory in nearly a decade. Bowling eligibility is simply not an expectation.
Rhule considers the Cornhuskers better than they were, but a 10-17 record against conference opponents is “doing a good job” by far. In three seasons, Rhule does not have a quality victory over an opponent ranked in the top 25 in the AP.
No. 6 Scott Satterfield – Grade: C-
Technically, the Cincinnati Bearcats are moving in the right direction under Satterfield, but not as quickly as fans might have hoped. In 2023, Satterfield and the Bearcats were a 3–9 football team, with a 1–8 record in conference play.
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In 2024, they improved to 5-7 (3-6 in conference), before finishing 7-6 (5-4 in conference) in 2025. In 2025, they finished in the top half of Division 1 for the first time under Satterfield.
In 2025, Cincinnati has been very active in the transfer portal. Bringing in 20 new players, mostly 3-stars of varying levels, while losing 19. The biggest loss being 5-star quarterback Brendan Sorsby against Texas Tech.
#7 Luke Fickell – Grade: C-
Fickell had become a big name after some success in Cincinnati. When Fickell was hired at Wisconsin, it was celebrated by college football viewers. The results were simply lower than expected.
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Fickell’s Badgers had a bowl game in 2023 and on-field production has regressed since then. Fickell’s 17-21 record has led to much speculation about his future with the program.
Surprisingly, Fickell survived the 2025 hot seat. A name that was on many short lists of coaches who could be fired in 2025. Joe Thomas, one of the greatest Badgers of all time, said firing Fickell was not the answer, in a statement. radio interview late last year.
Fickell will likely start the 2026 season where he spent the 2025 season. On the hot seat.
Third-year coaching notes: Fired
No. 8 Hugh Freeze – Rating: F
In three years, Coach Freeze led the Auburn Tigers to one bowl game, going 6-7. That season, Auburn did not finish in the top half of Division 1 (71st of 133).
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2024 and 2025 resulted in 5-7 double records. The conference report paints an even more scathing picture. Auburn, once considered a college football power and a top SEC team, has just three conference wins in the past two seasons.
A 6-16 overall record against SEC teams in three years is significantly below expectations.
Before the end of the 2025 season, Auburn decided to part ways with Hugh Freeze. Alex Golesh of South Florida took over in December. Since then, the Tigers have flipped over 39 players from the 2025 roster.
