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This recent BetOnline Twitter study was created in a search for who would replace Nick Saban, Jim Harbaugh, and (to a lesser extent) Urban Meyer as the best college football coach in the country.
The graphic below is based on X data in the last month (30 days) tracking positive sentiment tweets to find out who college football fans think is the best coach in the game right now. For example, tracking tweets, hashtags, and phrases like "Kirby Smart is the best coach in college football," "Kirby Smart is the GOAT," "Kirby Smart is a great coach," "Kirby Smart is a genius," "Kirby Smart is a winner," etc. Over 80,000 tweets were tracked.
As you can see from the graphic, college football fans are indeed going with the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, followed by the man to replace Nick Saban, Kalen DeBoer. They are followed by Dabo Swinney.
Interestingly, only 3 active head coaches have won a national championship - Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, and Mack Brown.
Here's the breakdown (based on positive sentiment tweets):
Kirby Smart, Georgia:
8476
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama:
6205
Dabo Swinney, Clemson:
5376
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss:
4460
Lincoln Riley, USC:
4603
Dan Lanning, Oregon:
4196
Steve Sarkisian, Texas:
3776
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State:
3590
Josh Heupel, Tennessee:
2927
Brian Kelly, LSU:
2879
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin:
2802
Mark Stoops, Kentucky:
2718
Brent Venables, Oklahoma:
2409
Ryan Day, Ohio State:
2131
Mike Norvell, Florida State:
2055
Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri:
1938
Sonny Dykes, TCU:
1557
P.J. Fleck, Minnesota:
1554
Kyle Whittingham, Utah:
1297
Jeff Brohm, Louisville:
1227
Pat Narduzzi, Pitt:
1211
Mike Locksley, Maryland:
1147
Mack Brown, North Carolina:
1128
Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame:
1026
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa:
966
Dave Doeren, NC State:
961
James Franklin, Penn State:
824
Jonathan Smith, Michigan State:
805
Hugh Freeze, Auburn:
781
Chris Klieman, Kansas State:
635
