Ranking the American Athletic Conference's College Football Coaches for 2023

Dannymacfan · July 13, 2023

1. Willie Fritz, Tulane
Tulane was one of college football's biggest surprises from the '22 season. After a 2-10 season the previous year, the Green Wave went 12-2, won the AAC title and finished No. 9 nationally after beating USC in the Cotton Bowl. Fritz has guided the program to four bowl games over the last five seasons - a significant upgrade after Tulane earned just one postseason trek from 2003-17. Whether it's the current stint in New Orleans or previous stops at Central Missouri (97-47 from 1997-09), Sam Houston (40-15 from 2010-13), or Georgia Southern (17-7 from 2014-15), Fritz is simply a winner and has a resume that places him among (if not No. 1) the best Group of 5 coaches in the nation.

2. Jeff Traylor, UTSA
Of the six new programs in the American Athletic Conference for '23, the Roadrunners are easily the team most capable of making an impact right away - potentially for a berth in a New Year's Six bowl. After a successful stint as the head coach at Gilmer High School, Traylor spent time as an assistant at Texas, SMU, and Arkansas before taking over in San Antonio. In three seasons at the helm, the Roadrunners are 30-10 and posted back-to-back Conference USA titles (2021-22).

read more: https://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-american-athletic-conference-college-football-coaches-2023

greenminer · July 13, 2023

UAB lol

Glory to the Green · July 13, 2023

So many new coaches in the AAC. Let’s see how the season plays out. I think Morris will end up better than 8th by the end of the year.

meangreen11 · July 13, 2023

I think it is very telling that at about the same time we hired Seth, Tulane hired Willie Fritz and not far after UTSA hired Jeff Traylor. If that #1 and #2 ranking is not a indictment of Seth’s results at UNT I don’t know what is.

in terms of Eric, no one outside of us and maybe a few people in Lubbock and San Antonio know who the heck he is. I think that could change quickly.

UNTLifer · July 13, 2023

I’ll give you Fritz. Some posters on here wanted us to hire him. Traylor, though, was hired four years later at utsa.

outoftown · July 14, 2023

Lashlee is 5th. And honestly I think that is too high. Until his squads start performing up to the talent he has he is only a decent recruiter who was a good coordinator. He could still completely be like any UT head coach since Mack Brown. And the fact that recruitment is good has less meaning to me than it would elsewhere, because he has more money to support him than any other AAC coach.

Concerning new coaches i think this article has it about right, but it is always a bit of a crap shoot. I get the skepticisim of Dilfer, but honestly - nobody ever really knows if first time D1 head coaches will work out. Its kind of a crapshoot. That said people who were succesful head coaches at FCS and DII tend to work out a tiny bit better on average than those who were coordinators, but the difference is not huge while variability is.

Edited July 14, 2023 by outoftown

greenminer · July 14, 2023

On 7/12/2023 at 8:25 PM, greenminer said:

UAB lol

I keep coming back to this. I just cannot believe where UAB is right now. Before Traylor/UTSA, it was UAB in the conference 'ship for 3 straight years. A comeback story, their program rose from the ashes like a Phoenix and had a stranglehold on their peers.

Then they hired Dilfer. Unreal. Did Alabama Crimson Tide have a say in this decision? lol