Coaches Poll

Coaches Poll. The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams, determined by a panel of active head coaches. Since its inception in 1950, it has been one of the most prominent and influential rankings in college football, historically forming a major component of the Bowl Championship Series and later the College Football Playoff selection process. Administered by USA Today and sponsored by Amway, the poll's results are closely watched throughout the season and often spark significant debate.

History and origin

The poll was created in 1950 through a collaboration between the American Football Coaches Association and United Press International, seeking to provide a competitor to the established AP Poll. The inaugural poll crowned the 1950 Oklahoma Sooners football team as its first national champion. For decades, the final poll of the season was released following the conclusion of the bowl game schedule, which sometimes led to split national championships, such as in 1978 between Alabama and Southern California. Its role was fundamentally elevated in 1992 when it was integrated into the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series, where it was combined with computer rankings to determine championship game participants.

Methodology

Each week during the season, a panel of over 60 active FBS head coaches casts ballots, ranking the top 25 teams. The voting panel is selected by USA Today in conjunction with the American Football Coaches Association. Coaches submit their ballots electronically, and the poll is compiled and published by USA Today. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, descending to one point for a 25th-place vote. The teams are then ordered by total points. To promote transparency, the organization has, at times, publicly released the individual ballots of participating coaches, though this practice has not been consistent. The final poll of the season is conducted after the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Reception and criticism

The poll has faced sustained criticism for perceived conflicts of interest and lack of rigor. Detractors argue that coaches, burdened with full-time team duties, cannot possibly evaluate dozens of other teams with the depth of dedicated analysts or media members. Instances of suspected voting bias, such as coaches ranking their own teams or conference rivals favorably, have been frequent points of contention. The secrecy surrounding many individual ballots has also fueled skepticism about the poll's integrity. Furthermore, its former role in the Bowl Championship Series formula was often blamed for creating conservative, inertia-driven rankings that were slow to recognize emerging teams like the 2007 Appalachian State Mountaineers football team after their famous upset of Michigan.

Impact on college football

For over two decades, the poll's influence was magnified by its formal role in determining national championship contenders. As one-third of the Bowl Championship Series standings formula, alongside the AP Poll and computer rankings, it directly decided participation in marquee games like the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. This immense power affected everything from recruiting battles to conference prestige and television revenue distribution. Even after the College Football Playoff replaced the BCS, the poll remained a designated selector for the playoff committee, informing their weekly rankings and thus continuing to shape the postseason landscape. Victories in "poll-moving" games, such as traditional rivalries like the Red River Showdown between Oklahoma and Texas, have often been assessed through their immediate impact on these rankings.

Comparison with other polls

The most direct historical comparison is with the AP Poll, which is voted on by media members. While the two often aligned, notable splits occurred, as in 1997 between Michigan and Nebraska. Media polls are generally considered more observant and less susceptible to institutional bias. The College Football Playoff rankings, introduced in 2014 and determined by a selection committee of former coaches, players, and administrators, have supplanted the Coaches Poll as the most authoritative ranking, though the committee monitors it. Computer rankings like those from Jeff Sagarin and the Anderson & Hester system, which use purely algorithmic formulas, offer a stark contrast by eliminating human subjectivity entirely, though they too were criticized during the Bowl Championship Series era for opaque methodologies.

Category:College football rankings Category:American Football Coaches Association Category:USA Today