Making it to the top in college football requires paying your dues but several top young coaches have already climbed the ladder before the age of 40. There is only an elite group of young leaders that have managed to prove themselves to the point where they have earned top head coaching jobs and we compiled the list of the absolute best of them. Here is a look at the best college football coaches under 40 right now.
Justin Fuente
Virginia Tech Hokies
Fuente has been one of the rising stars in the coaching ranks for the past couple of years based on his work as the head coach at Memphis. All of his hard work paid off again when he was picked by Virginia Tech to succeed longtime head coach Frank Beamer. Fuente proved with the Tigers that he can lead a winning program to some big victories over more prestigious programs like Ole Miss and now he will have every opportunity to build a contender as the new head coach at Virginia Tech.
Willie Taggart
South Florida Bulls
Taggart played quarterback and coached with Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky before eventually serving under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford. Taggart eventually returned to Western Kenucky as the head coach from 2010 to 2012 and then was given the opportunity to be the head coach at South Florida. At 39-years-old, Taggart won’t have much more time on this list but he has certainly earned this spot with the job that he has done with the Bulls since taking over in 2013.
D.J. Durkin
Maryland Terrapins
After two tenures under both Urban Meyer and Harbaugh, it’s pretty clear that Durkin has learned from some of the best in the game. The former graduate assistant at Bowling Green under Mayer worked as the special teams coordinator under Meyer at Florida, and then filled the same role under Harbaugh at Stanford before he served as the defensive coordinator for Harbaugh at Michigan. The Wolverines’ level of play on the defensive side of the football helped Durkin to earn the head coaching gig at Maryland and there is no doubt that the Terrapins hit big with his addition. The key will be to see what he does on his own. Remember, he’s coached under some of the best in the business, so was he an integral part of their college football coaching staffs that helped elevate them? Or were they going to be great regardless of what he did? That’s what we’re going to find out in Maryland over the next few seasons. For their sake, they’re hoping that he’s legit.
Kliff Kingsbury
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech must improve its defense in order to become a more complete team but there is no doubt that Kingsbury has done an excellent job building up a dynamic offensive attack in Lubbock. Kingsbury had a major role in helping Houston’s Case Keenum break some of his own FBS record seasons and then oversaw Johnny Manziel’s breakout year for Texas A&M. All of those accomplishments made him an obvious pick for the Red Raiders, who have posted three straight top-10 finishes in total offense in college football and should be a lock to extend that run to four this year. Remember that the drop-off in offense was a concern every since Mike Leach left as that was the one thing that the Red Raiders were known for under him. The offense faded during the brief Tommy Tuberville era but it’s back under Kingsbury.
Kingsbury could certainly use a talented defensive coordinator to help raise his team’s level of play on that side of the football. He’s young, he’s been labeled as ‘cool’ and ‘good looking’ by the media, and he looks to have of a coach that will end up at a bigger school managing a bigger program down the line. However, this is a crucial year for him as the Red Raiders won eight games in his first year but dropped to four and then seven wins in each of the last two seasons.
