When Ohio State's Ryan Day lifted the CFP National Championship trophy Jan. 20 in Atlanta, he joined the exclusive club of college football coaches who have claimed the sport's ultimate prize.
The retirement of Nick Saban, the NFL departure of Jim Harbaugh and the firings of Jimbo Fisher and Mack Brown briefly reduced the number of active coaches with national titles to just two: Georgia's Kirby Smart and Clemson's Dabo Swinney. Day became the third after leading Ohio State on a masterful run through the first 12-team College Football Playoff. His name can be scratched off of the list of most successful college coaches without a title.
Who will be the next coach to follow Day and win his first national title? Perhaps the man Day beat in Atlanta, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman. The two coaches whose teams lost in the semifinals, Texas' Steve Sarkisian and Penn State's James Franklin, also are close.
Oregon coach Dan Lanning led his team to an undefeated regular season and a Big Ten title as a league newcomer and the No. 1 seed in the 12-team CFP. The playoff field also included Tennessee's Josh Heupel and others whose teams could soon be positioned for a title push.
Here's a look at the coaches on the cusp of their first titles, a group of wild-card coaches looking to maintain a possible championship trajectory and some who not long ago found themselves in Day's spot, but have since backslid.
Jump to a section:
The Close Ones
Wild Cards
Slipping Away