Ladies and gentlemen, college football is nearly upon us.
In just seven days’ time, week zero will be gracing our television with all sorts of pigskin perfection, and one of the byproducts of having college football back in our lives is the myriad “offseason arguments” that plague our timelines on a near daily basis will be a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, one argument that is borderline evergreen and exists as both an offseason and in-season debate is whether certain coaches will ever win a national championship, and it has reared its ugly head on social media once again.
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Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian runs out of the tunnel with the players before the Big 12 football game between Texas Longhorns and Kansas Jayhawks on September 30, 2023, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX. (David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
I’ve seen fans from across the country making their claims that coaches like Dan Lanning and Steve Sarkisian “will never” or “can’t” win a national title, and, as usual, a topic that requires a ton of nuance and context has been boiled down to a singular phrase.
“This coach will never win a natty because he hasn’t won one yet.”
It’s insane, especially when you consider just the pure math that goes into this argument.
There were 138 FBS teams in 2025, and there was only one national champion.
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Now take into account that there are only four active coaches in FBS that have won a national title (Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, and Curt Cignetti), and you realize how hard it is to actually win one.
Head Coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs speaks during a press conference at the 2025 SEC Football Media Days at Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park on July 15, 2025, in Atlanta, Ga. (Getty Images)
I don’t think it’s fair to say guys like Sark and Lanning can’t win a title, especially considering how young they are, relatively speaking.
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They “can” win one, they just haven’t done it yet.
As long as they keep going to the College Football Playoff and taking swings (and given the talent they have on their respective teams), they are bound to win one eventually.
There is a good chance they don’t, that’s just the nature of college football, but they are more than capable of doing so.
I mentioned Georgia’s Kirby Smart as one of the few active national champions, but that obviously wasn’t always the case.
Kirby was one of the former “can’t win the big one” coaches, and for a while, plenty of rivals, and even Bulldog fans, thought that would end up being the case.
“He can’t get over the hump.”
“He chokes in big games.”
“Nick Saban is his daddy.”
And then he won it all. Twice.
Then all the fans and pundits who crowned Kirby as the coach who couldn’t get it done moved onto the next target: Ohio State’s Ryan Day.
The same arguments they made about Kirby they just shifted to Day, until he won it all two seasons ago.
Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning looks on during the fourth quarter against the James Madison Dukes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, on Dec. 20, 2025. (Craig Strobeck/Imagn Images)
The detractors didn’t apologize, they just moved their sights to a different victim.
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Those victims are now Lanning and Sark, and they’ll continue to be until either of them win the big one.
That’s how this thing goes.
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So enjoy college football season, and remember the difference between a coach who “can’t” win a national championship and one who “hasn’t” yet.
