| Current Coaches Polls | |
|---|---|
| FBS football | 2025 season |
| FCS football | 2025 season |
| Div I men's basketball | 2024–25 season |
| Div I women's basketball | 2024–25 season |
| Div I baseball | 2025 season |
In the United States, theCoaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25NCAADivision IFootball Bowl Subdivision (FBS)college football,Division Icollege basketball, and Division Icollege baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially as theUS LBM Coaches Poll since 2023.
The football rankings are compiled by the US LBM Board of Coaches which is made up of 62 head coaches at Division I FBS institutions.[1] All coaches are members of theAmerican Football Coaches Association (AFCA). The basketball rankings are compiled by the USA Today Sports Board of Coaches which is made up of 32 head coaches at Division I institutions.[2] All are members of theNational Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). The baseball rankings are compiled by the USA Today Sports Board of Coaches which is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of theAmerican Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA).
The football Coaches Poll was an element of theBowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings, avoting system used from 1998 to 2013 to determine the teams to play in theBCS National Championship Game.
The Coaches Poll began selecting the "Top 20" teams on a weekly basis during the 1950-1951 college football and basketball seasons. For the 1990-1991 football and basketball seasons, the poll expanded to a "Top 25," and it has retained this format since. It was initially published by United Press – known from 1958 asUnited Press International (UPI) – from 1950 through 1990, followed byUSA Today/CNN from 1991 thru 1996,USA Today/ESPN from 1997 to 2004, andUSA Today from 2005 to the present.
In February 2014,Amway was announced as the title sponsor of the college football Coaches Poll, which became known officially as theAmway Coaches Poll.[3] The basketball and baseball polls were not sponsored by Amway and did not adopt this name. In August 2023, US LBM, a distributor of specialty building materials, became the football poll's new title sponsor in a deal that will run through at least the 2026 season.[4]
Through the1973 season, the final Coaches Poll was released in early December, after the regular season, but before thebowl games. Beginning with the1974 season, the Coaches Poll has conducted its final poll in January, after the bowl games.
Although the coaches' football poll has generally been in accord with theAssociated Press (AP) Poll there have been years where the polls disagree. Eleven times – in 1954, 1957, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1991, 1997, and 2003 – the Coaches Poll has crowned a different national champion than the AP Poll, causing consternation among some college football fans. Until 1974, the final Coaches Poll was taken before the bowl games, while the final AP poll was taken after the bowls starting with the1968 season (also in 1965, but not in 1966 or 1967). This was changed after the 1973 season, whenAlabama was crowned as the Coaches Poll national champion in December, yet lost theSugar Bowl toNotre Dame onNew Year's Eve. The same situation occurred in1970, when No. 5Notre Dame beat No. 1Texas24–11 in theCotton Bowl andNebraska won theAssociated Press national title. In the preceding decade, the UPI coaches poll national champion lost its bowl game three times:1960 (Minnesota),1964 (Alabama), and1965 (Michigan State).
The change to the January final poll was well-timed as the top-ranked team in the UPI coaches poll lost its bowl game five more times in the 1970s: in1974 (Alabama),1975 (Ohio State),1977 (Texas),1978 (Penn State), and1979 (Ohio State). The sole exception was undefeatedPittsburgh in1976.
Since the 1974 season, teams on probation are not recognized in the poll of coaches while the AP permits their inclusion. That year,Oklahoma was serving a second year of probation, went undefeated, and were AP champions; they were unlisted in the UPI coaches' poll, whose champion wasUSC.
The UPI Trophy, known as the "UPI Cup", was awarded to the Coaches Poll winner prior to the introduction of theCoaches' Trophy in 1986.[5]
Starting in 1991, USA Today / CNN took over operation of the Coaches Poll from UPI and awarded the Coaches' Trophy.
The team that finishes first in the coaches' poll is currently awarded with theAFCA National Championship Trophy—from its inception through 2014, the winner of theBCS National Championship Game and its precursors was contractually named the #1 team on the Coaches Poll, and awarded the trophy in a post-game presentation. With the replacement of the BCS by theCollege Football Playoff in 2014, the trophy will still be awarded, but in a separate ceremony some time following theCollege Football Playoff National Championship (which chose to award its own trophy), and the Coaches' Poll is no longer obligated to name the winner of the game as its post-season #1.[6]
The Coaches Poll has come under criticism for being inaccurate, with some of the charges being that coaches are biased towards their own teams and conferences, that coaches don't actually complete their own ballots, and that coaches are unfamiliar with even the basics, such as whether a team is undefeated or not, about teams they are voting on.[7][8] In 2012,USC Trojans coachLane Kiffin resigned as a voter after just one vote amidst controversy over his preseason selection of his school as No. 1. Kiffin told reporters, "I would not vote USC No. 1, I can tell you that much." However,USA Today, citing the need to "protect the poll's integrity", revealed that Kiffin had voted his team for the top spot. Kiffin apologized and explained that his comments were from the perspective of an opposing coach voting for USC.[9]
The American Football Coaches Association began publishing a Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll in 2000 and a Division III Top 25 Coaches' Poll in 1999. Before this poll, regional rankings were used instead.[10]
Beginning in 1992–93,USA Today and CNN took over publishing the coaches' basketball poll for UPI. Beginning in the 1993–94 basketball season, the Coaches Poll began publishing its final poll after theNCAA basketball tournament. From the 1993 to 1997 seasons, the poll was co-sponsored byUSA Today,Cable News Network, and the NABC. Finally, in 1997–98, ESPN joined as a co-sponsor of the Coaches Poll along withUSA Today and the NABC where selected NABC members serve as the voting block for the poll. ESPN retains its involvement in the basketball poll despite no longer being involved in the football poll.
USA Today and ESPN also publish a top 25 college baseball poll forNCAA Division I baseball, known as theUSA Today/ESPN Top 25 coaches' baseball poll. The poll began in 1992.[11] The poll appears in the preseason, then begins weekly after week 2 of the season through the end of conference tournaments. A final poll is released after the conclusion of theCollege World Series.
The United Press International Trophy, emblematic of the 1959 national collegiate football championship, was formally presented to Syracuse University Wednesday night. Leo H. Petersen, UPI sports editor, presented the trophy to Syracuse Coach Floyd Ben Schwartzwalder as the highlight of an annual banquet tendered the team and its coaches by the Varsity and Touchdown Clubs of Syracuse University. Known as the "UPI Cup," the huge trophy is awarded each year to the team chosen best in the nation.
