Remember when Urban Meyer and Nick Saban called the same conference home?

Those were simpler times for making decisions about who belonged where while ranking conferences based on their head coaches. Now that those two are dueling it out in the College Football Playoff, the playing field has been leveled a bit.

Let’s take a look at which league is sporting the best coaches in 2015.

POWER 5 CONFERENCES RANKED BY 2015 COACHES

5. ACC

Love him or hate him (most of you probably lean toward hate), you have to respect the work Jimbo Fisher has done in five short seasons at Florida State. This program is back to being as good as they were under Bobby Bowden in the glory days. Speaking of unlikable guys, no one has ever questioned Bobby Petrino’s ability to coach up an offense, but the fact that he was probably slightly above middle of the pack among SEC coaches yet could rank as highly as the second best coach in the ACC says something for this list. Frank Beamer is a legend, but his best years may be behind him at this point.

Five notables:

  • Jimbo Fisher, Florida State (58-11 in five years at Florida State; 27-1 over last two seasons; national championship)
  • Bobby Petrino, Louisville (9-4 in first year or second stint with Cardinals; 92-34 overall college record)
  • Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech (165 wins over 18 year coaching career; won Orange Bowl last season)
  • Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech (231-115-2 over 28 years at Virginia Tech; 273 career wins)
  • Dabo Swinney, Clemson (61-25 in seven years with the Tigers)

4. Pac-12

While the Pac-12 may be a little light on coaches with national championships, the conference makes up for it with some guys with some pretty impressive winning percentages. Chris Petersen and Mark Helfrich are both hovering around the 85-percent career winning percentage mark, while both David Shaw and Jim Mora Jr. top the 72-percent mark. Kyle Whittingham, Rich Rodriguez and Steve Sarkisian add decent depth to consider, but this group is a Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly away from being the top Power 5 coaches league.

Five notables:

  • Chris Petersen, Washington (92-12 in eight years at Boise State; 8-6 in first year with Huskies)
  • Rich Rodriguez, Arizona (26-14 in first three years with Arizona; 146 career wins)
  • Mark Helfrich, Oregon (Inherited strong program from Chip Kelly, but hard to argue with 24-4 record in two seasons)
  • Todd Graham, Arizona State (Back-to-back 10 win seasons for the Sun Devils)
  • David Shaw, Stanford (42-12 in four seasons since taking over for Jim Harbaugh)

3. Big 12

If you like coaches that embrace a wide-open concept of football, then the Big 12 is likely to rank highly on your personal list. Art Briles is working miracles at Baylor, Gary Patterson is becoming an institution at TCU, Bill Snyder already is one at Kansas State and Bob Stoops is well into his second decade of quality work at Oklahoma.  Charlie Strong is a quality coach capable of bring Texas back to the top. Kliff Kingsbury, Dana Holgorsen and Mike Gundy bring flashiness to the second tier of coaches.

Five notables:

  • Bob Stoops, Oklahoma (168-44 in 16 years at Oklahoma; eight Big 12 titles and a national championship)
  • Art Briles, Baylor (Back-to-back 11 win seasons at Baylor)
  • Gary Patterson, TCU (132-45 over 15 seasons with the Horned Frogs)
  • Bill Snyder, Kansas State (187 wins spanning 23 years with the Wildcats)
  • Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (84-44 in 10 seasons at Oklahoma State)

2. Big Ten

Let’s be honest, Urban Meyer is the best Power 5 coach not named Saban, and even that distinction is debatable after last season’s win over the Crimson Tide on the way to a national championship. Meyer’s supporting cast of coaches in this Power 5 competition gets a little weak at the bottom of the league, and the jury is still out on Mike Riley at Nebraska and Paul Chryst at Wisconsin, but the hiring of Jim Harbaugh should give the league a second elite coach.

Five notables:

  • Urban Meyer, Ohio State (38-3 since joining the Buckeyes; 141-26 overall; three national championships)
  • Jim Harbaugh, Michigan (Led 49ers to Super Bowl, Stanford to Orange Bowl; Will Michigan revival be next?)
  • Mark Dantonio, Michigan State (75 wins in eight seasons at Michigan State)
  • James Franklin, Penn State (7-6 in first year at Penn State; led Vanderbilt to 24-15 record over three seasons)
  • Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (115 wins over 16 seasons with the Hawkeyes)

1. SEC

The strength of the SEC in this competition is its depth. Not only are there three active coaches with national championships to their name, but there are another seven or eight of them that would be hot commodities for teams from all leagues if they were on the open market. Gary Pinkel (186 career wins), Kevin Sumlin (63-28 in seven seasons) and Bret Bielema (78-39 in nine seasons) are just a few of the coaches that wouldn’t even fit on the list of five notable coaches below.

Five notables:

  • Nick Saban, Alabama (Four national championships, five SEC championships and 177 career wins … questions?)
  • Les Miles, LSU (Averaging over 10 wins per season for LSU since 2005; two national title games, one championship)
  • Steve Spurrier, South Carolina (226 career wins, 84-45 at South Carolina, national title at Florida)
  • Gus Malzahn, Auburn (20 wins, SEC title and BCS championship game in his first two seasons as Tigers head coach)
  • Mark Richt, Georgia (136-48 over 14 years at Georgia, two SEC championships)