The National Football Foundation on Monday released the 2027 College Football Hall of Fame ballot, which includes 80 players and nine coaches eligible for induction at the FBS level. The group is headlined by the late Mike Leach's inclusion for the first time (in the first year he is eligible), which was reported by FootballScoop on Friday.
Players must have received a First Team All-America nod by a nationally-recognized selector to make the Hall of Fame ballot, and coaches must serve as a head coach for at least 10 seasons, coach at least 100 games, and carry a minimum of a .595 winning percentage. The Hall previously required a .600 winning percentage, which was altered following Leach's death. The Pirate was one victory shy of an even .600 winning percentage at the time of his passing in December 2022.
Aside from Leach, the modern names included on the coaches ballot are Larry Coker, Dennis Franchione, Ralph Friedgen, Jackie Sherrill and Tommy Tuberville. Legacy candidates Jim Carlen, Pete Cawthon, Sr., and Darryl Rogers remain on the ballot as well.
Carlen coached his last game in 1981 and died in 2012; Cawthon retired from college football head coaching in 1940 and died in 1962; and Rogers coached his final game as a head coach at the college level in 1984 and died in 2018.
-- Coker went 60-15 from 2001-06 at Miami, and then 26-32 at UTSA from 2011-15, serving as the Roadrunners' inaugural coach. Coker is the only coach on the ballot to own a national championship ring as the head man, leading the 2001 Hurricanes to the title.
-- Franchione won 213 games at seven different universities across three and a half decades. He went 14-4-2 with a conference championship at Southwestern College in Kansas, 53-6 with five conference championships and trips to the NAIA and Division II quarterfinals at Pittsburg State, 11-9 at Texas State (then known as Southwest Texas State), 33-36 with a bowl trip at New Mexico, 25-10 with two conference championships at TCU, 17-8 in two seasons at Alabama (the Tide won the 2002 SEC West title but were ineligible due to previous violations), and 32-28 at Texas A&M. Franchione then returned to Texas State after three seasons off and went 39-43 from 2011-15.
-- Friedgen was 75-50 in 10 seasons at Maryland, his alma mater. He led the Terrapins to the ACC championship in 2001 (their first in 16 seasons, and their first bowl trip in more than a decade) with two more 10-win seasons, four AP Top 25 finishes, and five 9-win seasons. Ironically, Friedgen's best argument for the Hall was his own firing. Dismissed by AD Kevin Anderson after a 9-4 season, Friedgen was replaced by UConn coach Randy Edsall, who went 22-34 in four-and-a-half seasons.
-- Sherrill went a combined 180-120-4 from 1976-2003 (with a 2-year break in 1989-90) at Washington State, Pitt, Texas A&M and Mississippi State. He posted three straight 11-1 seasons (with two straight No. 2 Coaches Poll finishes) at Pitt from 1979-81, won three straight Southwest Conference titles at A&M (with two Cotton Bowl victories), and went to six bowl games with four AP top-25 finishes at State from 1991-03. Sherrill led the Bulldogs to, likely, their one and only SEC Championship appearance in 1998, then went 10-2 with a Peach Bowl win and a No. 13 final ranking in 1999.
-- Tuberville went 159-99 from 1995-2016 at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. His teams won or shared five SEC West crowns from 2000-05, peaking with an undefeated season in 2004. The Tigers reached eight straight bowl games from 2000-07, with six AP top-20 finishes. Tuberville was a combined 74-59 with one conference title and one ranked season at Ole Miss, Texas Tech and Cincinnati.
Elsewhere, Saints head coach Kellen Moore, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, Cal general manager Ron Rivera, Cowboys assistant Ken Dorsey, and Commanders assistant Ken Norton, Jr., were nominated for their exploits as players.