12 Pac: Ranking the Pac-12 coaches for the 2013 season

1. Todd Graham Arizona State

Graham got the Sun Devils back on their feet last season and he led them to the next step towards prominence this season by winning 10 games and the South Division. Graham was the easy choice for Coach of the Year in the Pac-12 and looks like he could be the guy who finally turns the Sun Devils into the scary program that they could be.

2. David Shaw Stanford

Shaw could actually have been the top coach in the conference, having actually won it while beating down Graham's squad twice, but a lot of my rankings are scaled on expectations and talent and the Cardinal should have competed for a national championship with the talent and experience they had this season. Still, leading the Cardinal to another 10 plus win season with a second-straight Pac-12 title gets Shaw to the edge of being the top coach of 2013.

3. Mike Leach Washington State

No coach may have had his team overachieve their expectations this season than Leach, as he got the Cougars out of the North cellar and to their first bowl game in 10 years. Most impressively, Leach led the Cougars to three road wins with two of them against good teams along with a near win at could-be national champion Auburn.

4. Mark Helfrich Oregon

Duck fans may be worried about as the Ducks lost two games in 2013, but think about how crazy that is, he is taking heat for losing TWO GAMES in his first year - that record would make almost any fan base in the country ecstatic. I do think there is a little cause for concern with the way the Ducks closed the season, but overall, Helfrich had a strong first season and there is no reason to panic in Eugene yet.

5. Jim Mora UCLA

The Bruins ended the season with a huge exclamation mark with their domination of USC, which give Mora huge momentum in LA, but it doesn't completely overshadow the fact that they lost pretty much all of their other big Pac-12 games (Stanford, Arizona State, Oregon). It ended up being about a B or a B minus season for Mora.

6. Steve Sarkisian Washington

Sarkisian won the most games he ever has as a head coach and it still only go the Huskies to the Fight Hunger Bowl, but apparently it was also enough to get him the premier coaching job in the conference. Sarkisian couldn't have done more of an above average job as the Huskies won probably the minimum amount of games they needed to win to show improvement, but didn't win a single game that they shouldn't have.

7. Rich Rodriguez Arizona

Rodriguez scored a massive win for himself and the Arizona program when they blew out Oregon, but unfortunately it was sandwiched by a loss at home to Washington State and a blow-out loss in the Territorial Cup. Rodriguez did a solid job, but it was probably only a little bit above average.

8. Mike MacIntyre Colorado

McIntyre gets a lot of credit for pulling the Buffs out of the absolutely doldrums of college football, but he still has a long ways to go as the Buffs only won two games against FBS opponents this year and regularly got blasted by quality opponents. Even though they had their struggles, and he is near the bottom of this list, McIntyre looked like a good hire in his first season in Boulder.

9. Mike Riley Oregon State

Riley used to always be praised for having his team's get better as the season goes along, but that was far from the case this season as the Beavers started hot, but then absolutely fell apart. Riley is a very likeable guy, but it doesn't make up for the fact that the Beavers probably underachieved in 2013 and lost to an FCS opponent.

10. Kyle Whittingham Utah

Whittingham has to be slipping towards the hot seat after failing to get the Utes to a bowl for the second-straight season and even though they were really tough at home, they still only won one conference game at home against a quality opponent.

11. Lane Kiffin/Ed Orgeron USC

If this was just Orgeron, I would put him near the middle of the pack, but Kiffin was so awful that he was fired in the first month of the season and there's just no way you can justify putting them over anyone other than Dykes with that in mind.

12. Sonny Dykes Cal

Obviously Dykes walked into a very, very bad situation in Berkeley, but he wasn't able to get one positive thing out of his team all season, and their only win was a close one against a bad FCS program.