Let’s say you’re an up-and-coming college football coach and, for whatever reason, every Power 5 job in America opened tomorrow.

Which would you covet? Which would you avoid?

With input and feedback from coaches, administrators and others in the industry, 247Sports this week will count down the power conference jobs, from No. 65 to No. 1.

Today we highlight programs with, in most cases, the resources and support to somewhat regularly compete for conference titles.



35. North Carolina

Every sense we get is that North Carolina is neither a bad nor great job. In its current state, it just kind of is — and that’s why you find it halfway between No. 65 and 1.

It’s possible to compete for division and conference titles, as Larry Fedora’s staff demonstrated with an ACC Coastal championship in 2015.

The town is great, one of the best pure college towns in America, but the football staff will always fight the “hoops school” perception. Unlike Kentucky, millions and millions have not been earmarked for football; the support level is not commensurate.

When UNC completes its indoor facility in the next couple of years, it will be one of the last two ACC schools to have one.

And there’s the never-ending NCAA investigation into department-wide academic impropriety. It’s hung over Fedora’s staff for the entirety of its five-year stay.



34. Arizona State

Industry sources like this job and its upward potential, even though it requires annual duels with USC and UCLA in the Pac-12 South. Todd Graham’s 10-win seasons in 2013 and 2014 showed the higher reaches of the ceiling - but the program has won just 11 games since then.

“I think someone can do more with it than (Graham) has,” one person familiar with ASU told us.

RELATED: Sources wonder if Graham is running out of time in Tempe

Bolstering that notion is the gradual renovation of Sun Devil Stadium — a four-year, phase-by-phase project with a total price tag of $268 million.

Just east of downtown Phoenix and adjacent to vibrant Scottsdale nightlife, Tempe is an attractive city with good access to area JUCOs and Los Angeles-area talent.

Graham’s staffs have typically recruited well, in the 20s and 30s in our rankings. The recent win totals have not corresponded to the level of incoming talent. With resources and location, a new staff could legitimately vault ASU into a top-20 job.



33. Iowa

Longtime coach Kirk Ferentz has said that he thinks Iowa is college football’s version of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He means it in terms of administrative consistency — and the color scheme — but at some point the comparison falls flat. Ferentz doesn’t have a collection of national championships, and Iowa City is quite isolated.

Iowa is and will always be a program reliant on player development, even if a $55 million football complex has made the school more attractive to recruits.

Fair expectation is likely what Iowa most has in its favor. Even when Ferentz has wobbled, the school has remained patient, and then rewarded him with long-term extensions. A number of coaches would sign up for that arrangement.



32. Ole Miss

An agent called the other day to quibble with Ole Miss being rated this low, on the basis of resources and access to recruits. In fairness, it would certainly be in the 20s if not for the hovering NCAA stormcloud, with the program bracing for a punishment to drop in the coming months.

Until the repercussions are known, any hypothetical candidates would be reticent to covet or take the Ole Miss job.

And as coach Hugh Freeze has said, the waiting proves to be the hardest part. Without knowing the decision or the timeline of it, speculation — and negative recruiting against the Rebels — has run rampant.

Aside from that elephant in the room, the program has made incredible strides to catch up in the SEC West. It would have been unfathomable a few short years ago to say that the Ole Miss coach would make in the neighborhood of $5 million a year. Renovations to the team’s complex and stadium have brought facilities into the new era, as well.

If the Rebs can navigate the NCAA matters, the job figures to eventually bounce back. For now, we’ll respectfully ignore the agent and leave it here.



31. Baylor

For obvious reasons, Baylor in 2016 undid a number of the positive things that had happened under deposed coach Art Briles. It’s a program, and University, that is assessing and redefining itself in the aftermath of the sexual assault scandal that rocked the campus.

Until it’s absolutely certain that the fallout is complete and that Baylor has figured out a plan moving forward, agents would tell their clients to be leery of this job. Industry sources feel as if it’ll take two or three years to fully ensure there will be no damaging repercussions from the NCAA — or, on the university level, the federal government.

On the field, the Briles era showed what was possible in terms of spending and competing in the Big 12. That part would have prospective coaching candidates lining up for the gig, even if — no offense to Chip and Joanna — Waco isn’t exactly a Texas destination city.



30. Nebraska

Fan and internal support remain incredibly high, and the brand is still strong among those in the sport. But it has waned with recruits over the years. So the challenge at NU, as Mike Riley and his staff have encountered, is making it a national recruiting job.

“How can you make Lincoln, Nebraska — the Heartland — appealing to kids in L.A., kids in Miami?” one agent told us.

The Huskers’ 23rd-ranked class in 2017 featured three Nebraskans (of 20 commits). Nine other states were represented. Sources say that as much as satellite camps were debated to death last year, Nebraska is a program that is aided by them — and not in a Harbaugh-esque, showy way.

The Big Ten has not provided the title path that the school and its fans perhaps envisioned, but the Western Division still a palatable road for a prospective staff compared to the opposite side of the conference.

Nebraska isn’t the job that it was in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, clearly, but it still has appeal among coaches. It’s still iconic.



29. Oklahoma State

T. Boone Pickens is the obvious name to note with elevating this program into an era of relevancy. The superbooster made dramatic facilities upgrades possible, and he remains involved in upkeep so that OSU is on the cutting edge of Big 12 resources.

That support has worked to offset the disadvantages of being located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which is more than an hour from either of the state’s larger cities, OKC and Tulsa. The facilities allow the Cowboys to have a chance with high-end recruits, especially those from neighboring Texas.

Peers say the work that Mike Gundy has done to make his alma mater consistently successful, averaging 9.7 wins for the past seven seasons, is highly underrated. That would be a harder act to follow than many outside the profession may realize.



28. Louisville

Already ahead of its then-Group of 5 peers in terms of facilities and salaries, Louisville’s move into the ACC was vital in its ambition to continue growing and climbing in these rankings. (It says something that the Big 12 still regrets not adding the school.)

Tom Jurich is an aggressive AD in spending and support. Fans are passionate for the program’s well being, too: Donations have made it possible for a $55 million stadium renovation to be done by 2018, a year earlier than some projections.

Access to recruits is the clear downside, but Bobby Petrino’s staff is managing that reality well. Of the 22 players in this year’s No. 32 class, 21 were from out of state. Seven were from Georgia and four were Floridians. (Returning Heisman winner Lamar Jackson is also from Florida.)



27. South Carolina

The campus and stadium areas are almost unrecognizable compared to when Steve Spurrier took over a little more than a decade ago. A standalone football complex will soon join a new indoor facility across Bluff Road from Williams-Brice Stadium.

The facilities evolution is providing Will Muschamp and his staff far more to show off in recruiting, something that’s necessary in drawing regional talent.

The state of South Carolina simply does not produce enough in-state talent to service both the Gamecocks and rival Clemson.

Expectations are central to assessing this job. South Carolina has never won an SEC title, but its ambitions are to regularly compete for them. If fans and the school’s board understand that Spurrier’s run of three 11-win seasons (2011-13) isn’t the norm — and 7-9 wins is more in line with reality — then everyone will get along fine. If not, this becomes a very challenging job, one that many coaches would avoid.



26. Wisconsin

In many respects, Wisconsin is the strangest job in America to evaluate. There’s plenty of tradition, much of it related to AD Barry Alvarez’s success as the Badgers’ coach. There’s a ton of fan support and zeal. Madison is a fantastic mid-sized college town, a capital city with great energy.

But then there’s the other side: The university’s leadership has been more than plodding in adapting to the nature of modern college football. As he left for Oregon State, clearly a lesser job, Gary Andersen was displeased by the school’s lack of appetite for paying assistant coaches fair market value. Former Wisconsin coaches have also bemoaned a rigid academic standard that increases the challenge for an already tricky recruiting job. Nebraska and Iowa are not dealing with those restrictions, they reason.

And then there’s the shadow that Alvarez creates from his AD seat. He’s a very present figure.

With the consistent winning standard, this would be an appealing job to many coaches. But, like Andersen, they might not like what they found once on the ground.

Previous tiers: 65-56, 55-46, 45-36.