1. Dantoni
2. Meyer
3. Harbaugh (personality aside)
4. Ferentz
5. Lovie (not sure about recruiting, but from coaching alone, he has been to a super bowl)
6. Fitz
7. Wilson
8. Franklin
9. Chryst
10. Riley
11. Claeys
12. Hazell
I can't rank Durkin or Ash because I've never seen them coach. I was debating between Chryst and Franklin back and forth and gave up.
Here's my take:
1. Harbaugh (SDSU, Stanford, SF and now Michigan - wow)
2. Meyer (this is super close, but I do think Harbaugh may be the best coach in the game today, Meyer is arguably with Harbaugh and Saban top 3 in the game)
3. Dantonio (no way he is better than 1 or 2)
4. Ferentz (based on his overall body of work)
5. Smith - Super bowl, has bumped up Illini recruiting already, they will get better
6. Chryst (look at Wisconsin since he's taken over - look at them this year. Going to Indy)
7. Franklin (not sure why people have him so low or so obviously behind Fitz - he has PSU in the Playoff discussion and in Indy in year 4. Coming off sanctions. A lot better than what Fitz has done to date, I'd say, and perhaps should be ahead of Chryst come to think of it given that he is in the East and with what he was handed)
8 Fitz (how anyone can put him above the top 7 is beyond me - he has zero Division titles, much less B1G titles. Neither does Lovie, but Lovie went to the Super Bowl)
9 Wilson (not sure I wouldn't put him above Fitz. Offensively, he's top tier and he's brought IU up a notch, something I'm not sure we can say definitively about Fitz)
10 Riley (consistently solid, but nothing spectacular at Nebby)
11 Claeys (not a bad year for Minny and he beat us this year, but need to see more)
12 Durkin (got Maryland to a bowl, I think he'll end up moving up before it's over)
13 Ash (not a lot of info, but Rutgers sucks)
14 Hazell (awful and now gone)
8 is actually not that bad. There are some really good coaches in the B1G.