SEC Football (Rivalry Coaches): Round 3

Before the 2015 college football season kicked off, we held a competition of SEC Football Head Coaches. We placed rival coaches head to head and let fans vote for who they would rather have for the next four years. The results of round one are as follows:

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Dabo Swinney (59%) defeated Steve Spurrier

Paul Johnson (94%) defeated Mark Richt

Les Miles (61%) defeated Bret Bielema

Hugh Freeze (69%) defeated Dan Mullen

Nick Saban (65%) defeated Guz Malzahn

Round 2

After these polls had run their course, we moved to round two. The matchups were also rivalries, where available. Unfortunately, however, not all the winners lended themselves to a rivalry matchup. Many of these competitions were even closer than in round one. The results follow here:

Jimbo Fisher (56%) defeated Paul Johnson

Nick Saban (57%) defeated Les Miles

Gary Pinkel (53%) defeated Kevin Sumlin

Butch Jones (69%) defeated Mark Stoops

Hugh Freeze (73%) defeated Dabo Swinney

Best of the Rest

The polls were designed to give fans at least one second chance to vote for their favorite coach. In order to make this a reality, we created a best of the rest poll. Dan Mullen was the favorite in the poll, as he had thousands of votes more than his nearest losing competitor in round one. The Mississippi State faithful failed to rally around him in round 2, however, and Mark Richt won with 45% of the total vote.

Round 3

Mark Richt joins Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban, Gary Pinkel, Butch Jones and Hugh Freeze for round three of the Southbound and Down Coach’s tournament. Again, did our best to create the most intriguing matchups available for this round. Let us know what you think, vote for your coach and talk a little trash to the fans who no longer have a coach in the battle.

Nick Saban V Jimbo Fisher

Nick Saban surviving to round 3 is no surprise. Most college football fans in America would gladly take Nick Saban in place of their current head coach. The same can be said about Florida State head man Jimbo Fisher. Except…this is an SEC website. The fact that Jimbo Fisher has survived to round 3 is a testament to the adage that winning covers all.

Mark Richt V Gary Pinkel

Mark Richt (5) and Gary Pinkel (2) have made more SEC Championship Game appearances at their current school than all of the other SEC East coaches combined (1). It is no surprise that these two emerged from this competition to reach round 3. Who would you rather have leading your program for the next 4 years?

Hugh Freeze V Butch Jones

Butch Jones has had a career at Tennessee that has thus far been very similar to Hugh Freeze’s at Ole Miss. While his win total has yet to match Freeze’s, the build and momentum have been eerily similar. It is still too tough to tell how successful each coach will ultimately be, but who would you rather find out with?

Voting will run for a week and results will be taken September 22, 2015.

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