SEC Football: Winner of ‘Rivalry Coaches’ Series Named

By John Richardson | Oct 21, 2015

Before the 2015 college football season kicked off, we began a competition of SEC Football Head Coaches (along with a few from other conferences). We placed rival coaches head to head and let fans vote for who they would rather have for the next four years. After a week of polling, the winning coaches would advance to round two. The results of round one are as follows:

Round 1

Butch Jones (97%) defeated Derek Mason

Jimbo Fisher (52%) defeated Jim McElwain

Gary Pinkel (93%) defeated David Beaty

Kevin Sumlin (76%) defeated Charlie Strong

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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

Oct 17, 2015; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles against the Florida Gators during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium. LSU defeated Florida 35-28.Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Round 2

After these polls had run their course, we moved to round two. The matchups were also based on rivalries, at least 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 (by far the least rivalry-centered matchup)

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 without even reaching 1,000.

Round 3

Mark Richt joined Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban, Gary Pinkel, Butch Jones and Hugh Freeze for round three of the Southbound and Down Coach’s tournament. Again, we did our best to create the most intriguing matchups available for this round. And at last, we were able to eliminate that pesky ACC coach from this tournament.

Nick Saban (69%) defeated Jimbo Fisher

Mark Richt (58%) defeated Gary Pinkel

Hugh Freeze (51%) defeated Butch Jones

Championship Round

In a result that will surprise no one, especially given the circumstances of where the three coaches’ programs stand in 2015, Nick Saban defeated both Mark Richt and Hugh Freeze in the final round. It was a convincing victory, as Saban on a majority of the vote against two other people. Saban won with 57% of the vote, while Richt (25%) and Freeze (18%) were left to fight for the scraps of the vote.

It’s hard to argue with SEC Nation here. Saban is one of only four coaches (Frank Leahy, Paul “Bear” Bryant and John McKay) to win four national titles in the modern era. Given the four year time frame, it makes even more sense for fans to want Saban. He won a National Championship at LSU and Alabama within 4 years of arriving at each.

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Alabama Dominates

In addition to Alabama having Nick Saban add the prestigious title of “Coach that Southbound and Down Readers Want Most” added to his list of accomplishments, another coach on their staff has received praise from the readers here. Kirby Smart was listed as the assistant coach SEC fans would want most as well.

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