SEC Football: Power Ranking the SEC Coaches
SEC football is home to some of the highest paid and most talented coaches in the entire country. The group is comprised of newbies and experienced vets, with a few falling somewhere in the middle.
The 2015 season has concluded and we’re all already counting down to when SEC football can come back. What better to help pass the time and stir up debate than a gold old-fashioned power ranking of the SEC football coaches?
SEC football is dominated by the SEC West currently, with several SEC East coaches having only a few years experience or less. These power rankings will favor the SEC West, if only because they have proven more than their SEC East counterparts. The seven SEC East head coaches have 9 years of experience at their schools. Combined.
Without further adieu, let’s get this party started. Man I miss SEC football.
14. Derek Mason- I really think that Mason is building a program at Vanderbilt that seems sustainable. He won’t reach the plateaus of 9 wins per season like James Franklin seemed to have the Commodores headed. I’m not sure he’ll ever reach that many wins — which places him here.
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13. Mark Stoops- After winning their first five in 2014, Kentucky won 4 of their first 5 in 2015. In both years, Kentucky was unable to secure a bowl bid. With as down as the SEC East has been and the level of recruiting Stoops has been able to perform at Kentucky, it is disturbing that he has still yet to make a bowl game.
12. Barry Odom- The caliber of coaches is just yet another example of the disparity between the SEC West and SEC East. But if you told me I could have Mason, Stoops or Odom, I’d gamble on Odom. Both Stoops and Mason should be on the hot seat entering 2016. Odom could be the next Pinkel after serving on his staff for so long.
11. Kirby Smart- Even more so than Odom, Smart gets a nudge here because of his experience and who that experience came under. Smart has already begun attracting both an impressive staff and recruiting class to Athens. That in itself is enough to jump him past the failures of Mason and Stoops.
10. Will Muschamp- Seriously. Will Muschamp ranks third in the SEC East Power Rankings and we’ve yet to cover an SEC football coach from the SEC West. I’m as shocked as anyone that he was able to land an SEC job only a season after being ousted by the Gators. But let’s be honest. We know Muschamp can recruit like crazy and field an impressive defense. We’re still wondering about 14-11.
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9. Bret Bielema- Bielema’s Razorbacks have come on strong for at least 7 wins the last 2 seasons and the program projects in a great direction under Bielema. It remains to be seen if Bielema can turn the Razorbacks into a contender rather than an annual dark horse, however. Bielema still has a losing record overall (17-20) and can’t raise higher than 9th until he boasts a winning conference record.
8. Dan Mullen- If Mullen’s entire tenure was equal to what he had accomplished in the last 2 seasons (18 wins and an Orange Bowl appearance), he would be much higher on this list. What keeps Mullen near the bottom of this list, however, is not his 54-35 record overall. He gets to play Kentucky every year and is still 4 games below .500 (26-30) in the conference. Once that changes, we’ll talk about his ranking changing.
7. Kevin Sumlin- After seeing his win total decline in each of his years at Texas A&M, Sumlin has at least matched his 2014 win total with 8 victories. The program doesn’t appear to be in a place that will get far beyond 8 wins in 2016, though, which keeps Sumlin this low on the list. Sumlin has already won an SEC Coach of the Year Award (2012) but the Aggies haven’t felt like a threat to win the conference since Johnny Manziel was taking snaps at quarterback.
6. Butch Jones- This will be another offseason of hype for Tennessee, similar to what we saw in 2015. Jones has proven he can recruit and beat most of the teams he is “supposed” to. After appearing like he may land on the hot seat, Tennessee went on a winning streak against inferior competition to close out 2015 and get the hype train rolling once again. A convincing bowl win against Northwestern didn’t hurt, either.
5. Gus Malzahn- Guz Malzahn won 5 different national coach of the year awards in 2013. O my how things have changed. After winning the SEC West, SEC and playing for a national championship in 2013, the Tigers have fallen hard in back to back years. Auburn won 8 games in 2014 and had to scratch and claw their way to bowl eligibility in 2015. Having won the SEC and playing for a national championship are the only things keeping Malzahn from falling further down this list.
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4. Hugh Freeze- Yes. Freeze belongs in the top 3. Hugh Freeze has brought a team that won 2 games the year before he arrived to 33 wins and a 17-15 record in the SEC. Let’s not forget that he has led the program to back-to-back New Year’s Six Bowls. While the studs of his infamous 2013 recruiting class are headed to the NFL, he has recruited well enough in his other seasons to keep the Rebels competitive in the SEC West.
3. Jim McElwain- I know this post has been filled with shots at the SEC East coaches in comparison to the SEC West coaches. But seriously. He is the only current coach in the SEC East who can claim a division title. Let that sink in. He hasn’t had the sustained success of Freeze, Malzahn, Jones, Mullen or even Bielema. But he has played in the SEC Championship.
2. Les Miles- Sure Les Miles almost got fired in 2015. But let’s be honest, no one else on this list aside from the man ahead of him can hold a candle to his body of work. Miles sends impact players to the NFL like it is commonplace, owns 3 SEC West titles, 2 SEC titles, 1 national championship (and played for another) and has averaged slightly better than 10 wins a season in his time in Baton Rouge. If he fails to reach 10 wins in 2016 and gets canned, another program would still happily snatch him up.
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1. Nick Saban- As impressive as Miles’ body of work has been, Nick Saban’s puts even his to shame. Since coming to Tuscaloosa in 2007, the Tide have arguably been more impressive than “Bear” Bryant’s time ruling the SEC. The fact that he has done it all in the SEC West makes it even that much more impressive. Saban has collected at least 10 wins every year since 2008, 6 SEC West titles, 4 SEC Conference Championships, 4 National Championships and 10 coach of the year awards. Nick Saban may be nearing the end of his coaching days but he still rules the roost when it comes to SEC football.