SEC football is going to look a lot different this year, as three SEC football coaching legends departed their SEC East homes. We give them their power rankings here.
145 wins, 5 SEC Football Championship appearances, 2 SEC Football Championships, 3 New Year’s Six Bowls and 2 New Year’s Six bowl wins, a 9-5 bowl appearance and nearly averaging 10 wins a season will now get you fired as an SEC football coach. Notice has been served, via Mark Richt now being the coach at The University at Miami.
Add in Gary Pinkel being replaced by Barry Odom and Steve Spurrier being replaced by Will Muschamp, and SEC football looks a lot different. Pinkel twice represented the SEC East in the Championship Game. Spurrier never quite experienced the same level of success in SEC football that he did at Florida, but he still guided the Gamecocks to an SEC East crown. Now those three respected veterans are gone and SEC football has a whole new (defensive) flair about it.
In an age where the SEC is moving more towards offense than ever before, it is truly interesting that all three new SEC East coaches are coming in from defensive coordinator spots. Smart at Alabama, Odom at Missouri and Muschamp at Auburn are all only a few months away from only calling defenses.
Who can best transition to being the head coach? Which deserves to be at the top of their own separate power rankings? Let’s find out.
Next: Same Place, Different Space