South Bound & Down
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Athlon Sports ranks SEC Football Coaches

By Matt Green

GAINESVILLE, FL - NOVEMBER 12: Head coaches Will Muschamp of the South Carolina Gamecocks and Jim McElwain of the Florida Gators shake hands after the game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on November 12, 2016 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL - NOVEMBER 12: Head coaches Will Muschamp of the South Carolina Gamecocks and Jim McElwain of the Florida Gators shake hands after the game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on November 12, 2016 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images) /
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Athlon Sports recently released their rankings of all 130 college football coaches, and some of their opinions might surprise you.

In Athlon Sports’ College Football Head Coach Rankings, only one SEC football coach was ranked in the top 18, and I’ll give you a wild guess on who that might be. However, eight SEC coaches ranked in the top 40. Some may see that as the SEC has a lot of really good coaches and one great coach, but not me.

I see it this way: No one has any idea how to evaluate the current crop of SEC football coaches. A couple months ago, we posted our rankings of the top coaches in the conference, and we’re interested to see how our opinions stack up. Our list was a two-part series, first ranking the coaches from 14 to 8, then ranking the coaches from 7 to 1.

Here’s how Athlon Sports ranked the SEC football coaches, with the Southbound and Down (SB&D) prediction underneath.

  • Nick Saban, Alabama (No. 1)
    • SB&D: 1
  • Dan Mullen, Mississippi State (No. 19)
    • SB&D: 2
    • Jim McElwainSB&D: 8

    “I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the coaches from 22 to 40 (Malzahn, Bielema, Freeze, Jones, Sumlin) lead their team to 10 wins this season, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see them win 6 games and get fired.”

  • Gus Malzahn, Auburn (No. 22)
    • SB&D: 3
  • Bret Bielema, Arkansas (No. 27)
    • SB&D: 4
  • Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss (No. 29)
    • SB&D: 9
  • Butch Jones, Tennessee (No. 30)
    • SB&D: 6
  • Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M (No. 40)
    • SB&D: 5
  • Will Muschamp, South Carolina (No. 55)
    • SB&D: 7
  • Mark Stoops, Kentucky (No. 60)
    • SB&D: 12
  • Derek Mason, Vanderbilt (No. 64)
    • SB&D: 13
  • Kirby Smart, Georgia (No. 65)
    • SB&D: 10
  • Ed Orgeron, LSU (No. 81)
    • SB&D: 11
    • Barry OdomSB&D: 14

    More from Southbound and Down

    By far this biggest discrepancy is with Jim McElwain. Athlon has him as the third-best coach in the SEC, whereas we ranked him eighth. While McElwain has led the Gators to an SEC East division title in each of his first two seasons, the first coach to ever accomplish that feat, he still has much more to prove in my eyes.

    Florida fired Will Muschamp for multiple reasons, but one of the biggest reasons was that he couldn’t seem to figure out how to fix the offense. So McElwain was hired for one reason: to fix the offense. And the Gators averaged 344 yards per game last season, which ranked last in the SEC and 116th in the nation. Before I give McElwain any credit, he needs to prove he can do what he was brought to Gainesville to do.

    With so many unproven coaches in the SEC, it is nearly impossible to evaluate them, much less rank them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the coaches from 22 to 40 (Malzahn, Bielema, Freeze, Jones, Sumlin) lead their team to 10 wins this season, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see them win 6 games and get fired.

    2017 will be an interesting season. Maybe we’ll finally learn just how good (or bad) some of these SEC football coaches really are.

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