SEC Football: Head coach power rankings

The SEC is the best conference with the best coaches in college football. While other conferences boast some big time names like Ryan Day at Ohio State, Mike Norvell at Florida State and Dabo Swinney at Clemson, the cream of the crop when it comes to coaching resides in the SEC as far as overall number top to bottom.

Going into 2024, the SEC will have a number of teams in the top 25 as usual. Premier coaches like Kirby Smart, Brian Kelly and Lane Kiffin will have their teams squarely in the mix with some strong performances the past few years. Others are newer to the SEC, or squarely on the hot seat. No matter the situation, I ranked each going into the 2024 season.

Power Rankings of current SEC head coaches

16. Sam Pittman (Arkansas)

Pittman enters 2024 squarely on the hot seat with an overall winning percentage of 48% in four years as the helm with the Razorbacks. We will see if he can have a bounce back year with the hire of former Razorbacks head coach and offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino .

15. Shane Beamer (South Carolina)

This could absolutely be seen as a hire based solely off of the name at this point. Beamer has gone 20-18 in three seasons as the head coach of the Gamecocks, regressing to a 5-7 record in 2023. He will have to bank on new starting quarterback and redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers in 2024.

Beamer is the son of legendary Virginia Tech head coach, Frank Beamer. Gamecock fans and beyond cannot help but wonder if this was the reason he was hired.

14. Jeffy Lebby (Mississippi State)

Lebby is unproved as a head coach, which is why he does not sit higher than 14 here. Lebby has been an assistant coach to some great offensive minds like Josh Heupel and Lane Kiffin which should serve him well in his role, but it will take a few years to get there. I do think Lebby’s stock will rise, but he is in the middle of a rebuild, so Bulldog fans will need to be patient.

13. Clark Lea (Vanderbilt)

Lea being as high as 13 may surprise some folks after the Commodores regressed to a 2-10 record in 2023. Big changes have happened in Nashville however including Lea taking back over a defense that he improved to a 5-7 record in 2022. Lea has also brought in some key assistants Tim Beck and chief consultant, Jerry Kill.

The restructure should help propel Lea even further up the list after 2024 concludes.

12. Billy Napier (Florida)

Napier is another name on the hot seat in Gainesville, and for good reason. In his first two seasons, Napier has gone 11-14 with losing seasons in each. In his defense however, he inherited a program on the downswing and it does take a few years for turnarounds to happen. With that being said, this is the University of Florida, and there are higher expectations.

I do believe fans may be surprised in the upswing of the Gators in 2024 under Napier as they have starting quarterback Graham Mertz returning, who is surrounded by more weapons at wide receiver this year with Elijah Badger and Tank Hawkins who will be nice compliments to returning wide out Eugene Wilson III.

11. Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri)

Coming off of an 11-2 season, this may surprise many to see Drinkwitz ranked at 11 and not higher. To be fair however, Drinkwitz has had only one strong season at Missouri. Prior to last season,  he was 17-19 in three seasons with the Tigers.

Like Napier however, it takes a few years to turn around a program. And if 2025 is like 2024, I will feel more confident in ranking Drinkwitz even higher.

10. Mark Stoops (Kentucky)

Stoops has had two 10-win seasons with the Wildcats, and is the leader in seasons coached and overall wins for the school. He is entering his 12th season with the Wildcats and has won 73 games.

All of these numbers are great relative to Kentucky, but in the overall scope of the SEC, it does not warrant Stoops to be any higher than 10th based on overall performance throughout the 11 year period.

9. Mike Elko (Texas A&M)

Elko has done better than folks thought so far in College Station. Although he only has the recruiting trail to show for it, he also coached the Aggies as defensive coordinator from 2018-2021 which included a 9-1 season in 2020.

Elko was the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils the past two seasons and went 16-9 in two seasons, including beating the Clemson Tigers in 2023. If Elko can get it done in Duke, one can only imagine what could be in College Station, Texas being part of the SEC with a more prestigious program like Texas A&M.

8. Josh Heupel (Tennessee)

Heupel has gone 20-6 in his last two seasons for the Vols and appears to have the program heading in the right direction. Heupel recruited five star quarterback Nico Iamaleava out of California who will be the Vols starting quarterback in 2024. He will be throwing to fellow five star wide receiver Mike Matthews and the other impressive cast of receivers that Heupel has built over the past few seasons through the transfer portal and high school recruiting rankings.

An impressive 2024 could move Heupel even further up the list. And if the 2025 On3 high school class rankings are any indication, the Vols being ranked eighth nationally is a great sign.

7. Steve Sarkisian (Texas)

Sure, the Longhorns had a great 2023 going 12-2 and making the college football playoff. And they do indeed look like they are here to sustain their success as well. However, this will be Sarkisian’s ranking until he proves it even more-so.

In his 10 year head coaching career, Sarkisian has had only one season with 10 wins or more, and has only reached nine wins one time being with the USC Trojans in 2014.

6. Hugh Freeze (Auburn)

Freeze is higher than some others on this list you may be surprised by. The fact remains however in that Freeze has turned around three programs as a head coach, and not anyone else in the SEC can say that. Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty all saw significant improvement under Freeze and each had a 10 win season to show for it by the time Freeze departed.

Freeze appears to have the Tigers on the same trajectory after a historic recruiting weekend which saw the Tigers with several commitments. From year one to two, the roster looks transformed even more-so on the plains.

Freeze is the only coach in the SEC besides that can say they have beaten Nick Saban two times, and one of those came in Tuscaloosa.

5. Brent Venables (Oklahoma)

Venables being at five is not only because of the fact that he improved the Sooners from 6-7 to 10-3 in only two seasons with the Sooners, but because of his length of experience as a defensive coordinator under some great head coaches in Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and Dabo Swinney at Clemson.

Furthermore, during his time at Clemson, Venables helped the Tigers defeat Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide twice for national championships.

4. Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss)

Kiffin has matured and grown as a head coach without question. While he still has his quirks on social media and off the field playful sense of humor about him, his improvement as a head coach by record during his time at FAU and now at Ole Miss is impressive.

Kiffin led the Owls to two 11-win seasons in his three years at the school. After departing, he resurrected an Ole Miss program that was floundering and has had two 10-win seasons in his last three years.

3. Kalen DeBoer (Alabama)

104-12. Most likely you have heard that record before, and that would be the career record of Alabama’s new head coach Kalen DeBoer at all of his schools combined. Last year, DeBoer coached the Washington Huskies to the College Football Playoff which propelled him to the job in Tuscaloosa to replace the legendary Nick Saban.

DeBoer seems to not be skipping a beat with the Tide currently ranked second in the On3 2025 recruiting rankings.

2. Brian Kelly (LSU)

Track record does not lie. Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and now LSU have all benefited from Kelly’s success as a head coach. During each stop, Kelly has turned these programs from pretenders to contenders.

Kelly coached the Cincinnati Bearcats to an undefeated 12-0 season in 2009, and has had three seasons at Notre Dame with only one loss, including two BCS National Championship game appearances.

In his first two years in Baton Rouge, Kelly has guided the Tigers to 10-win seasons and had his first Heisman Trophy winner in Jayden Daniels in 2023.

1. Kirby Smart (Georgia)

This should be self-explanatory. Smart is the only active coach in the SEC with a national championship to his credit. In fact, he has two that came back-to-back in 2021 and 2022. Smart’s overall win percentage as a head coach is 85%.