As pundits around the country wait for real news from college football to start unfolding, they fill their space with lists ranging from player rankings to best mascots. There is also the mandatory listing of best coaches. Becoming a great college football coach is very hard. In some places it is harder than others. The SEC is no different than other conferences in this regard. Do you really think you are on equal footing with Southern Cal sitting in Pullman, Washington as coach of the Cougars? Come on now, how many of you even knew the nickname for Washington State? Who knew that was even the school in Pullman?
Below you will find the SEC head coach rankings from a somewhat different perspective. We are taking a challenge/outcome approach to selecting the best coaches in the SEC. When you measure success this way it shuffles the deck a little. You see, things like conference titles, national championships and wins are not the only measures of success. It also matters on just how difficult it is to achieve success in a place. Sometimes schools have a better coach than they might think. From top to bottom here is our list.
1. Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt-When the Commodores defeated Boston College in the Music
City Bowl it was their first bowl victory since the 1955 Gator Bowl. The last time they even played in a post-season game was 1982. It might have taken seven years to get 20 wins, but this is not Gainesville we are talking about.
2. Rich Brooks, Kentucky-Kentucky has won three bowl games in the same number of seasons. This has never happened in the history of Kentucky football. It is also the first time the Cats have won seven or more games in three straight seasons since a similar streak from 1949-51.
3. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State-He has not coached his first game in Starkville yet, but just the fact that Mullen has been able to generate increased ticket sales for the Bulldogs means he is delivering more value than some of the other new coaches at schools with more success traditionally.
4. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas-In all of his job hopping Petrino has shown one thing. He can deliver an offense. Last year started badly, but the season ending victory against LSU shows Petrino has the Hogs pointed in the right direction. They Razorbacks are going to be the surprise team in the SEC this year.
5. Nick Saban, Alabama-Saban came into a demoralized Alabama program and provided a spark of life that has been missing for almost a decade. The Tide’s talent level was pretty low his first season and he had them in every game. It was not that much better last year when they won the West, and came close to playing for a national title. Pretty good work.
6. Urban Meyer, Florida-He has two national titles under his belt so he can coach, but get real. He inherited a decent roster of talent and resides in a state with enough top level talent to stock an entire conference. He should win, and win big, at Florida. This is not Nashville we are talking about.
7. Houston Nutt, Ole Miss-Razorback fans can scream about him all they want, but Nutt consistently provided Pig fans with one of the best offenses in the conference. He is showing the same skill at Ole Miss, and is doing it through the air and ground now. He may not meet the high expectations this season, but that is what happens when you blow out last year’s media darling Texas Tech in your bowl game.
8. Gene Chizik, Auburn-The last few years on the recruiting trail were not kind to Auburn. Nick Saban has dominated the state, but Chizik and crew are working to reverse that trend. They have used high profile campaigns to accomplish their task, and violated a few NCAA rules in the process. Chizik’s most impressive accomplishment so far has been the top flight staff he assembled. They can coach football.
9. Mark Richt, Georgia-Knowshon Moreno. Mark Stafford. Great receivers. We like Richt, but the Bulldogs were less than advertised last year. With lower expectations this year Richt will have a chance to move up, but if they don’t look like they are making progress his seat could become hot.
10. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina-He won big at Florida. He should have. His “everyone go deep” offense has not worked as well at South Carolina for a simple reason. The Gamecocks are not as talented. During his time at SC he has not developed a consistent leader at quarterback and is just four games above .500. Not what the South Carolina faithful expected when making this hire.
11. Lane Kiffin, Tennessee-NCAA violations galore. Unable to get the QB of the future despite his reputation as an offensive genius. Staff members who like to run their mouths. We are not big fans of Al Davis, but when we consider the relationship between him and Kiffin, it may be that Davis was right.
12. Les Miles, LSU-We just don’t believe he is the guy. Losing to Alabama at home was bad enough, but the loss to Arkansas cemented his position at the bottom of our list. He is in one of the most talent rich states in the nation, but he does not seem to be coaching players “up.”
Gary Brown
gary@secmatchups.com
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