It’s been a while since we last checked in on the true axis of college football power, the coaching brethren of the SEC. Honestly, it’s probably been too long, considering just how volatile things can be among SEC coaches. One loss can change everything, as we’ve seen over the years. And two or three losses can cost you your job.
Figuring out an SEC’s coach’s place within the SEC hierarchy is no easy feat. There are no written rules, no strict structures by which we can rank these gentlemen. Instead, it’s as much an art form as anything. Each school is a unique situation, a fluid situation requiring a reading of the actual program, the boosters, the alumni, the fan bases, and how each coach exists within that spectrum.
Let’s dig in…
EXEMPT: Ed Oregeron
Literally AS I WAS WRITING THIS COLUMN, news came down that Ed Orgeron was out at LSU. Which is all kinds of incredible, when you really think about it, considering he WON A NATIONAL TITLE AT LSU 21 MONTHS AGO. Not even two years! And now he’s gone.
To be fair, I had Coach O next to last on my initial list, because there had been all kinds of rumors swirling the last few weeks and months. Even as they put the finishing touches on a win over Florida on Saturday, the announcers were talking about how this was a terrific way to go out, if this was indeed the end for Coach O. As they were beating Florida!
Which is kinda crazy, if you really think about it. A coach shows up, wins a title, and gets shoved out not even two years later. But that’s the SEC, shout out to Gene Chizik.
I don’t know where Coach O ends up now. USC? On the pundit desk on ESPN when the SEC flips over? Narrating audiobooks? I just know college football is more fun when Coach O is in it.
Now, to the power rankings…
1. Nick Saban
Yes, the GOAT lost a game earlier this season to Texas A&M and his former assistant, Jimbo Fisher. Did it affect his position on this list? No, it did not. Nick Saban remains the best coach in the SEC and the greatest college coach of all time.
Are there some cracks in the armor? Perhaps. As we talked about this week on Grind City Media’s “The Odds Couple,” you can make a case for Alabama no longer having the most dominant defense in the SEC. Sure, they’re still recruiting top players, but so is UGA, and between the SEC recruiting race and Alabama’s constant turnover of players to the NFL (and coaches to other programs), maybe the Tide have finally reached the point where the talent and youth are slightly outweighing the experience.
Either way, we all know Alabama is still just one win over Georgia away from being back in the National Championship Game. And Nick Saban is going to be the coach at Alabama for as long as he wants to live in Tuscaloosa.
2. Kirby Smart
How ‘bout them Dawgs! It’s been an incredible year for the Georgia Bulldogs, who enter this bye week 7-0, with the consensus top defense in the country. They’ve allowed just 4 touchdowns this season—all season long. And as great as they’ve been defensively, you also have to credit their offense, which has looked at worst efficient and at times even explosive, all while performing mostly without starting QB JT Daniels, who has battled injuries.
In a lot of ways, Smart has doubled down on his strategy he’s employed ever since he was hired in Athens, focusing on defense and letting the offense sort of exist on its own. This UGA’s team has a little bit more dynamism on offense than in past seasons, but Kirby still relies on the defense, and his game plans remain more conservative than OAN News. The thing is, it’s working. UGA is atop the AP polls for the first time in a long time, and with a favorable schedule, UGA will likely stay there until the SEC Championship Game.
At this point, the only thing left for Kirby to do is win the biggest one. There have been some mild grumbles from fans the last few years, waiting for Kirby to get the Dawgs over that final hump. If it doesn’t happen in the next five years or so, we might have to revisit this discussion. But the way things stand now, Kirby has plenty of runway to get UGA to finally soar.
3. Mark Stoops
The Kentucky coach remains one of the most anonymous coaches in the SEC—he’s not even the most famous Stoops in college football! But he’s plugged away at Kentucky and quietly built a real program. Despite notching their first loss of the season on Saturday at the hands of UGA, Kentucky is the best they’ve been since Tim Couch was there, and that’s thanks to Stoops. They’re going to be good again next year, too, with QB Will Levis returning and spending another season under first-year offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who calls some fun plays.
(Although it’s sorta funny that teams in the SEC East now have to deal with UGA basically becoming Alabama East… and now Alabama might be moving East also.)
4. Jimbo Fisher
Jimbo Fisher left Florida State after winning a title, and came to Texas A&M for a huge payday. He did ok? I mean, there were a few 9-4 years in there, and last year they finished 9-1 and won the Orange Bowl. But this season started with two losses, and A&M seemed to be, at best, treading water.
Then Jimbo signed a huge contract extension, which seemed odd from the outside. According to USA Today, the new deal made it nearly impossible for Jimbo to get fired.
Fisher, 56, is making $7.5 million this year and would be owed about $95.6 million if he is fired without cause on Dec. 1. Prior to the extension, he would’ve been due $45.6 million.
But it also doesn’t cost Jimbo anything to walk away. Oh, and did you hear that LSU has an opening at head coach? And did you hear who the athletic director at LSU is? That’s right, it’s Scott Woodward, Jimbo’s longtime friend and the exact same man who signed Jimbo to that huge deal at TAMU.
No matter how all this plays out, Jimbo is the one with all the power right now. And I’d imagine there are probably some Aggies out there who wouldn’t mind seeing him walk away.
5. Lane Kiffin
Some coaches are just the right fit for a school and a fanbase, and Lane Kiffin has been exactly that for Ole Miss. He’s cocky and brash and sort of weird, and if that doesn’t perfectly describe Ole Miss, I don’t know what does. Tennessee fans seemed to target Kiffin especially this weekend with their varied detritus from the stands, and while I would never condone this behavior, I will admit that it wasn’t entirely surprising.
Kiffin is also a heckuva an offense coach, helping Ole Miss top categories across the board and turning Matt Corral into a legit Heisman candidate. Unfortunately, Ole Miss has also been bad on defense, really bad. I don’t know how Kiffin can get Ole Miss past this hump where they currently reside, but it’s not going to be easy. The other idea is, maybe they never have to get past this hump? Just live here, winning 8 or 9 games a year and scoring 40 points each week and giving fans a reason to show up at The Grove, week after week.
6. Sam Pittman
Wait a second, the Arkansas coach is ranked ahead of the Florida coach on this list? Well, as Sam Pittman might say, YESSIR! Look, Pittman isn’t too far removed from being a cartoon character of a football coach, but you can’t deny the job he has done at Arkansas. Just a few years ago they were a total joke, and now they are not only good, but they seem to be on the verge of sustainable success—building a culture that lasts beyond having just one good quarterback.
7. Dan Mullen
Dan Mullen should probably be higher on this list. After Florida lost Steve Spurrier and Ron Zook and Urban Meyer, they spent a few years wandering in the wilderness, before luring Mullen, Meyer’s former assistant, back to Gainesville. He’s revered as an amazing offensive mind, and known as a terrific recruiter.
Since Mullen’s arrival, the results have been above average. Over his first three seasons, Mullen posted a 29-9 record, which at most schools would be considered great. But not at Florida. This season the Gators are off to a 4-3 start, including a bad loss to LSU for the second year in a row, and the Gators have UGA waiting in two weeks. Oh, and the Gators seem to have a quarterback controversy on their hands, which is always fun!
For so long, even when he was the coach at Mississippi State, Mullen was talked about as the perfect guy for Florida. Well, the Gators got what they wanted. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing after all?
8 (tie). Josh Heupel
I am not sold quite yet on the Heupel hype at Tennessee. He had two great years at UCF, and in his first year at UT, the team seems to be trending in a positive direction. But scoring 40-plus against Missouri and South Carolina doesn’t matter when you’re losing to the Ole Miss’s and Florida’s of the SEC. And when you consider how Tennessee’s hiring of Heupel was such a convoluted process, we know the patience doesn’t run long in Knoxville.
8 (tie). Bryan Harsin
I’m lumping Harsin and Heupel in together because they’re in such similar situations. Both are in their first years in the big time, emerging on top after funky coaching searches, trying to make a dollar out of the change left behind by the previous regimes. I haven’t really been impressed with Auburn this season, but I don’t know how much of that is just Harsin trying to make Gus Malzahn’s odd ends meet in the middle.
10. Shane Beamer
South Carolina is bad, and to compound their badness, they’ve had some rotten luck this season with injuries and recruiting misses. Beamer basically has to rebuild SC from the ground up, but I like the attitude and honesty we’ve seen from him thus far. I just hope the fans in South Carolina give him enough time and space to really get this thing on track.
11. Eli Drinkwitz
Drinkwitz had one great season at Appalachian State before getting gobbled up by Missouri, and thus far in Columbia, the returns haven’t been all that encouraging. A decade ago, Missouri won double-digit games a couple of times, but once you’re down in the SEC, it’s really tough to climb back to the top. As Coach Drink is finding out now.
12. Mike Leach
For so, so long, the pipe dream of college football fans everywhere was to see Mike Leach show up in the SEC and to bring his caffeinated air raid offense with him. But now it seems like everyone is running some version of an uptempo, pass-happy offense, and thus far Leach’s schemes haven’t been enough to make up for the lack of talent in Starkville. In a season and a half at Miss State, Leach is 7-10. Joe Moorhead went 14-12 in two seasons and got fired. So…
13. Clark Lea
*shrug emoji*