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Nick Saban retired as dean of the SEC after 17 seasons and six national championships at Alabama.
Georgia’s Kirby Smart, one of Saban’s brightest students, is now the most accomplished coach in the conference, but Smart isn’t the longest-tenured SEC head coach.
That title belongs to Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, set to begin his 12th season in Lexington.
Smart, entering Year 9 at Georgia, is second to Stoops in SEC tenure.
Third? Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. And he was hired not so long ago, on Dec. 7, 2019. The next day, Arkansas hired Sam Pittman and Missouri hired Eli Drinkwitz.
The SEC is the strongest conference in college football, but it’s short on proven SEC coaches. There’s a Saban-sized hole from which a collection of candidates could try to emerge.
Here are The Oklahoman’s rankings of SEC coaches from 16 to 1:
OU football from A to Z: Everything you need to know about 2024 Oklahoma Sooners
16. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State
Lebby, by default, finds himself at the bottom of this list.
The former Sooner offensive coordinator has zero head coaching experience, but hey, you have to start somewhere. And few get an SEC job from the jump. Mississippi State is an awfully hard place to win, but Lebby should be given time to prove himself.
15. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
Lea could be Knute Rockne reincarnate, but we’d never know. Not even Rockne could coach up the Commodores in this hyper-competitive, arms race era of college football.
Vanderbilt doesn’t stand a chance in this SEC, and that has nothing to do with Lea.
Unfair as it might seem, it’s difficult to justify Lea being higher on this list.
14. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
FBS head coaching record: 23-25
Record at Arkansas: 23-25 (11-23, SEC)
Arkansas went 9-4 (4-4 SEC) in Pittman’s second season. But 7-6 and 4-8 seasons to follow have Pittman on the hot seat. The Razorbacks…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sec-football-coach-rankings-where-104527552.html
Author : The Oklahoman
Publish date : 2024-08-25 10:45:27
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