You shouldn’t always take coaches seriously during what former Florida football coach Steve Spurrier called “the talking season.”
Sometimes, coaches on the “hot seat” will speak glowingly about an upcoming season. After all, they know the media will devote much of its preseason coverage to outlining their program’s flaws.
I also have heard coaches with national championship talent bemoan the absence of an inexperienced long snapper in a preseason media gathering, as if that shortcoming might sabotage their season.
Most of the coaches at SEC media days in Atlanta have greater concerns than an inexperienced long snapper. In fact, half the coaches scheduled for July 16-17 could be making their final appearance on the conference’s preseason stage.
So, get your goodbyes ready for Oklahoma’s Brent Venables, Florida’s Billy Napier, Arkansas’ Sam Pittman and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops.
The odds are against any of them returning next season.
Never mind that Oklahoma could be the most improved team in the league. Venables is a long shot to extend his head-coaching career past four seasons with the Sooners. He enters this season with two losing records in three years and a schedule that could provoke a panic attack in even a future hall of fame coach.
When SEC commissioner Greg Sankey began formulating the “interim” SEC schedule for 2025 and 2026, I could imagine his saying “Let’s see if we can get that Venables guy fired.” The Sooners’ first-year SEC schedule was brutal, and this one is no different.
You could say the same for Napier’s Gators. Like Venables, he already has compiled two losing seasons in three years. Like Venables, the past two Florida schedules weren’t designed to assure coaching longevity.
Never mind that Florida rallied in the second half of last season to finish with eight wins or that…
Source link : https://www.knoxnews.com/story/sports/columnists/university-of-tennessee/john-adams/2025/07/16/sec-football-coaches-hot-seat-sam-pittman-billy-napier-brent-venables-mark-stoops/85064979007/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-07-16 09:02:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
