The SEC lost one of the greatest college football coaches of all-time when Alabama’s Nick Saban retired after last season. But the conference also added a couple of heralded coaches in Texas’ Steve Sarkisian and new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer.
With those significant changes, the timing is right to rank SEC coaches. Here goes:
Kirby Smart: He’s not just the top coach in the SEC. He’s tops in the country.
Smart has won two national championships and come within one play of a third. No other current SEC coach has won one.
Brian Kelly: He has won 10 or more games in each of the past seven seasons – five at Notre Dame and LSU – and is 73-16 during that stretch.
He also went 33-6 in three seasons at Cincinnati and 41-2 in his last three seasons at Grand Valley State.
All his resume lacks is a national championship.
Kalen DeBoer: Like Kelly, DeBoer has won wherever he has been. His overall record of 104-12, even if many of those wins came at a low-level program like Sioux Falls.
DeBoer went 25-3 in two seasons at Washington and played for the national championship last season. The year before he arrived, the Huskies were 4-8.
Lane Kiffin: He also knows how to execute a quick turnaround.
Ole Miss was 20-28 in the four seasons prior to Kiffin’s hiring. The Rebels are 34-15 the past four seasons under Kiffin and are a strong candidate to make the College Football Playoff this season.
He succeeded quickly at FAU, too. He won 11 games in his first season there. Before Kiffin, the Owls had suffered through eight consecutive non-winning seasons.
Josh Heupel: In three seasons each at UCF and Tennessee, he hasn’t had a losing record while building a reputation as one of the game’s top offensive coaches.
Heupel has averaged nine wins per season at Tennessee. That record looks even better when you consider what came before. You…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/rank-sec-football-coaches-why-090112656.html
Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Publish date : 2024-08-11 09:01:12
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