September 08, 2004
Rating the SEC Coaches
Nowhere in college football is the coaching spotlight brighter than in the Southeastern Conference. The great ones are adored (and hated by rivals), the good ones are constantly scrutinized, and the strugglers are pilloried. In its storied history, for every Bear Bryant and Steve Spurrier you find, you’ll also find a Hal Mumme and Mike DuBose. Just visit fireronzook.com and firedavidcutcliffe.com to witness the intensity that surrounds these coaches.
The SEC has always attracted great coaches, and the current crop is no different. Lou Holtz, Phillip Fulmer, and Nick Saban have national championship head coaching credentials. Every coach but three has led a team to a bowl appearance (note: Sylvester Croom is in his rookie head coaching season, Mike Shula has only one probation-riddled and bowl-ineligible season under his belt, and--well--Bobby Johnson coaches Vanderbilt).
Here goes:
1. Nick Saban -- LSU
NFL owners and GM’s lust after him, and LSU is thrilled to be keeping him. Saban took over a Tiger program that hadn’t had a sniff of the national spotlight for two generations and rocketed it to the top. Stellar recruiting classes indicate that Saban will keep LSU at or near the top of college football's pecking order until he finally, if ever, answers the NFL head coaching call.
2. (tie) Mark Richt -- Georgia
Richt has transformed a Georgia team that had been a perennial also-ran in the SEC into an elite national title contender. His staff recruits very well, and his players are always prepared. His stock is very high right now, but the Bulldogs have lofty expectations to live up to in order to keep him there. Would he leave Georgia to take the reigns at Florida State when Bobby Bowden retires?
2. (tie) Phillip Fulmer -- Tennessee
Fulmer has elevated the Vols’ program up to elite status, largely thanks to top-notch recruiting. His assembled talent has delivered one national championship and two conference titles. The program has tailed off a bit in recent years (allowing Georgia to surpass it on the scoreboard and in the standings), but Fulmer has kept the Vols’ close to top 10 national status in most seasons. Off-the-field incidents by his players and his Machiavellian dealings as an NCAA spy have a raised a few eyebrows, but Fulmer seems to be coated in an Orange Teflon that will keep him on solid ground in Knoxville.
4. Houston Nutt -- Arkansas
Nobody gets more out of their players than Nutt. He hasn’t taken Arkansas into the SEC elite ranks (save for one trip the league title game), but his teams always seem to get written off by the pundits, and then pull off some upsets and go to bowls every year. As a native son of Arkansas that brilliantly played the Nebraska courtship to better his conditions, Nutt enjoys more job security than other coaches with similar records in the league (Tuberville, Zook, Cutcliffe, etc.).
5. Lou Holtz -- South Carolina
Holtz was considered to be one of the nation’s elite coaches in the 80’s and early 90’s. When he arrived in Columbia, the word was that the game had passed him by. The last two losing seasons have seen such talk resume. As a literal and figurative magician, never count Holtz out, but he’s yet to beat either Florida or Tennessee in five seasons at USC. Barring a quick turnaround, his plans to eventually turn the program over to son Skip are in serious jeopardy.
6. Tommy Tuberville -- Auburn
In piloting the turbulent ship at Auburn and previously turning around a mediocre situation at Ole Miss, Tub has been a consistent winner that can usually be depended upon to deliver 7, 8, or 9 games. His stock slipped after his team floundered under huge expectations last season, resulting in the “Jetgate” affair that nearly ended in his firing. Tuberville had better take Auburn to the next level soon if he is to hope to have long-term job security on the Plains.
7. Ron Zook -- Florida
Steve Spurrier’s successor has been a magnet for controversy in Gainesville, to say the least. He was not AD Jeremy Foley’s first choice to lead the Gators and he certainly isn’t Gator fans’ first choice now, after two 8-5 seasons and the newfound unemployment of Ol’ Ball Coach himself. Zook needs to win an East division title to keep the angry mobs at bay.
8. Mike Shula -- Alabama
Shula is tough to rank, given his circumstances in Tuscaloosa. He was a controversial hire that took over after spring practice with little time to even learn his players’ names, let alone implement a system. He inherited a program reeling from stiff probation, Dennis Franchione’s sudden departure, and the scandal-induced termination of Mike Price.
Shula’s first team lost the close games and basically sputtered to a 4-9 record. He was largely given a free pass for 2003, and has responded nicely with a solid recruiting class. The picture on Mike Shula should become clearer after this season.
9. David Cutcliffe -- Ole Miss
He made his reputation as an offensive coordinator at Tennessee coaching a Manning (Peyton). He’s enjoyed his greatest success at Ole Miss coaching a Manning (Eli). Can Cutcliffe consistently win and keep this job over the long term with the next Manning quarterback being a generation away? He better find some “W’s”, because he otherwise won’t find much patience in Oxford.
10. Bobby Johnson -- Vanderbilt
Ranking Johnson is not fair but, then again, measuring Vandy in the SEC standings isn’t fair, either. The academics, overall culture, and athletic philosophy at Vanderbilt is so far removed from the rest of the league that the Commodores will likely never run with the big dogs (or Gators…or Vols…or Tide…) in football. That said, Johnson is classy coach that runs a clean program. He could probably enjoy success in another major college football setting where winning is a more realistic objective.
11. Rich Brooks -- Kentucky
Brooks had a decent run at Oregon and has solid NFL experience to bolster his resume. The problem at Kentucky is that he inherited a probation-saddled program that has been way, way behind division rivals Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida for decades. Unless he pulls some rabbits out of his hat, Brooks may not be around long enough to see his languishing program contend in the rugged SEC East.
Incomplete: Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State
Croom has already made history at Mississippi State when he took the job and he coached (and won) his first game there. It’s impossible to rank him without a full season under belt, but the track record and early impressions look very good for Sly.
See also: Rating the Big XII Coaches & Ranking the ACC Football Coaches
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Comments & Trackbacks
Michael Hickerson says:
posted on September 8, 2004 10:52 AM — linkSaban is the new Spurrier--other teams love to hate him and he's elevated the league by his coming into it.
And for Croom, I'd put him above Vandy's Bobby Johnson after only one game. His team looked like they cared and had discipline on Saturday, unlike Vandy.
Randy H. says:
posted on September 8, 2004 11:12 PM — linkHouston Nutt? I really question him being that high. Also, is Zook really any less effective than Lou Holtz???
Robert Knodell says:
posted on September 9, 2004 08:14 AM — linkTake a hard look at the all the coaches ranked below Nutt. You'd be hard pressed to find one who's teams have met or exceeded expectations every single year. Nutt is the only one who's taken a team to the SEC championship in the last three seasons. He took over a losing team and has taken it to a bowl every year.
I think Holtz's resume compares very favorably to Zook's. He took a program that had been in the toilet and elevated it. Zook took over a team to had been competing at a very high level and it has gone down a notch. Remember that Florida has many advantages over South Carolina (and most other SEC program) but has swooned.
I would expect that Zook will either rank significantly higher in the next couple of years or he will gone.
colby says:
posted on September 10, 2004 04:45 PM — linkSaban has yet to prove that he's the replacement for the 'evil genius' of Gainesville. Nonetheless, he's proven that he can take good talent and coach them to the very elite ranks.
Houston Nutt has 1/3 the talent of LSU and he makes them extremely competitive. I've said for several years now that Arkansas is the hardest hitting team in the SEC game in and game out.
Fire Lou Holtz says:
posted on September 12, 2004 11:12 AM — linkLou Holtz needs to step down, along with Skip, or Mike Mcgee needs to fire the whole staff. The game has passed Lou by. You can not win in today's college arena, and definetly not in the SEC, with a hard nosed, ball control running attack with very little passing. Why is Lou considered so great? Because he won a national championship at Notre Dame in the 80's???????? In the 80's every premier player in the nation wanted to play at ND due to its history. Any coach could have won there then, Lou proved that. If USC wants to win, they need some young blood in the coaching staff.
Josh McClain says:
posted on September 12, 2004 12:19 PM — linkUSC looked mighty good last night against UGA.
That's a testament to Holtz getting them fired up and prepared against a national championship contender.
I think he retires after this season anyway
Fire Lou Holtz says:
posted on September 12, 2004 09:27 PM — link2 defensive scores and one big offensive play for a TD does not constitute a stellar performance. Defense looked really good, offense sucked as usual. Send Lou packing, let him take Skippy with him.
Zach says:
posted on September 15, 2004 11:25 AM — linkRicht, number 2? I can't agree with that. What has he won? This Georgia team will end up like all the rest, always blowing one or two games. Florida game comes to mind.
Robert Knodell says:
posted on September 15, 2004 12:05 PM — link"What has he won?"
For starters, Richt has won an outright SEC title, something that not a single coach ranked below him has. You also must ask yourself about Richt (or any other coach, for that matter) whether the program is better off or worse off than it was when he arrived. Most observers would say Georgia is better off. Agree?
cutnutt says:
posted on October 23, 2004 10:40 PM — linktime to let go and fire houston nutt; if he is an offensive coordinator, I am a brain surgeon, he's gotta go !!!
Mike says:
posted on October 24, 2004 02:51 AM — linkIf Houston Nutt ever gets fired or leaves Arkansas (Nebraska tried last winter), Hog fans are going to quickly learn that he is the only thing between their football program and a rapid death. He's kept them in games thsi year against teams like Texas and Georiga without the benefit of any real players besides Matt Jones. Nutt is a solid coach and many teams in the country would be glad to have him.
Jason says:
posted on October 27, 2004 04:51 PM — linkHouston Nutt has enjoyed good success since coming to Arkansas and taken the to 6 straight bowls...tying a school record. And yes, he does take teams that don't have that much talent and does great things with them. But, in the end, who's fault is it that there isn't much talent on the team? Part of the coach's job is to recruit talent and Nutt has had problems doing that. If he is so successful with little talent, imagine what could be if he could actually recruit talent. Let's face it, his best year at Arkansas was his first year when he started out 8-0 and lost to tennessee on a fluke play once they already had the game won. Otherwise, they would have been national championship contenders. What does that have to do with anything? It was his first year and the team was full of players that someone else recruited.
FireLou2 says:
posted on October 30, 2004 07:27 PM — linkFire Lou Holtz!!! This is 2004 football, not 1985. Hire Steve Spurrier. Spread the word gamecock fans.
FireLou2 says:
posted on October 30, 2004 07:30 PM — linkSpread the WORD. FIRE LOU HOLTZ!!! We need a new reckoning at Carolina.
