With Lane Kiffin’s hiring at Florida Atlantic being made official yesterday morning, that now makes 2 former major college and NFL coaches that are taking over Conference USA school in South Florida. Not to mention a former upstart that didn’t get things quite right at Texas, a current upstart former Pac 12 offensive coordinator, an ACC coach that won a national championship just 3 years ago, an ACC coach that has won the SEC twice (and almost a 3rd time in 2012), and an SEC coach that has gone to the SEC Championship game 2 straight years.
The NFL coaches would be #8, #9 and #10 as most recognizable in the state of Florida now.
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With the coaching talent that has found its way into the state over the past few years, it made me think about the fact that coaching in the SEC has declined so immensely over recent years. Everyone is doing whatever they can to catch up to Nick Saban, and they’re making awful decisions in the process… or no big time coaches want to come into the conference and coach against him (at least not at a reasonable price).
The SEC East is where this shows up the most.
Coaching in the SEC East is at an all-time low. The SEC West is not a lot better, but the East has been awful in comparison. Since 2009, the SEC West’s record vs their counterparts from the East (including SEC Championship games) is 92-40. That’s insane. The West is winning over the East at almost a 70% clip. Any gambler would love those odds.
So let’s take a look at what we have here.
I started writing this to see which SEC East Coach you would rather have at each job in Florida… but I really couldn’t find one. Conversely, for each SEC East job, I almost found that I would rather have every coach from the state of Florida as opposed to the current coach sitting.
The only one that’s on both of these lists is Jim McElwain, because the Gators are both in the state of Florida, and in the SEC East.
So let’s try and rank the coaches and go from there:
1. Jimbo Fisher
Florida St
This one is not even close. Fisher has won a national championship, has won the ACC 3 times, and has won 10 or more games in 5 of his 7 years (with a chance to make that 6 of 7 in the bowl game). Clemson has things rolling, so he has not won the ACC in the last 2 seasons, but he’s still got a powerhouse program rolling at Florida St.
He’s had a top 10 recruiting class every year that he’s been the head coach in Tallahassee, so you know he can get players. He’ll continue rolling there for as long as he wants.
2. Mark Richt
Miami
Richt was fired from Georgia after a 9-3 season. He went 145–51 over 15 years there, so he basically averaged about 10 wins a year. He had one losing season (going 6-7 after losing in a bowl game), and in the other 14 years, never won less than 8 games other than that 1 losing year, and only won less than 10 games in 6 of his 15 years. He won the SEC East 6 times and won the SEC twice.
He’s gong to do big things at Miami. Only went 8-4 his first season… but, again, another year with at least 8 wins. That’s 15 of his 16 season that he’s done that. Not to mention the fact that he can recruit high-character guys.
3. Jim McElwain
Florida
McElwain may not have a ton of fans right now, but he’s won the SEC East in the only 2 seasons he’s been in Gainesville, despite having mediocre offenses. He’s still cleaning up the mess that Will Muschamp left behind in Gainesville, but he’s gotten the most out of his players, and has won big ballgames. He is, however, 0-2 against Alabama and 0-2 against Florida St so far.
In his first head coaching job, he took a 3-9 Colorado St team and went 4-8 his first season, 8-6 the next season, and 10-2 the season after that. He’s gone 10-4 and 8-4 in his first 2 seasons at Florida, and things don’t appear to be getting better, but if he can find a decent qb in Gainesville, he’ll be fine.
4. Lane Kiffin
Florida Atlantic
Kiffin’s head coaching run was not nearly as bad as many people thought. He took a Tennessee team that went 5-7 in Phil Fulmer’s last season to a 7-6 record in his first year. He then left for the USC head coaching job, which was under severe recruiting sanctions at the time (imagine working with 1/3rd of your recruiting limit), and went 8-5 in his first season, 10-2 in his second season (didn’t get to go to a bowl in either season thanks to NCAA bowl ban), then 7-6 in his 3rd year and 3-2 before he was fired in the middle of the season.
After that, he came to Alabama and became their Offensive Coordinator, and helped bring Nick Saban into the age of modern offense, leading the Tide to 3 straight SEC titles, 3 straight playoffs, a National Title last year, and a heisman trophy winner last year, along with all kinds of records.
I have him up at #4 because, yes, I understand that there is some risk with him, but he’s only 41 years old, he’s got a great offensive mind, and he can recruit like gangbusters. Kiffin would, without a doubt, be the best coach in the SEC East right now if he had any of those jobs. And just wait a few years, and if he turns FAU around, he could be right back into the SEC East.
5. Charlie Strong
South Florida
Strong was great at Louisville. He took a program that went 5-7 and 4-8 the 2 years before he got there, then went 7-6, 7-6, 11-2, and 12-1, including a Sugar Bowl win over Will Muschamp’s #3 Florida in his 3rd season, and a 36-9 Russel Athletic Bowl win in his last season.
Of course, it goes to show what can happen when you get an amazing, transcendent qb like Teddy Bridgewater. He never had that at Texas, and he was never able to turn around the mess that Mack Brown left for him. Everything at that program was a mess, and he did not have the full support of the program at any point. There was always somebody that did not want him to succeed. He can absolutely recruit, and he can scheme, so he’ll be fine at South Florida, where it appears all the boosters and administrators are fully behind him and want to help him succeed. He knows the recruiting landscape in Florida and will be able to get players, for sure.
6. Butch Davis
Florida International
Butch is older now (65), and he has always been a winner, sans a brief stint with the Cleveland Browns.
From 1995 to 2001, he went 51-20 with the Miami Hurricanes, and laid the foundation for Larry Coker’s National Championship in 2002, and the title game appearance in 2003. Davis went 24-35 in Cleveland, but led the Browns to a 9-7 record and their last playoff appearance in 2002 (and their first since 1994). Obviously, nobody has been able to win in Cleveland, so we won’t hold that against him too much.
He sat out for a few years after being fired in 2004 and then took over the North Carolina head coaching job, went 4-8 his first year, and then went 8-5 the next 3 years before resigning under pressure after NCAA sanctions were handed down.
He’s older now, so he’ll just be a holdover before a newer coach is announced in a few years, but he obviously knows how to coach players, and he’s always been a great recruiter.
7. Derek Mason
Vanderbilt
Derek Mason is the only SEC coach that currently has some momentum. They finally got the offense rolling at the end of the year, and played every SEC team close this year, and broke through at the end with wins over Ole Miss and Tennessee to get to 6-6 and a bowl game. Mason’s defense is legit, as it always was when he was DC at Stanford. He’s got the full support of the administration, and, while he’s working with a handicap at Vanderbilt, he’d be able to get things done at other programs as well. He develops players and appears to be a coach that players enjoy playing for.
8. Scott Frost
Central Florida
Frost was the Oregon offensive coordinator under Mark Helfrich, and things went so bad in the year after he left that the Ducks fired Helfrich. Frost took a team at UCF that went 0-12, and in his first year went 6-6 and are in a bowl game. He’ll only get better from here. He’s young, and very innovative on offense.
9. Will Muschamp
South Carolina
Muschamp did some good things at Florida, but never had that transcendent QB that he needed. His defense was always lights out though, and it led him to an 11-2 record in his 2nd season (included a loss to Georgia and to Louisville in the Sugar Bowl). His overall record at Florida was 28-21, and injuries crushed him. Recruiting is another one of his specialties (everyone around Saban seems to have that feature). He turned around a 3-9 South Carolina team last season (when Spurrier retired in the middle of the year), and got them to 6-6 this year, once they finally found a QB. He may have that great QB in true freshman Jake Bentley, and it will be interesting to see what he can do in the next few years.
10. Butch Jones
Tennessee
Butch is an 8-4 coach. He went 27-13 at Central Michigan (avg 9-4 per season), then went 23-14 at Cinci (avg 8-5 per season), and is now 28-21 at Tennessee (avg 7-5). He always has a rough first year, and then builds the team up. In 10 years of coaching, he’s had 2 seasons that had 10 or more wins (’09 Central Michigan went 11-2, ’11 Cinci went 10-3). Butch isn’t bad, but he’s not great either. The story that came out from Travis Haney after this season was just murder, and it’s interesting to see what Butch will be able to do now, after losing to South Carolina and Vanderbilt towards the end of this season.
Yes, there were a ton of injuries, but this was supposed to be the season when they finally got back to the SEC Championship game and competed for the National Championship. Everyone thought they might be able to upset Alabama on Oct 15th… but the Tide rolled them in Knoxville 49-10. Talks are already heating up because he loses so many seniors from this year’s team. They get to break in a new QB next year as well. Don’t look for things to end well in Knoxville for ol’ Butch.
11. Mark Stoops
Kentucky
Mark Stoops took over a terrible program at Kentucky as his first head coaching job, and seemed to figure out that he could recruit in the Big 10 footprint (Ohio, Indiana, etc) rather than trying to compete in the South against the rest of the SEC. It’s worked so far – they’ve found several kids that they otherwise would not have, and it’s led to good things. He’s gone through several coordinators, and it’s been a rock first 4 years, but he has improved. His first season they went 2-10, then 5-7, then 5-7 again, and this year he’s sitting at 7-5 with an upset win in the finale at top 10 Louisville.
Next year will be the deciding year though. Kentucky fans were starting to get heated after losing the first 2 games of the year at home to Southern Miss and getting blown out at Florida, but they went 7-3 the rest of the way, with wins over Vanderbilt, Mississippi St, South Carolina, and Louisville. He’s bought some time, and if they continue to recruit well, that division is so bad that he could end up competing for it. But if he has a slip up… the flames are already pretty high on his seat.
12. Kirby Smart
Georgia
Smart just finished his first season at Georgia, and had less wins (7) than Mark Richt had in 14 of his 15 years as head coach. Not a good way to start things out, but he did explain before the season that he’s going to have to rebuild the roster to match what he knows how to do. Smart has been Saban’s longtime defensive coordinator, and you would imagine he’ll turn it around at some point. He’s a great recruiter, and currently has a Top 10 class, and he’ll continue to do that. His true freshman QB, Jacob Eason, wasn’t quite ready for the spotlight, but you could see that he’s going to be really good. NFL Draft good.
One year in though, there were some boneheaded decisions during games that cost them, and different things that probably could have gone more smoothly. He needs time to grow into that role.
13. Barry Odom
Missouri
Odom went 4-8 in his first season as head coach at Missouri. He was the defensive coordinator for one year under Gary Pinkel, and he was the defensive coordinator at Memphis for 3 years under Justin Fuente before that. He’s not been great at recruiting, he’s not a great offensive mind (although his team put up crazy points on meaningless competition), and the thing he’s supposed to known for (defense) is what his team lacked most throughout the season.
The Tigers did beat Arkansas and Vanderbilt in 2 of their last 3 games this season, so maybe there’s a a little optimism for Mizzou fans… but the truth is that they hired Odom because they could not get anyone else to take the job. The fake protest that happened on campus, and the steep decline in enrollment thereafter made this a job that nobody really wanted. But Odom is an alum of the school, and he’s getting the opportunity to turn things around.
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