The big news at last year's SEC football media days was Alabama's new $4 million coach, Nick Saban. This year's big news is every SEC's team coach.
The conference has never had so many proven coaches. Five have won national championships, and another has gone 13-0 through the nation's toughest conference.
The only problem with trying to rank the best of the best is that somebody finishes last. Being the 12th-ranked coach in the SEC means you still could be a top-40 coach nationally.
Even last year, the SEC probably had more good coaches than ever. And now, the league has said goodbye to Ed Orgeron and hello to Bobby Petrino. That's called "improvement."
In fact, the coaching is so impressive, one column doesn't do it justice. It takes two - one to rank them according to their accomplishments and a second to gauge their value on the open market.
Here how I would rank them based on their accomplishments as college head coaches:
1. Steve Spurrier: He might not win so much as a division championship at South Carolina, but that doesn't obscure what he did elsewhere.
He won an Atlantic Coast Conference championship at Duke. That's worthy of Ripley's recognition.
Then he went to Florida, which had never won an SEC championship, and won six conference titles and a national championship as well. Not even Urban Meyer can match that.
2. Urban Meyer: Maybe this guy could win at Duke, too. He has won everywhere else.
He won 17 games in two seasons at Bowling Green, and 22 games - including 16 in a row - in two years at Utah.
In his second season at Utah, he went 12-0. In his second at Florida, he won a national championship.
3. Nick Saban: There's a reason Alabama broke the bank to hire him, and it wasn't his smile. He has never had a losing season in 12 years of college coaching.
Saban went 9-2 at both Toledo and Michigan State before he turned underachieving LSU into a national power.
The Tigers were 7-15 in the two years prior to Saban's hiring. They won a national championship and two SEC titles while averaging almost 10 victories per year in Saban's five seasons.
4. Tommy Tuberville: He rebuilt Ole Miss despite being hamstrung by NCAA sanctions and has dominated arch-rival Alabama at Auburn.
I'm putting him ahead of two coaches who have won national championships. But for an SEC team to go 13-0, as Auburn did in 2004, is comparable to winning a national title.
5. Les Miles: He averaged eight victories per year his last three seasons at Oklahoma State before picking up where Saban left off at LSU.
Last season's national championship gave Miles 34 victories in three years at LSU. But you have to remember that Saban recruits figured prominently in that success.
6. Phillip Fulmer: Although he hasn't won an SEC title since 1998, he has had only one losing season in 15 years at Tennessee. And his 1998 team not only won a national championship against a difficult schedule, it went unbeaten.
But unlike the coaches ahead of him, Fulmer has been a head coach at only one school. And there was no rebuilding necessary. When he succeeded Johnny Majors as coach at the end of the 1992 season, the Vols had won 38 games in four years.
7. Mark Richt: Like Fulmer, Richt has been a head coach at only one school. And like Fulmer, he didn't exactly take over a downtrodden program.
Georgia had won 35 games in four seasons before Richt arrived. But there's no question the program has reached new heights under Richt, who has led the Bulldogs to two SEC titles and 73 victories in seven seasons.
By comparison, Fulmer's first seven teams won 72 games and two SEC titles. Fulmer gets the edge over Richt with his national championship.
8. Bobby Petrino: He ranks this high on winning percentage alone. Petrino won 41 of 50 games in four seasons at Louisville, which was twice ranked No. 6 nationally.
Having proved he could win with talent, Petrino will get a chance to prove he can win with less at Arkansas. The Razorbacks could be the worst team in the SEC West in 2008.
9. Houston Nutt: He started his head-coaching career by taking Murray State from four to 11 wins in four seasons. He was 5-6 in one season at Boise State before beginning his 10-year run with the Razorbacks.
Nutt won three West Division titles at Arkansas, which was a significant improvement over his predecessors. The three coaches before him all had losing records.
10. Rich Brooks: Never mind that he has a losing record in 23 seasons as a head coach. Look where he has coached.
For 17 years, he was the head coach at Oregon, which was a Pac-10 bottom feeder when he took the job. He won at least six games in nine different seasons and was national coach of the year in 1994.
He signed on with Kentucky in 2003. Five years later, he has led the Wildcats to back-to-back eight-win seasons and two bowl victories.
That's heady stuff for Kentucky, which last won eight or more games in consecutive seasons in 1976-77.
11. Sylvester Croom: You don't have a lot to go on since this is his first head-coaching job.
But his rebuilding job at Mississippi State has been similar to Brooks' at Kentucky. After struggling initially in a difficult situation, Croom won eight games last season.
12. Bobby Johnson: Ask almost any other coach in the SEC and he will tell you Johnson is a good coach. If so, then it's about time someone hired him away from the Commodores.
Although Vanderbilt hasn't had a winning season in six years under Johnson, it has been more competitive.
Johnson also won 30 games in his last three seasons at Division I-AA Furman.
Monday: How the SEC coaches might rank on the open market.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or >adamsj@knoxnews.com.
Vanderbilt 93, Tennessee 79, Feb. 9…
Signing day celebration at Neyland…
Notre Dame beats Tennessee 72-44…
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Comments » 101
TommyJack writes:
Good article
FWBVol writes:
Urban might have won the NC in his second season at Florida, but in his third season he finished third in the East even with the Heisman winner. If you want to point out that Les Miles won his title with Saban recruits at LSU, you can also point out that a lot of Zook recruits played a big part in Florida's title.
CoverOrange writes:
They may have been Zook's recruits but Zook couldn't do with them anything close to what Urb did. This year should be the tipping point for Meyer: National Dynasty (a bit grandiose wouldn't you say) or Larry Cokerish.
Fulmer accomplished very little with Johnny's recruits. His best teams were 4, 5 and 6 years after he took over. Then he relaxed.
Have to disagree, TJ. JA seems to be picking and choosing stats and rationalizing his order.
GreerVol22 writes:
Adams...still publishing what Griff writes for you eh? Welcome back!
Volfan1 writes:
I'm not debating your choices, Tuscaloosa John, but given your track record and lack of veracity, who cares what you think?
OrangeKoolAid writes:
How can the coach with the highest winning percentage, and a NC, be listed as sixth behind two coaches - one who has not not won the conference much less an NC - and the other that has averaged only 8 wins a season. Oh, that's right, Adadms is a hack from OBama.
banman360 writes:
I agree John a 6-6 coach should be considered our best....seriously? care to make a list of coaches' and their off season issues? o that would support Phil. cant do that
CoverOrange writes:
Sales, check again, Tuberville did when the conference the year he didn't win the NC and Miles has averaged 11 wins per year at LSU.
bobbarbilly writes:
Any head coach seriously listed in this collage should have at least ten years experience competing with the big boys in the SEC. Bowling Green...Toledo...what about the years before the last three years at OSU....Coach ten years in the SEC and then let's run the numbers. I won't deny Spurrier's position but Fulmer should be number two.
Bless your heart John.
Silent_Fulmer writes:
HEISTMAN, LMAO, Ashley is enfeugo tonight!
budd#207344 writes:
The Urban Legend with the Great Circumsizer in tow goes 8-4 and he is building a dynasty? hahaha
Ears goes 13-0 playing four high schools and a nunnery & he's number four? hahaha
Considering the support he gets from his administration (None) Bobby Johnson is last? hahaha
Adams I don't criticise you for being a homer or hating UT but this is just stupid
hcjournals#206623 writes:
Wow. John Adams picks coach Fulmer 7th. He says that whatever Spurrier does with South Cacalaki doesn't matter. I say he is wrong. Spurrier's lack of success at South Carolina means that he can't get it done anymore. Period. They get at least 80,000 at every game. They give to the University. They have a close by ocean as a draw. There is no excuse. He is failing there, and his overall coaching record is reflecting it. Oscar Meyer is 2 losses away from alienating all of the Gator faithful. He has the personality of a wannabe. Say what you will. He will be a hated man in Gainesville within 3 years. Nick Saban....Carpet bagger. Les Miles.....Opportunist......Tommy Tuberville.......Traitor.....Mark Richt..Another jackass. They'll turn on him....Probably after this overrated year.
Coach Fulmer.....He's a nice guy. He makes over 2 million a year. Great recruiter......We lose the big game occasionally. We also win the big one quite often. He puts players in the NFL as well as anyone....Look it up. We need to beat Florida. If you want to look at his problem, that's it. Admittedly we are even with them in talent. At least that's what the players think. They are more consistent and prepared for our game than we are. I don't know why. They schedule cupcakes every year and get used to running up and down the field. We schedule a tough game before them. We go into the game like it's going to be a slugfest. They go into it like it's going to be a track meet. Their strategy is working more than ours. In 1998 when we beat Florida and were undefeated, we knew we could run the table. If we do it this year, we will do it again. Then Coach Fulmer will look more like Bear Bryant than #7. And that's what bothers the negatories. If we win the big one again we will truly have history in the making. And there is something that is strangely bothersome about that to the haters. I don't get it. I like that the players, Led by Peyton took out a full page ad and said they liked the experience they had at our school.
We are in a good place. Let's stay positive, and enjoy the ride. I'm in Dallas for goodness sakes. It's a lot harder to get there than most. Count your blessings. And stop complaining. We might have a great year this year.....Stay tuned....
Silent_Fulmer writes:
#7 was Mark Richt dunceface...to bad you just typed for 30 minutes on how Fulmer was #7.
bobbarbilly writes:
There is one thing for certain. The top five ain't not gonna win the SEC every year and they shore ain't not gonna be the tall hog at the trough every year unless we have an annual undefeated five-way tie for the NC.
Yeah...that's probably what's gonna happen.
kaplan#211944 writes:
Bye Ashley.
FWBVol writes:
DC, if you consider two years each at mid majors before coming to Florida such a great run, more power to you. Last year UM had three classes of players that he recruited and the Gators finished third in the East. I don't like Miles one bit, but my point is if Adams was rating him a little lower for winning with Saban recruits the same could be done for Urban.
hcjournals#206623 writes:
Hey Silent............
Ok. 6th. What's the difference? Just because it took you 30 minutes to read it doesn't mean it took me 30 minutes to write it. Okey dokey? Take care now....
Silent_Fulmer writes:
keep telling yourself that and you might believe it dunce
hcjournals#206623 writes:
The truth may hurt.....But as soon as you come on over and be a true Vol fan, you will be happier. Come on....Be a little positive........It's easy. And a lot more fun than being negative about our football program. We are excited about this year. Get on board and have some fun as well! No matter what you say........You need to get behind the Vols. Coach Fulmer is staying.......And the haters lost. Sorry.
WereInTrouble writes:
Wow, Adams, you were really kind to 'The Warden Foolmer'. He shouldn't even be coaching a D1 team let alone Tennessee. A 'Good Ole' Boy' that has LOST 62% of his games in the past six years against Bama, LSU, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, SECCG, bowl games, Notre Dame, Miami,etc.
Oh, I forgot - beating up on the nobodies like Vandy, Ky, Miss St., Ole Miss, etc. sure makes it look like he has a good winning percentage. Even the most ardent Foolmer supporters have to be shocked at what a failure he has been the past six years. Only Homer Hamilton's 'Good Ole' Boy Club' keeps him propped up. His true record is TERRIBLE!!!!
Silent_Fulmer writes:
yawn, 10 years and counting with 0 SEC titles
cdldoc#211897 writes:
Adams, you are a jerk. Your analysis is typical of you - flawed! If Fulmer was Coach at Florida, he would have a national champion every 3 years and SEC champion every 2 years. Tennessee is just about the weakest football recruiting state in the SEC. You couldn't get Richt, Meyer, Spurrier or most of the others to Coach for us because of the recruiting situation. Adams, you are a jerk! Apparently, you will always be a jerk. Phil should sit on your head and pass gas!
kbart4033#247331 writes:
1. Spurrier--if he wins SEC at SC, he will solidify
his legend;
2. Fulmer--more wins per D-I athlete in his home
recruiting turf than anyone;
3. Tuberville--can he keep it going on The Plains
now that Bama has full scholarship
load?
4. Richt--must win SEC soon to move up on this list;
5. Meyer--more D-I scho;arship talent
in his recruiting turf than anyone...how good would he be at, say,
Arkansas or Tennessee?
6. Miles--mediocre at OkState-amazing
talent at LSU;
7. Saban--mediocre at Michigan State (one nice season but they were happy
to see him go!), great at LSU,
awful at Miami, can he keep coaches
at Alabama?
8. Nutt--he will give Ole Miss a nice
bump;
8. Brooks--football is better than
hoops in Lexington!
8. Croom--sleeper in SEC West;
8. Johnson--would be great at Clemson!
VOLS85 writes:
hahahahah Adams has appeared from the abyss! So proud John! you gave us your rankings on coaches, and it is no surprise that even though 5 coaches in the SEC have won a NC, you listed Fulmer 6th...it's so spiteful it is funny! The good news is that your mom and the three fulmer critics on this site love you! By the way, what kind of gig do you have where you don't have to write an article for a month and a half? Seriously though, geaux tigers...trash
VOLS85 writes:
...by the way Kaplan, what does your comment mean? Did you kick the Ashley off the site? I'm confused, as you usually have information to relay as opposed to a vague comment on a UT homer...aren't you supposed to be unbiased? Shouldn't you rise above the usual trash on this site? Obviously not...really classy...
wyomingvol writes:
And regardless, Adams is a rear of the dohnkey'
Please resign or get fired soon.
stroker writes:
hcjournals is the rightest one on here today and wittiest. Go Vols, with a new offense and our normal good defense I feel postive.
writer#358485 writes:
Adams always has been a Spurrier fan. Spurrier's main problem is that he has no class. Now his ego has gotten him into a swamp that he won't be able to crawl out of at South Carolina. His talent doesn't equal his mouth. Swap Spurrier and Fulmer on the list and you'd have it about right. Curious that Adams wanted Fulmer fired a couple of months ago and now says nice things about him. What, did the heat get a little high, John? Maybe there weren't a lot job offers pouring in after the back-stabbing? The visor couldn't get you a job in Columbia? This is beginning to look like another one of our years, even Adams is backpeddling. Coach Fulmer, like all great coaches, has done the things necessary to put us into position to win--maybe not all of them, but certainly our share or better. The rest depends on the breaks. Go Vols!
bobbarbilly writes:
WEREINTROUBLE, "beating up on nobodies..." How many " nobodies" do you think that Spurrier, Meyer and "anybodys baby" Saban have ran the score up on over the years to get to where they are in John's eyes???
DarthVol writes:
IMO, it's still unfair to remove points from Fulmer because "there was no rebuilding necessary" when he succeeded majors. I honestly believe the program was where it was at the time he took over because of HIS ability to recruit and manage the team in whatever capacity he had control over. I think the people who make hiring/firing decisions knew that too.
And for those of you who don't know where I stand on Fulmer...I don't support him as being the future of UT. But give the man credit for doing the things that he does/did well. His stamp as head coach was on this team well before he actually took over.
And that's all I have to say about that.
GerryOP writes:
Fulmer's boss ranks him 7th, Adams ranks him 6th! John, you ol' homer you!
bobbarbilly writes:
General, I am a Vol fan and a Coach Fulmer fan. I was just aiming a bit of redirect at wereintrouble's earlier post about the weaker teams on the schedule. I think you took my post out of context.
Go Vols. "Git 'er done"
bobbarbilly writes:
Time for church.
DroopyDrawers writes:
I just read the headlines. Adams, please leave.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Agreed TJ, good article.
Must be time to rile the faithful.
Agree with the coach rankings except for Richt and Fulmer. Richt has two SEC titles in 7, Phil has zero in nine and counting.
Grey Goose koolade almost ready to ship. Some have ordered three 55 gallon drums.
And that's just for UCLA.
TommyJack writes:
Ashley got a ticket to ride? What did he say?
DarthVol writes:
I could tell you but I'd be banned.
pammyvol1000 writes:
HCJ.. You are right on!!
littleorange writes:
Another effort by Adams to demean Fulmer, therefore
he continues with his agenda to harm the Vols. Our opponents love this stuff!
Bigger_Al writes:
Tuscaloosa John continues to "briskly inhale" up to Spurrier, ignoring his off-field problems the way any hypocrite would.
Regarding his school-girl gushing over Spurrier winning the ACC at Duke, we should put that into perspective a bit. That's the ACC before Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Boston College, and Virginia Tech joined. Who's left?
NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Virginia, Maryland, Clemson, and Duke.
kaplan#211944 writes:
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walt23tn writes:
I'm not a big Adams fan, but he's right on with this article.
Go4Two writes:
When a coach moves from program to program they miss the down cycles that all program have. Example Nick Saban is not being held accountable for the mess he left in Miami. All programs cycle some coaches move before it hits their resume
BigMix writes:
It's great to be a Tennessee Vol!!!!!
hcjournals#206623 writes:
Thanks for the props. I try to be as objective as possible. We are far from perfect. But what I have noticed is that we have a really strong program. They try to do things the right way. We are very, very fallible. But when we are on.......There is no greater sports team on the face of the earth to watch than our Vols. If you have been allowed to take turf from the field of Notre Dame, with their approval, by the way.....If you have been in Gainesville when we won 34-32...If you went to Tempe and just knew we weren't going to mess it up.....If you saw coach Fulmer come over and trhow his hat as far as he could up into the stands after we beat Bama 41-14....And a hundred other stories, then you learn to roll with the punches a little bit. And we are a part of it as fans. I don't care what anyone says....Neyland is the greatest place to be in the world for a big game......Ask our opponents. I met a former Notre Dame player 6 months ago who said that of all the places he played, ours was the best....No, we are not perfect. But what we have beats whatever is second place.
Ok......First prediction of the year. The UCLA game......Major ratings....Complete national focus on the game......We might light it up.........
vol1994 writes:
As usual Mr. Adams is trying to stir the pot about Fulmer and our great University.
While I do not think Fulmer is the best coach in the SEC and I do think we possibly could use change in the near future, Mr Adams is always criticizing UT. It is funny how we all forget that Fulmer was considered one of the best coaches in America from 1997-2002. Sec title with Peyton (of course Nebraska opened up a can at bowl game), 98 natl title game, and one half away from playing natl title in 01. The Carolina Panthers tried to sway him away after 98 and I recall the fans getting nervous he would leave K-town. FOr all those disliking fulmer remember Bowden and Osborne could not win the big game supposedly for over a decade, now they are legends among their universities.
I could be wrong but I truly feel we will be in the natl title game one more time under fulmer.
invisiblekid writes:
Good work Sheriff Kaplan, long overdue IMHO.
Anyway, I'd probably trade spots between Tubberville and Fulmer. Saying that Tuberville deserves comparable credit to a national title for the undefeated season is a bit like sounding the horn for winning an SEC East championship IMO. It's an impressive accomplishment but it still doesn't put a trophy in the case.
I'd also put Fulmer ahead of Miles as well. Let's see what Miles does with his own players. Being the first two loss national champions takes some luster off as well, especially considering they had 4 other games that could have went either way. LSU was just as close to having 6 losses last year as the Vols.
Hard to argue about Spurrier, Meyer, and Saban being the top three. Although I'd give Saban the edge over Meyer due to longevity and some extra credit for serving a title to Miles on a silver platter. In today's SEC, I don't think anyone will ever be able to match the numbers put up by Spurrier in his time at FL.
Suprised a mushroom cloud hasn't formed over this column yet, still early though.
BigMix writes:
This list seems more like a love hate list. It should read........
Spurrier
Fulmer
Miles
blah
blah
blah
blah
blah
blah
blah
blah
Nick Saban
BleedsOrangeinMO writes:
I'm not real happy with the way the VOLS have played the last dew years either. But I do know this everytime the Vols are on TV (national or regional)the announcers at some point during the game comment that Tennessee is always a great measuring stick by which other teams test themselves. If the other team happens to beat the VOLS; then they must be a pretty good team. Usually the VOLS consistently win 8, 9,10 games a season. 90% of the D 1 teams who love to have that!!!!!! But here at Tenn we hold all of our teams to a higher standard. We expect, at least, conference championships every 2 or 3 years.
Hey Workin' and others like you I ask Fulmer gets fired who do you replace him with? The only one I can think of is the Boise St. head coach; he's had a couple of good years lately.
philfan writes:
WereInTrouble,
You still have not answered my question. Does WereinTrouble mean that you think we (Tennessee) were in trouble and are now not in trouble. Or did you mean to say, We're in Trouble (with Fulmer and the other coaches). That tiny little apostrophe makes all the difference in the world, or do you know nothing about English grammar?
My handle, philfan, leaves no doubt as to where I stand with Fulmer. I would rank Fulmer #2 on the list, right behind Spurrier. And I agree with bobbarbilly that a coach in the SEC with over 10 years of experience should be given special consideration.
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