SEC News: How CBS Sports grades new conference hires

It’s been a relatively quiet coaching carousel in the SEC, but there were a pair of moves in the West.

It was a relatively quiet coaching carousel in the SEC, but it wasn’t entirely so.

The biggest move came out of College Station as Texas A&M fired Jimbo Fisher. After a flirt with Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, the Aggies ultimately hired Duke’s Mike Elko, who had previously served as a defensive coordinator with the school under Fisher.

CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee issued grades for all the new hires so far, and the addition of Elko received a B+. Sallee likes the hire but knocked Texas A&M for the Stoops debacle, arguing that he would’ve been a better hire.

The other change came in Starkville as Mississippi State chose to move on from Zach Arnett after less than one season. The Bulldogs brought in Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who had previously served in the same role at Ole Miss.

With the SEC West now a thing of the past, the Tigers will face the Aggies but not the Bulldogs in 2024. The SEC’s scheduling model has not yet been determined beyond that.

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