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Ranking of the best coaches in the SEC for the 2022 season…
What better time to rank the Southeastern Conference’s head coaches than now in the midst of the name-calling, cheating accusations and drama amongst some of the league’s top dogs?
Here’s our outlook on where each SEC head coach is ranked headed into the 2022 season.
Putting all 14 SEC head football coaches against each other in a seeded boxing tournament. Who do you think will win each matchup? GO VOTE!
We are a month past the last college football game and a little more than a month until Spring Football begins so this is one of the deadest times for college football.
Yet it doesn’t have to be that way, right? That’s why I am introducing you to the ULTIMATE SEC SHOWDOWN! Yes, we are pitting the 14 head coaches against each other to see who is the biggest and baddest man we have in our great conference right now.
Seeding? Oh we have already done you the favor of putting the 14 coaches, in our opinion, in order with LSU’s Ed Orgeron being the top seed, new Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel being our lowest seed and Lane Kiffin as our dark horse.
It is the first round of the showdown and we have listed the age, height along with the pros and cons of each coach. It is now your turn to have fun as you get to vote for the ultimate champion of the SEC!
Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!
College Football News ranked the top SEC head coaches. Where is Georgia football’s Kirby Smart?
Pete Fiutak of College Football News recently released a list ranking the SEC head coaches heading into the 2020 season.
Checking in at No. 3 on the list is Georgia’s Kirby Smart, who trails only Nick Saban (1) and Ed Orgeron (2).
At No. 4 is Dan Mullen and at No. 5 is Gus Malzahn.
As much as I’d love for Smart to be in that No. 2 spot, I do not disagree with Fiutak here.
Smart’s time will come, and within the next five years he may very well occupy that No. 1 spot.
For now, he’s sitting at No. 3 on Fiutak’s list, likely right on the verge of taking over that No. 2 ranking. As long as he keeps winning the SEC East, beating rivals and putting his team in striking distance for the College Football Playoff…he’ll be considered a top-five coach in America.
Orgeron or Smart at No. 2 was likely a somewhat difficult decision. Fiutak went with Coach O since he accomplished something Kirby hasn’t yet, a national championship.
I’ve heard it all – “Anyone could win with that roster.”
Sure, Smart probably would have won it with that roster LSU had last year. But, at the end of the day, he didn’t have that roster. No other way around it.
Also, how can you not love Coach O?
As for Saban, there’s no arguing that one.
We ranked all the SEC head coaches, from Georgia football’s Kirby Smart, to Arkansas’ Sam Pittman, to Florida’s Dan Mullen.
The SEC is loaded with head coaching talent as we head into the 2020 college football season.
You have your usuals – Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Gus Malzahn, Ed Orgeron, etc.
But then you have your familiar, or in some cases not-so-familiar, yet new faces: Lane Kiffin, Mike Leach, Sam Pittman, Eli Drinkwitz.
Ranking the SEC head coaches heading into the 2020 season is as hard as it’s ever been, and that’s because of all these new hirings. But it’s also because Jeremy Pruitt waited until October to start winning games in Tennessee last year. It’s because Ed Orgeron took a loaded roster and won a national title. Because Gus Malzahn and Auburn always have the talent but can’t seem to win the big ones. Or because, despite a 4-8 season, Will Muschamp was able to knock off Kirby Smart and Georgia.
Related: 2020 Georgia schedule with game-by-game score predictions
14. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
I would have loved to get Pittman into a higher spot on this list, but what is there to go off of? His last head coaching job came in 1992 and 1993 when he led Hutchinson Community College to an 11–9–1 record over two seasons.
I am 100% rooting for Pittman to succeed in his first season as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. It won’t be easy, and this is a team that will likely finish with at least five losses for the first few years, but that’s not necessarily a terrible thing as long as they play hard.
Arkansas may not field the most talented teams in the SEC, but if there’s one thing I’m certain of it’s that the former UGA O-Line coach will make sure his guys fight harder than anybody.
13. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
Drinkwitz gets the No. 13 spot because of what he was able to do at App State last year. In his first season as a head coach, he led the Mountaineers to a 12-1 record and a Sun Belt championship.
But that’s not the SEC. It’s going to be a rocky road ahead for Drinkwitz, as Mizzou will definitely not be one of the more talented teams in the league for a few years.
12. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt
I often find myself rooting for Vanderbilt and Mason.
He took over at Vandy when James Franklin left for Penn State, and though it’s been tough at times, you get the feeling that Commodore fans actually look forward to their seasons.
11. Will Muschamp, South Carolina
If Muschamp had not beaten Georgia last year, he maybe would not even be on this list at all.
But he won and that probably saved his job. He coaches up a good defense, but South Carolina will need to crank up its recruiting efforts if it wants to start contending in the SEC East. Another season with no bowl game may put an end to Muschamp’s head coaching career with the Gamecocks.
10. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
Kiffin is a good football coach, there’s no denying that. No. 10 is pretty low for an offensive genius like him. But this conference is simply loaded.
Kiffin did a great job at Florida Atlantic, but I still need to see him win consistently at a Power 5 school.
