SEC Coaching Tiers

By Kyle Golik

The Basement

Clark Lea, Sam Pittman, Billy Napier

“The Basement” is riddled with three distinct stenches of odor.

Clark Lea is the “Outhouse Denizen” of the SEC. Lea is behind a major obstacle because he cannot leverage the portal like others in his league. When Vanderbilt snapped a 26-game conference losing streak under Lea, it seemed the Commodores were about to have their biggest hit since Lionel Ritchie - or at least when James Franklin was coaching. Instead, the program sank. I don’t feel Lea will be around long enough to right the ship.

Sam Pittman is reeking of desperation and that was evident when Arkansas brought back Bobby Petrino to serve as offensive coordinator . Pittman also faces a gauntlet where his visit to Stillwater in Week 2 is a must-win because that might be the difference between the Razorbacks being bowl eligible or not.

The Billy Napier hire was always underwhelming. To me it was Florida’s version of Derek Dooley ; a Nick Saban disciple hoping to make good. Any equity Napier built with upsets of Utah in 2022 and Tennessee last season is gone. If Napier cannot get a Week 1 win against Miami, the pressure will only ratchet up. All Florida fans know is Napier is a strange odor coming from the basement that shouldn’t be there.

The Unknown Commodity

Jeff Lebby

Mississippi State is still picking up pieces from the passing of Mike Leach . No knock on Zach Arnett , but he was not put in a situation to be successful. What Leach brought to Mississippi State was an offensive identity that is a distinct flavor of the Air Raid that few have ever run as efficiently or successfully.

Mississippi State is rolling the dice with Jeff Lebby . What MSU fans are hoping for is a duplicate of his successes in his previous spots on offense. In Lebby’s last two stops at Ole Miss and Oklahoma, his offense has been a Top 25 scoring offense in three of the last four seasons including fourth last season at 41.7 points per game.

The Grinders

Mark Stoops, Shane Beamer, Hugh Freeze, Eli Drinkwitz

Maybe Eli Drinkwitz should get promoted closer to “The Penthouse” after Missouri’s first New Year’s Six bowl win since the 2013 season. I am a little more skeptical considering the transfer portal exodus and bowl opt-outs Ohio State suffered. I feel last season was the high-water marker and Drinkwitz will be a lead grinder in the conference.

If Drinkwitz isn’t the lead grinder, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops is. Stoops has stabilized the Kentucky program and did something “Bear” Bryant couldn’t do - outlast a charismatic basketball coach who seemingly owned the state. John Calipari is at Arkansas now, and Kentucky realizes how hard it was to become the SEC’s pre-eminent “middle power.”

Hugh Freeze has been grinding since his unceremonious departure at Ole Miss. There is no denying Freeze has been a big-time winner at each stop, but he is now in his biggest pressure cooker. I would even dare say Freeze’s job got harder with Nick Saban’s retirement, because now the expectations are only higher to catch the mighty Crimson Tide.

The Penthouse Prospects That Still Have To Prove Themselves

Mike Elko, Brent Venables, Steve Sarkisian

Steve Sarkisian finally made it to the College Football Playoff last season, but I still remember Sarkisian as “Seven-Win Steve” from his Washington days. Grant you that was an eternity ago, and I do feel Texas is at its strongest since the Mack Brown days, but Sarkisian has to do it again.

Brent Venables is still proving to the Oklahoma base that he is the right answer . Being able to hand the Longhorns their only regular-season loss and improve the Sooners to a 10-win season were the right moves. Now Venables deals with a daunting schedule and heightened expectations. If he delivers, he has his place ready for him in “The Penthouse.”

The Aggies hope the magic Mike Elko had at Duke translates to College Station. You could argue Elko is an “Unknown Commodity” like Lebby; that would be fair. But I feel Elko was brought in like Brian Kelly at LSU to clean up the mess left before him, be the adult in the room, and produce on-field success.

The Penthouse Dreamers

Josh Heupel, Brian Kelly, Lane Kiffin

I wasn’t necessarily overwhelmed by Josh Heupel’s 2023 season. It was a bit head-scratching at times. I get that Florida and Tennessee are rivals, but how the Vols dropped that game where the Gators were simply more physical, owned the line of scrimmage, and time of possession showed major flaws in Heupel’s system. I feel Heupel might always flirt with “The Penthouse” and live off of his brief time in 2022 at No. 1, but won’t deliver in a very stacked SEC.

It seems Lane Kiffin is about to shed the dreamer label. Ole Miss won 11 games for the first time and Kiffin got his elusive New Year’s Six bowl win against Penn State. I would even argue that no coach looks to benefit more with Saban’s retirement than Kiffin. Kiffin also had a tremendous portal class. I still feel that when the stakes are at their highest, Kiffin folds more often than he takes the chip pile.

Brian Kelly had arguably the most Brian Kelly type season last year when LSU had the top-scoring offense in the country at 45.5 points per game. LSU, however, had one of the nation’s worst defenses, allowing 28 points per game. In the biggest moments, as Notre Dame fans know all too well, Kelly’s teams imploded. Whether it wasn’t showing a pulse against Florida State, the defense thinking it was a seven-on-seven drill against Ole Miss, or Saban being able to outwit Kelly one last time, Kelly has made a career out of fooling people with the “lipstick on a pig” schtick.

The Penthouse

Kirby Smart, Kalen DeBoer

There is no adequate way to ever replace an immortal. Alabama fans went through it before with “Bear” Bryant and ended up spending a quarter century trying to find the next Bryant. While I don’t feel that Kalen DeBoer will be Saban 2.0, he is very much a worthy successor.

As of this writing, Alabama in on the heels of Ohio State for the No. 1 overall recruiting class. The Tide has the edge on the highest average per recruit at 94.68. While DeBoer’s Huskies fell short against Michigan in the national championship, DeBoer had rebuilt the Washington program to heights that hadn’t been seen in a generation. I know Washington made the College Football Playoff in 2016 under Chris Petersen , but last season’s squad was on par with the immortal Husky teams of Don James (1984, 1991) and Rick Neuheisel’s 2000 squad.

Don’t be surprised if Alabama slips to a 10-2 season this year, but also don’t be surprised if DeBoer’s run is sooner rather than later.

Kirby Smart watched his attempt for immortality get extinguished in the SEC Championship Game against Alabama last season. Unfortunately, an undermanned Florida State team bared the brunt of that punishment in the Orange Bowl. Smart has guided the Bulldogs to five Top 5 finishes since 2017.