Best of the SEC: How does Texas football coaching and intangibles rank among all 16 teams?
After years of discussions, negotiations and preparation, Texas finally joins the SEC. But how do the Longhorns stack up as they enter the toughest conference in college football?
This summer, the American-Statesman is ranking each SEC team position by position. We will assign points for each team at each position, with 16 for the leader and one for 16th place. We’ll update the totals with each weekly installment, giving an idea of which teams will contend for the SEC title and a possible College Football Playoff spot.
Next up, we rank the SEC schools on the strength of their coaching and intangibles heading into summer camp:
More: Differences between SEC and Big 12 football for UT and OU start with talent
1. Georgia: Smart moves at the top
No one from Nick Saban’s giant coaching-tree has come close to the master’s legacy of success, but Kirby Smart keeps getting closer. In his eight years as Georgia’s head coach, Smart has a 94-16 record, three SEC titles and two national championships. No staff recruits better, no staff develops players better, and no program has a better chance to win a title in 2024. The only smudge on the Bulldog shine comes from a series of off-the-field incidents involving Georgia football players and fast cars, something Smart and his staff can’t seem to get under control.
2. LSU: Kelly fitting fine Down South
No one can question the coaching bona fides of Brian Kelly, a true-blue Yankee who seems have adapted quickly to life Down South. Kelly, with a career record of 283-102-2, has won 10 games in each of his first two seasons with the Tigers. Credit Kelly for addressing his team’s defensive issues in 2023 by plucking new defensive coordinator Blake Baker and new defensive line coach Bo Davis from the staffs of SEC rivals Missouri and Texas, respectively. That degree of hiring ruthlessness fits well in the nation’s most cutthroat conference.
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3. Ole Miss: Kiffin has Rebels in right direction
Love him or loathe him, the polarizing Kiffin can coach. He has a career record of 94-49 and is one of just three current college head coaches, along with Rutgers’ Greg Schiano and Connecticut’s Jim Mora, who have also been head coaches in the NFL. He’s been at his best with the Rebels, racking up a 34-15 record in four seasons, including an 11-2 mark last season. Kiffin has turned Ole Miss into a recruiting force in the South, and he’s adapted as quickly to the transfer portal as any coach in the nation. That matters as much as play-calling and scheme-drawing in this era of college football.
4. Texas: BBs in box for Sarkisian so far
To borrow a phrase from former Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, fourth-year Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has put “all the BBs back in the box.” Dodds knew every big-monied Longhorn booster wanted to add his or her 2 cents — or, more accurately, $2 million — to football decisions. Sarkisian has them all happy after last year’s 12-2 record and run to the CFP semifinals, the best season for Texas since Mack Brown guided the 2009 team to a title game. An elite offensive mind with previous head-coaching jobs at USC and Washington, Sarkisian has a career record of 71-49. Expect that winning percentage to grow as long as he keeps recruiting the state of Texas at a high level — and keeps the lid closed on the box of BBs.
5. Kentucky: More than a basketball school under Stoops
There’s a reason Mike Stoops seemed set on taking the Texas A&M job in the offseason before some Aggie boosters reportedly quashed the move. Stoops, part of a famed coaching family from Youngstown, Ohio, has long shown an ability to win at places without massive resources while compiling a 73-65 record as a head coach at Arizona and Kentucky. The defensive mastermind has led the Wildcats to eight consecutive bowl games and a pair of double-digit win totals in his 11 seasons in Lexington, heady stuff for the only SEC school that values the Final Four more than football.
More: Alabama players share positive reviews on ex-teammate, new Texas receiver Isaiah Bond
6. Tennessee: Not rocky at the top for Heupel
In a 20-year career following his playing days as an All-American quarterback at Oklahoma, Josh Heupel has developed a reputation as somewhat of a quarterback whisperer guiding high-powered offenses. He’s remained the primary play-caller while tallying a 55-20 record as a head coach, including a 27-12 mark at Tennessee over the past three seasons. It’s an impressive balance, maintaining a hands-on approach to the offense while handling the responsibilities of running a major program. The Tennessee bosses apparently agree; they almost doubled his salary to $9 million a year in 2023, giving Heupel enviable security in the competitive SEC.
7. Alabama: Life without Saint Nick begins
Things certainly look different in Tuscaloosa following the retirement of arguably college football’s greatest coach. Saban won six national championships in 17 seasons at Alabama, a benchmark for any program. Surprisingly, Alabama didn’t turn to one of the many former Saban assistants that run programs across the country. But new coach Kalen DeBoer boasts plenty of skins on the wall with a 104-12 career record, three national titles at the NAIA level and last year’s run to the CFP title game with Washington. Will Saban’s shadow spur on more success or stunt DeBoer’s growth with the Tide?
8. Missouri: Have Tigers turned things around?
Eli Drinkwitz, the second-youngest coach in the SEC at 41, seems on the verge of building a legacy in his fifth season leading the Tigers. After compiling a 17-19 overall record in his first three seasons, Drinkwitz led Missouri to an 11-2 mark a year ago. He followed that up with another strong recruiting class and seems to have the Tigers on the cusp of becoming a perennial contender. Was last season an exception or the start of a trend for Drinkwitz, who has a 40-22 record as a head coach? We may have an answer this season.
More: How does Texas football DBs stack up as we rank all 16 conference teams?
9. Oklahoma: Defensive right attitude for Venables?
Credit third-year coach Brent Venables for bouncing back from a 6-7 record in his 2022 debut with a 10-3 mark last season. And credit him for revamping a Sooners’ defense that had fallen into disrepair during Lincoln Riley’s five-year tenure that followed legend Bob Stoops. But can Venables, whose roots run deep on the defensive side of the ball, maintain the high-flying offenses that formed the Sooners’ identity for a quarter-century under Stoops and Riley? OU fans won’t care as long as he gets the wins and makes the Sooners a perennial contender in the SEC.
10. Texas A&M: New era begins in Aggieland
Texas A&M seems to be at a crossroads. Jimbo Fisher’s six-year tenure became an Aggie joke of sort considering his exorbitant salary and middling success, which led to the offseason hiring of dull but diligent coach Mike Elko. But can Aggieland do dull, especially with blood rival Texas bearing full steam into the SEC in its conference debut? Texas A&M has just two double-digit win totals over the past 30 seasons. Fans hope Elko — a former Texas A&M defensive coordinator who went 16-9 in his two seasons as a head coach at Duke — can boost the program into CFP contention. Or at least beat Texas.
11. Auburn: Freeze trying to heat up State
Is star-crossed veteran Hugh Freeze the coach to bring back the glory days for a proud Auburn program that hasn’t been nationally relevant since reaching the BCS title game in 2013? Tiger fans need at least one more season to start developing an answer after Freeze went 6-7 a year ago. Freeze has an 80-54 record as a head coach and seems to have left several controversies as Ole Miss’s head coach from 2012-16 behind. Now, he just needs to translate his recruiting strengths into success on the Plains.
12. South Carolina: Beamer standing at crossroads
The son of college football legend Frank Beamer, Shane Beamer is trying to establish his own legacy as a head coach. This season could determine whether that legacy continues with the Gamecocks; after 15 wins and two bowl berths in his first two seasons, Beamer went 5-7 last season and didn’t make many inroads in recruiting or in the portal. In this new era of the SEC, such stasis can quickly leave a team behind.
More: Best of the SEC: How Texas linebackers stack up as we rank all 16 conference teams
13. Florida: Napier trying not to sink into swamp
Gator fans aren’t happy with three consecutive losing seasons, which hasn’t happened in Florida since the 1940s. That means no coach in the SEC has a hotter seat than Billy Napier, who has gone 11-14 in his first two seasons. Napier, who has a 51-26 overall record, thrived at Louisiana and, like so many others, once served as an assistant at Alabama to Saban. But he may have just one more season to figure things out in The Swamp.
14. Arkansas: Is Sam still man for Hogs?
Too bad success can’t be measured by soundbites and country quips, because Oklahoma native Sam Pittman would be contending for SEC titles every year. But the conference’s third-longest tenured coach needs to win on the field rather than in press conferences after garnering a 23-25 record over his first four seasons in Fayetteville. The Hogs, who boast one of the most passionate fanbases in the nation, are just 61-87 since Bobby Petrino led the team to the Cotton Bowl after the 2011 season. With the arrival of neighbor Oklahoma and historical rival Texas, Arkansas doesn’t want to slip into complete irrelevancy in the SEC.
15. Vanderbilt: Job never easy for Commodores
The bottom line doesn’t lie: Head coach Clark Lea has won just two SEC games in his first three seasons at Vanderbilt, and he enters the 2024 campaign with serious questions about his job security. But Lea, who’s 9-27 with the Commodores, has the toughest job in the conference when it comes accumulating wins. Aside from a brief golden epoch a decade ago when James Franklin led the program to three consecutive bowl games, Vanderbilt always seems to struggle as the SEC’s lone private school — and the only one that emphasizes academics more than athletics. The Commodores have four winning seasons since 1975; an end to that trend doesn’t seem likely anytime soon, regardless of who serves as the coach.
16. Mississippi State: New coach, same concerns
The Bulldogs bailed on Zach Arnett after just one season when the former State defensive coordinator managed only one SEC win, the fewest for the program since 2007. Jeff Lebby, a 40-year-old West Texan and an offensive acolyte of Art Briles, takes over after three successful seasons as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator and play-caller. Lebby has a feel for the SEC after also working for Tennessee coach Josh Heupel and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, but can he translate that experience into success in his first season as a head coach?
About this series
This summer, the American-Statesman is ranking each SEC football team position by position. We will assign points for each team at each position, with 14 for the leader and one for 14th place. We’ll update the totals with each installment, giving an idea of which teams will contend for the conference title and a possible College Football Playoff spot.
The lineup: (1) quarterbacks, (2) running backs, (3) receivers, (4) offensive line, (5) defensive line, (6) linebackers, (7) defensive backs, (8) coaching and intangibles.
Final standings
Georgia, 116
Texas, 101
Ole Miss, 98
Oklahoma, 86
Kentucky, 83
Alabama, 79
Tennessee, 78
LSU, 74
Missouri, 73
Florida, 59
Texas A&M, 57
Auburn, 51
Arkansas, 45
South Carolina, 37
Mississippi State, 26
Vanderbilt, 25
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: SEC rankings: Who has the best coaching, intangibles in conference?
