Map: Hometown of every SEC head coach

Note: For the purposes of this story, we’re defining “hometown” as the city in which each coach was born.

With the subtraction of Gary Pinkel (Akron, Ohio) and Mark Richt (Omaha, Neb.) from the table of SEC head coaches in 2016, the league’s footprint is decidedly different.

More specifically, the Big Ten footprint among the hometowns of the SEC’s leading men has shrunk. Instead of eight head coaches, that region now provides just six.

For those who like to hold onto old geographical history, there’s a pretty clear line of demarcation between coaches from the North and South. (Sorry, Jim McElwain and Derek Mason — you’re the lone outliers in that discussion.)

We’ve mapped out the hometown of every current SEC head coach. If you wish to access the Google map and play around with hit yourself, you can do so here.

For fun, here’s a closer look at all the coaches divided by region, followed by a table of all the hometowns.

NORTH-ISH (6)

From West to East:

• Bret Bielema, Arkansas
• Butch Jones, Tennessee
• Les Miles, LSU
• Mark Stoops, Kentucky
• Nick Saban, Alabama
• Dan Mullen, Mississippi State

Like it or not, the class of the SEC mostly is concentrated in or near Big Ten territory.

Nick Saban, arguably the best college football head coach of this era, was born about 16 miles from Pennsylvania.

Ohio went from three to two SEC coaches with the departure of Pinkel. But it still includes the venerable Les Miles, himself the winner of two SEC championships and one national championship.

Bret Bielema and Butch Jones, also in this region, combined for 17 wins last season and have their respective programs trending in a positive direction on the field.

Even Stoops is worth noting, as he tends to spend an inordinate amount of time in Ohio sourcing his recruiting classes.

SOUTH (6)

From West to East:

• Barry Odom, Missouri
• Gus Malzahn, Auburn
• Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
• Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
• Kirby Smart, Georgia
• Will Muschamp, South Carolina

Alabama now ties Ohio as it can claim both Sumlin and Smart.

This group contains all three of the SEC’s new coaches — 2016 was a good year to be from the South if you wanted to get hired within the conference, as Odom, Smart and Muschamp all pulled off that feat.

But this group of a half-dozen coaches, linked by geography, could dissolve after this season. Both Malzahn and Sumlin are at least intriguing case studies this year in terms of their job status.

Freeze, born in Oxford, Miss., is the only SEC head coach holding down a job within 200 miles of his hometown.

WEST (2)

From West to East:

• Jim McElwain, Florida
• Derek Mason, Vanderbilt

Mason is a big outlier as far as SEC head coaches — he’s the only one from a major metropolis.

McElwain played college football in the state of Washington, about as far away from the SEC’s footprint as one can get in the contiguous United States. He coached in the states of Washington, Montana, Kentucky, Michigan and California before Nick Saban plucked him from Fresno State to make him the Tide’s offensive coordinator in 2008.

CHART OF SEC COACHES AND THEIR HOMETOWNS

*Estimated as of 2014.
^As of 2010.