SEC coaches to win national championship with alma mater

What could be better than bringing home the bacon?

That’s what four SEC head coaches managed in winning national championships with their alma maters. Two more coaches — Kirby Smart at Georgia and Barry Odom at Missouri — are among six FBS coaches who will be roaming the sidelines at their alma maters for the first time this season.

That includes former Georgia coach Mark Richt, who will be in Year 1 at Miami.

Overall, there are currently 19 head coaches out of 128 FBS teams who are alums of their schools. Nine are from Power 5 conferences with at least one in each league.

Needless to say, they’d love to join this quartet below who each one the ultimate prize with their beloved institutions.

WON NATIONAL TITLE AT ALMA MATER

Phillip Fulmer with Tennessee (1998)
Fulmer took Rocky Top to the top of the college football world in the inaugural season of the BCS system, leading Tennessee to a 23-16 win over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl. The Vols were a perfect 13-0 that season, two more wins than the school has ever enjoyed, giving UT its first national title since 1951.

The big-play ability of receiver Peerless Price was too much for the Seminoles. Quarterback Tee Martin found him four times for 199 yards and the backbreaking 79-yard TD that took a 14-9 game and made it 20-9 with 9:17 left in the fourth quarter. That was Tennessee’s longest play of the season, and it earned him Offensive Player of the Game honors. Fulmer coached in Knoxville for 10 more seasons.

Steve Spurrier with Florida (1996)
Just two years before Fulmer won at his old school, the Head Ball Coach did the same at Florida to bring his alma mater its first ever national title. Just like Fulmer, Spurrier did it against Florida State. Of course, that fact is never lost on Gators fans, who recall the final score of 52-20 during any argument with a Seminoles fan. Those 52 points remain a Sugar Bowl record.

Florida got revenge from the 24-21 defeat it suffered at the hands of its arch rival just two games before that in Tallahassee. However, Spurrier employed the shotgun to give his Heisman-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel more time against Florida State’s ferocious pass-rush. It worked like a charm as Wuerffel was named the game’s MVP, throwing for 306 yards and 3 TDs, all to Ike Hilliard. The Gators outscored their opponents by an average of exactly 30 points that season.

Paul Bear Bryant with Alabama (1961, 1964-65, 1973, 1978-79)
The Bear didn’t just bring home the bacon. He brought the pig and the complimentary sides. The legendary Crimson Tide coach, regarded by many as the best to ever grace any sideline, brought his alma mater six national titles during his 25 seasons in Tuscaloosa from 1958-82. Alabama was undefeated in the first and last of those titles in 1961 (11-0) and 1979 (12-0).

That ’79 team may have been the Bear’s best product. The Tide’s top-ranked defense held its opponents to just 5.6 points per game and posted five shutouts. The only two foes to score in double figures were Tennessee (17) and Auburn (18), and the team only trailed in two instances the whole year. Bryant’s crew beat then-Southwest Conference member Arkansas 24-9 for the crown. Bryant died on Jan. 26, 1983, not even a month after his final game in which he coached Alabama to a 21-15 win over Illinois in the Liberty Bowl.

Shug Jordan with Auburn (1957)
Part of Jordan-Hare Stadium’s namesake, Ralph “Shug” Jordan led a 10-0 Auburn team to a national title in 1957. The last win of the season came in a 40-0 shutout of Alabama. However, the Crimson Tide wasn’t the only school that had problems scoring points on those Tigers. The team only surrendered four TDs all season, and one of them wasn’t on the defense.

However, the win over Alabama was also significant as it ushered out former Tide coach J.B. “Ears” Whitworth and ushered in the aforementioned Bear Bryant. It wasn’t until Cam Newton came around in 2010 that Auburn would win another national title.

Worth mentioning

William Alexander with Georgia Tech (1928)
Alexander didn’t lead the Yellow Jackets to the 1928 national title as a member of the SEC. However, the school was part of the 23-team Southern Conference that had the 13 charter members of the SEC, which began competition five years later in 1933. That’s when the 13 charter schools, included Georgia Tech, Tulane and Sewanee, left to form the SEC.

The Yellow Jackets went 10-0 in 1928, winning the national title after a season that culminated with a narrow 8-7 win over California in the Rose Bowl.

Here’s a look at the 19 FBS coaches who will coach their alma maters this season: