We’re now living in a world in which there are SEC coordinators making north of $2 million annually.

At the start of the Playoff era, it was a big deal to be in the $1 million club. Now, there are 34 coordinators making 7 figures, including 16 from the SEC (via USA Today).

It pays to be an assistant. But it’s also an extremely critical job, especially on the defensive side. In 2020, none of the 10 highest-paid FBS defensive assistants got head coaching gigs at season’s end. Three actually got fired, and that’s not including Todd Grantham, who should’ve made that 4 out of 10 who got canned. Coordinators have become household names in ways that they weren’t a decade ago, and the money is a big part of that.

The money sets the bar for expectations. Grades are all relative. We can’t grade Vandy’s coordinators on the same curve that we grade Alabama’s. That wouldn’t really make much sense. If you were a first-time coordinator who inherited a historically bad unit, yeah, that’s part of the year-in-review evaluation.

Did you elevate your unit? Did you handle injuries and midseason adjustments well? Did you make your fan base believers or doubters?

Let’s answer those questions with some 2021 SEC coordinator grades. We looked at the SEC offensive coordinators earlier. Now, it’s all about the defensive coordinators:

Alabama

Pete Golding — B-

Golding deserves credit for simplifying things a bit and making those run defense adjustments after the Florida game. Since the start of October, the Tide allowed just 4 rushing touchdowns. It helps when you have a game-wrecker like Will Anderson. He’s a vintage Alabama player on a not-quite vintage Alabama defense. Despite some of those atypical busts in the secondary, Golding deserves credit for having a mostly passable year to help keep the Tide afloat amidst those occasional offensive droughts.

Arkansas

Barry Odom — B

The man who already got 3 raises improved the Razorback defense by more than 10 points per game. He was set up well for improvement with Grant Morgan and Hayden Henry back to lead a veteran-laden group. The midseason lull hit in the same way it did last year, and we saw the Hogs struggle when they couldn’t get a pass rush, especially down the stretch. But Odom’s defense helped win 3 of 4 to end the season and reach a Florida bowl game because it surrendered just 1 rushing score in November. That was with games against first-team All-SEC backs Tyler Badie and Brian Robinson. Not too shabby.

Auburn

Derek Mason — C+

Mason is frustrating because he should’ve had one of the best secondaries in all of college football. Roger McCreary and Smoke Monday are stars. Yet Mason’s lack of adjustments against MSU was a major demerit and the blown lead against South Carolina, who had a third-string quarterback, has to count against him. Having said that, Mason deserves a ton credit for keeping Alabama’s top-5 offense out of the end zone for 59 minutes. Auburn also finished in the top 1/3 of FBS in yards per play allowed. It should’ve been better, but it could’ve been much worse.

Florida

Todd Grantham — D

I mean, the guy had the program’s worst defense since the Woodrow Wilson administration last year and then Dan Mullen brought him back. Of course he was gonna improve. But he would’ve needed to improve far more to keep his job. Even with veteran studs like Zachary Carter, Kaiir Elam and Brenton Cox, it still wasn’t by any means a vintage Florida defense. How Florida had such little linebacker depth once Ventrell Miller went down is beyond me. Sorry, but that has to come back to Grantham.

It didn’t really feel like Grantham was a “fall guy” for Mullen after the South Carolina disaster because he shouldn’t have been brought back in the first place. Grantham’s defense might’ve showed signs of improvement from last year, but surrendering 40-plus to LSU and South Carolina won’t go to the top of his résumé.

Georgia

Dan Lanning — A

Yeah, Alabama happened. Lanning still deserves credit for having the best scoring defense through 12 games since 1986 Oklahoma. That’s why he was just named the head coach at Oregon. His Dawgs had major turnover in the defensive backfield, and without Tykee Smith for most of the year, it still didn’t have those coverage busts until Alabama showed up. It was a historically dominant group that had 1 bad game. That’s why Lanning was 1 of 5 finalists for the Broyles Award as the top assistant in the country. It’s hard to ask for a whole lot more than that.

Kentucky

Brad White — B

While Kentucky’s offense went through a significant transformation, it was expected to be more of the same for White’s defense. We knew there was a ton of talent in Kentucky’s front 7. Josh Paschal had his best season yet, Jacquez Jones was a major addition from Ole Miss and JJ Weaver became a dynamic playmaker. But we saw some major lapses at critical points of the season. The tackling in the MSU game left something to be desired, and the secondary was gashed repeatedly at home against Tennessee. White has raised the standard for defense at Kentucky, which is why we’re a bit more critical of that group. But finishing with the No. 4 defense in the SEC is nothing to scoff at.

LSU

Daronte Jones — B+

Jones shook off a bad start and didn’t wilt when he lost starter after starter. He was without Derek Stingley Jr. and Eli Ricks for essentially half the season, and that group actually got better in November. Damone Clark and Cordale Flott helped that group stick together when it could’ve splintered. Jones wasn’t Orgeron’s first choice for defensive coordinator, but in terms of “not being another Bo Pelini,” Jones passed that test with flying colors.

MSU

Zach Arnett — B+

It’s a good sign if your coordinator is trying to get poached by bigger programs after 1 year. It’s also a good sign if your coordinator doubles down on that by delivering a top-10 run defense in Year 2. That’s exactly what Arnett did. The 3-3-5 yielded another solid year defensively in Starkville. The Bulldogs finished No. 24 in yards allowed, and that group could have major swings in-game (Auburn and Louisiana Tech stand out), Arnett’s defense still ended up being a key piece of the improvement we saw in Year 2 of the Mike Leach era.

Mizzou

Steve Wilks — D+

Look. The run defense was bad. Real bad. The Tigers were No. 124 in that department. So why did Wilks save his job after it looked like a forgone conclusion that he’d be 1-and-done? In the month of November, the Tigers were actually No. 32 in FBS in yards per carry. That was against the likes of Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Arkansas. Three of those groups are in the top 30 nationally. Wilks might revert back to those pre-November ways against Army’s No. 2 rushing attack, but for now, the longtime NFL coach bought himself some more time in Columbia.

Ole Miss

DJ Durkin — A-

Durkin’s job was on the line in Year 2. After his group was arguably the worst in the SEC in 2020, it made tremendous strides. Durkin’s reunion with Maryland transfer Chance Campbell was huge, as was the emergence of Sam Williams as one of the top edge rushers in the country. Ole Miss went from a doormat to an actual SEC defense. It was huge in games against quality foes like Texas A&M, MSU and Tennessee. Durkin’s group went from No. 117 to No. 54 in scoring in a year’s time. If not for the brutal showings against Arkansas and Alabama, Durkin would’ve earned himself an easy “A.”

South Carolina

Clayton White — A-

White deserves some love. We saw guys like Cam Smith and Jaylan Foster emerge into All-SEC guys, which was huge in the first year without Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu. White’s defense finished No. 7 in the SEC in scoring, and half of South Carolina’s SEC foes were held to 20 points or less, including Florida and Auburn, who were held to a combined 10 points in the second half. South Carolina finished No. 1 in the SEC in takeaways with an average of 2 per game. In what felt like a transition year, that was as big a win as any for Shane Beamer’s first season in Columbia.

Tennessee

Tim Banks — B+

I’ll be honest here. Banks shut me up. With all the roster attrition on the defensive side, I predicted that the Vols would have the SEC’s worst defense. Instead, Tyler Baron, Alontae Taylor and Matthew Campbell led a group that flirted with mediocrity far more than I thought it would. The Vols were No. 78 in scoring, but they ranked in the top 1/3 in FBS in yards per play allowed. That’s far from a doormat defense, which is what I expected to see in the first year without Jeremy Pruitt. Banks looks like a smart hire by Heupel.

Texas A&M

Mike Elko — A

That season is why you paid the man north of $2 million. He delivered one of the best A&M defenses in program history. And even though the final score against Alabama would suggest it was a shootout, Elko dialed up pressures that kept the prolific Alabama offense out of sorts for most of that game. I think there’s a good chance we see at least 6 A&M defensive players drafted, including possible top-10 pick DeMarvin Leal. That’s a major credit to Elko, who did what you’d hope an elite defensive mind would do in Year 4 on the job. If not for Georgia having the dominant regular season it had, we could’ve been talking a whole lot more about the Aggies’ championship-level defense. The Aggies are going to miss Elko, who accepted the head coaching position at Duke.

Vanderbilt

Jesse Minter — C+

While it’s considered Lea’s defense, Minter gets a “C+” for meeting some pedestrian expectations. That group showed improvement in November, even if the final numbers didn’t necessarily reflect it. It was still by far the SEC’s worst defense at 35.8 points per game allowed, but Vandy only allowed 6 passing touchdowns in the month of November, which included games against Matt Corral, Hendon Hooker and Will Levis. I’m calling that improvement.