The Southeastern Conference has been the dominant league in college basketball in recent years, with the SEC earning several No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and Florida winning the 2024-25 national championship.
That said, not every SEC basketball coaching job is equal, with some vastly better than others. The Field of 68 recently ran an anonymous poll of SEC head coaches and their assistants to rank their own jobs – with no specific parameters attached so that each coach can determine on their own which job they felt was the best.
Kentucky came out on top of the poll, getting all 16 first-place votes and 256 overall points. Texas ranked second, with Arkansas third, Tennessee fourth, and Florida fifth.
“It’s the best job in the league and maybe the best in the country,” one coach offered about Kentucky. “They have the resources, fan support, and obviously the money. I’d take that job over any in college basketball.”
“There are so many football schools in the league. Kentucky is really the only clear-cut basketball school,” another coach replied. “Plus, they had $20 million, their fans are always locked in, and the administration has no choice but to support basketball at the highest level.”
The worst five in The Field of 68’s rankings of SEC jobs? Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, and South Carolina.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
