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The SEC, particularly in the Eastern division, will look drastically different without Gary Pinkel (2001 at Missouri), Mark Richt (2001-2015 at Georgia) and Steve Spurrier (2005-2015 at South Carolina) roaming the sidelines on Saturdays.
As it turns out, the SEC East was one of the best representations of stability in college football – until this past season.
With all the coaching changes over the past few weeks, who is the new dean of SEC coaches? It’s none other than LSU’s Les Miles (2005), who looked to be on the verge of being fired in November, but will extend his tenure at LSU at least one more season. Miles is tied for the fourth-longest tenure in all of college football.
Following Miles, it’s only fitting that Nick Saban (2007), the coach who has most shaped the current SEC landscape, is the next longest-tenured coach in the conference.
Three coaches from this year’s final four playoff teams make the list, with Clemson’s Dabo Swinney just missing the cut as a member of the class of 2008. Also of note, no head coaches from the classes of 2001-2004 are still coaching at the same school.
It’s almost shocking that no coach has been at the same school any longer than Bob Stoopes (Oklahoma) and Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), both hired in 1999.
Here’s the list:
Longest tenured college coaches:
T1. Class of 1999
- Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
- Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
3. Class of 2000
- Gary Patterson, TCU
T4. Class of 2005
- Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
- Frank Solich, Ohio
- Kyle Whittingham, Utah
- Les Miles, LSU
T8. Class of 2006
- Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
- Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
T10. Class of 2007
- Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
- Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
- David Bailiff, Rice
- Nick Saban, Alabama
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
