Behind every successful team is a great head coach. But a head coach cannot achieve success without a smart, talented group of assistant coaches and coordinators.
In the SEC East this season, teams weren’t nearly as successful as their SEC West counterparts, but there were still some outstanding coordinators from this past season.
Here are three standout coordinators from the SEC East.
Jeremy Pruitt, defensive coordinator at Georgia
In just his first year at Georgia, defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt took the Bulldogs’ defense to new heights in 2014.
The ‘Dawgs improved in nearly every major defensive category — scoring defense, pass defense, turnovers and opponent third-down conversions.
What’s most impressive about Pruitt is the production he got out of a rather depleted defensive unit. He helped lead Georgia to the conference’s top pass defense, despite losing several defensive backs in the offseason due to either transfer or dismissal.
UGA’s defense struggled at times with consistency (see performances against South Carolina and Florida), but in some games this season the ‘Dawgs were dominant on defense. Perhaps Pruitt’s best game came against Auburn, where his game plan limited a potent Auburn offense to its worst output in the Gus Malzahn era — just seven points.
Dave Steckel, defensive coordinator at Missouri
Missouri kept on winning games this season, even when many didn’t think the Tigers were supposed to.
The reason? Defense.
The Tigers’ defense was one of the best in the conference, thanks to defensive coordinator Dave Steckel. Despite losing two stars on the defensive line — Kony Ealy and Michael Sam — Missouri’s defensive didn’t miss a beat.
Shane Ray and Markus Golden emerged as the top pass rushing duo in the country and linebackers Kentrell Brothers and Michael Scherer formed one of the SEC’s top linebacker duos. Simply put, this was a unit that was considered to be in rebuilding mode, but Steckel’s coaching ushered one of the best defensive seasons for Missouri.
Missouri’s defense helped compensate for an inconsistent offense and drove the Tigers to their second consecutive SEC East title. It’s no wonder that Steckel was a finalist for the Broyles Award, a distinction given to the nation’s top assistant.
Neal Brown, offensive coordinator at Kentucky
The Wildcats weren’t a very potent offensive team in 2013, but under Neal Brown’s second season, UK took a big step forward.
Kentucky scored almost nine more points per game than last year and was much more successful in throwing the ball, averaging more than 40 yards more through the air in 2014.
Several players like Boom Williams, Patrick Towles and others enjoyed breakout seasons under Brown. Suddenly, UK was no longer the basement of the SEC and posed a real threat to compete within the division. Big plays were also a big part of UK’s success as the Wildcats were tied with Ole Miss for the most 40-yard plus plays from scrimmage (20.)
Brown’s Air-Raid offense was a huge success for Kentucky and he was rewarded for a job well done with a head coaching opportunity at Troy University after the season had finished.
Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.
