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It’s probably a given, if you’re spending significant time at SDS, you’re already a fan of SEC football and don’t need the sales pitch. Even so, in the past few years we’ve all had to concede — however begrudgingly — that the SEC doesn’t have a monopoly on quality college football.
Much of that is due to coaching — at least five of the country’s top coaches do their work outside the SEC’s confines. I’m positive there are five, because I have ranked them here. Ranked with a few twists and turns, of course.
5. Mark Richt, Miami
And right off the bat we’re cheating, because Richt was, of course, an SEC head coach, right up until the end of 2015, when the University of Georgia ended his 15-year run with the school for the unpardonable sin of winning only nine games. He was unemployed for approximately 45 minutes, before his alma mater, Miami, snatched him up. It was a great hire.
On paper this looks like a dream match. Richt carries enough respect and the proper temperament for Miami, a private school with a sterling academic reputation that also styles itself an outlaw football program representing one of the more unique ethnic regions in the country. This could be really fun really quickly.
4. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Bob Stoops’ first reaction to being here on this list would probably be why he isn’t ranked higher. That’s just the way he is.
Even the most ardent Stoops haters have to acknowledge the man’s talent. Since taking the job at Oklahoma — in a deep slumber after Barry Switzer’s retirement — the Sooners have qualified for a bowl game every season, won the Big 12 nine times, won one national championship and played for it three more times (2003, 2004 and 2008). He’s also dominated Texas, Oklahoma’s most bitter rival, and managed to beat back the uprisings from programs like Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State.
Have they crashed and burned on the big stage a lot? Of course they have. But the fact that they’re almost always on the big stage should tell you something. He’s back in the playoffs this year, too, which is saying something.
3. Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
You can joke about his player behavior all you want, but know this: Jimbo Fisher isn’t going away any time soon. Fisher is probably a sure bet to be a national fixture for years to come, because FSU is a virtual lock to continue dominating the ACC for the foreseeable future, and remains a threat to win a national championship virtually every season.
2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
I would never have guessed that William Christopher Swinney would wind up on a top-5 list of anything other than “Top-5 Guys Who Actually Got Paid to Coach a Major College Program” someday. Like everyone else on this list, Swinney feels like an SEC guy — he played and coached at Alabama before landing on Tommy Bowden’s staff at Clemson. His is also the only case I’m aware of in which a university fired its head coach (in this case, Bowden in 2008), hired an interim coach to shepherd the team through the season, then decided to stick with that head coach as the permanent hire … and it actually worked out pretty well.
Well, I should say, it looks that way at the moment. The Tigers are No. 1 in the nation, and two wins away from a national championship. We’ll see.
1. Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Like Fisher, Meyer is almost certainly a lock to remain a national fixture for as long as his health will allow him. Hopefully that will be a long, long time. It’s nice to have villains, after all.
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
