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Building an impressive bowl game record is far more difficult for a coach than building an impressive regular-season record.
To begin with, bowl opponents are almost always better than the average team on the regular-season schedule.
Then there’s the motivation issue — the team most excited about the game often beats the team with the more impressive resume. As a general rule, underdogs have more incentive.
The SEC’s established elite coaches — Nick Saban and Les Miles — have impressive postseason records at their SEC schools. But their bowl records can’t compare to their overall record.
Current SEC coaches have a bowl record of 31-27. But they are 21-12 at their present schools.
Bowl records aren’t reliable indications of overall success, either.
Kevin Sumlin, who has had three disappointing seasons in a row, is 3-0 in bowl games at Texas A&M. The legendary Bear Bryant was only 15-12-2 (12-10-2 at Alabama) in bowl games despite winning seven of his last eight postseason contests.
Here’s a list of current SEC coaches with their overall bowl records with bowl records at their current school in parenthesis:
Nick Saban, Alabama: 8-8 (5-3 at Alabama)
Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss: 2-1
Bret Bielema, Arkansas: 3-4 (1-0 at Arkansas)
Les Miles, LSU: 7-6 (6-4 at LSU)
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State: 3-2
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M: 4-1 (3-0 at Texas A&M)
Gus Malzahn, Auburn: 0-2
Jim McElwain, Florida: 1-0 (0-0 at Florida)
Butch Jones, Tennessee: 2-2 (1-0 at Tennessee)
Kirby Smart, Georgia: 0-0
Derek Mason, Vanderbilt: 0-0
Mark Stoops, Kentucky: 0-0
Barry Odom, Missouri: 0-0
Will Muschamp, South Carolina: 1-1 (0-0 at South Carolina)
