Coach Comparison: Iron Bowl, Egg Bowl feature prominent coaching showdowns

In anticipation of Saturday’s Rivalry Week showdowns between Alabama and Auburn in the Iron Bowl and Ole Miss and Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, Saturday Down South takes a closer look at the coaching matchup in each game.

This week’s matchups include Alabama head coach Nick Saban against Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, and Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze against Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen.

NICK SABAN

• Record as FBS head coach: 175-58-1 (84-16 at Alabama; 48-16 at LSU; 34-24-1 at Michigan State; 9-2 at Toledo).
• Previous coaching stops: Miami Dolphins (head coach), LSU (head coach), Michigan State (head coach, defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach), Cleveland Browns (defensive coordinator), University of Toledo (head coach), Houston Oilers (defensive backs coach), Navy (defensive assistant), Ohio State (defensive backs coach), West Virginia University (defensive assistant), Syracuse University (defensive assistant), Kent State (defensive assistant, graduate assistant).
• Achievements as coach: Four national championships, four SEC championships, seven SEC West titles, one MAC championship, two-time Associated Press National Coach of the Year, two-time Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, three-time SEC Coach of the Year, Paul “Bear” Bryant Award winner.

Breakdown: Saban is 4-3 in seven Iron Bowls as coach of the Tide, and the three he’s lost have come by a combined 14 points. The last time Saban lost multiple games in back to back regular seasons was from 2007-08, prior to his run of three national titles in five years at Alabama. He remains one of the premier coaches in all of college football and once again he has Alabama ranked No. 1 in the country entering the final weekend of the season. Saban could have said the same last year before Auburn spoiled the Tide’s season, but if we’ve learned anything about Saban over the years it’s that he rarely repeats his mistakes. Expect Alabama to cover all of its bases on Saturday, allowing a more talented Tide team to control the game on its home field.

GUS MALZAHN

• Record as FBS head coach: 29-8 (20-5 at Auburn; 9-3 at Arkansas State)
• Previous coaching stops: Arkansas State (head coach), Auburn University (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach), Tulane University (co-offensive coordinator, assistant head coach, quarterbacks coach), University of Arkansas (offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach), Springdale (Ark.) High School (head coach), Shiloh (Ark.) Christian School (head coach), Hughes (Ark.) High School (head coach, defensive coordinator)
• Achievements as coach: SEC championship, SEC West title, SEC Coach of the Year, Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, AP Coach of the Year, Home Depot Coach of the Year, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year.

Breakdown: Malzahn has encountered his first adversities as Auburn’s head coach during a recent two-game losing streak in the SEC, and although the Tigers earned a much-needed win last week over Samford, they didn’t impress anyone in doing so. We haven’t had a chance to see how Malzahn will handle the obstacles he faces on the job (he only lost once in the regular season in his first 17 regular season games at Auburn), so Saturday’s showdown in Tuscaloosa should teach us plenty about how the Tigers’ head man manages his team through difficult times. Although he remains a relative newcomer to the Iron Bowl rivalry Malzahn understands the importance of this game, and you can be sure his team won’t be underprepared when it takes the field on Saturday.

Who has the edge: Saban earns the edge over Malzahn for a multitude of reasons. For starters, Saban hasn’t forgotten how last year’s game ended and he’ll be out for revenge on Saturday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama has played far better at home than on the road this season, and getting this year’s game in Tuscaloosa makes Saban’s job ten-times easier and Malzahn’s job ten-times tougher. Second, Saban has his team trending positively since an Oct. 4 loss to Ole Miss, while Auburn has hit a snag for the first time in Malzahn’s tenure on the plains. Based on how Auburn performed against Samford, it appears Malzahn is still searching for solutions to his team’s recent struggles. Third, Saban is the more proven coach, and he has far more experience in these kinds of high-stakes showdowns than Malzahn, who was coaching high school football less than a decade ago. This is not to say last year’s Iron Bowl victory was a fluke or that Malzahn is not up to the task, but it is to say Saban will always earn the benefit of the doubt in closely-contested coaching matchups until someone else in the country matches his production on the biggest of stages. Malzahn appears on his way, but he’s not at Saban’s level just yet.

HUGH FREEZE

• Record as FBS head coach: 33-16 (23-14 at Ole Miss, 10-2 at Arkansas State)
• Previous coaching stops: Arkansas State (head coach and offensive coordinator), Lambuth (head coach), Ole Miss (tight ends coach, recruiting coordinator), Briarcrest High School (head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive backs coach).
• Achievements as coach: Sun Belt Conference championship, two Tennessee high school state championships, four-time Associated Press high school coach of the year.

Breakdown: Freeze’s Rebels have lost three straight games in SEC play since beginning the year 7-0, and his team is battling a multitude of injuries entering this weekend’s regular season finale. The Ole Miss head man has moved the long-suffering program in a positive direction since his arrival prior to the 2012 season, but it could be argued Ole Miss needs a victory Saturday to take another step forward and capitalize on its strong start to the season. Based on Freeze’s track record of growth at Ole Miss, Freeze will find a way to take that next step. However, one of the cornerstones of Freeze’s rebuilding process at Ole Miss has been his stellar recruiting record, and with many of his top young players battling injuries this weekend it remains to be seen whether Freeze can weather the storm and out-coach an SEC opponent without all his weapons in the arsenal.

DAN MULLEN

• Record as FBS head coach: 46-29 (all at Mississippi State)
• Previous coaching stops: University of Florida (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach), University of Utah (quarterbacks coach), Bowling Green State (quarterbacks coach), Notre Dame (graduate assistant), Syracuse University (graduate assistant), Columbia University (wide receivers coach), Wagner College (wide receivers coach).
• Achievements as coach: N/A

Breakdown: It took Dan Mullen six years at Mississippi State to post his first 10-win season with the Bulldogs, but one thing Mullen has done consistently since arriving in Starkville is beat Ole Miss. The MSU head man is 4-1 in five career Egg Bowl appearances, including a win in the first ever overtime game in Egg Bowl history last year. Mullen had lost 15 straight games to ranked opponents entering this season, but he’s won three of four games against ranked foes in 2014 and will look to improve that mark to four of five with a win over the Rebels of Saturday. This season has been all about bucking trends for Mullen and the Bulldogs, and a strong showing on Saturday would add to the list of MSU’s accomplishments this year.

Who has the edge: Mullen may be coaching the hotter (and healthier) team entering this week’s showdown, and he may have found the key to keeping up with other ranked opponents, but Freeze has a proven track record of winning games on the biggest stages and that earns him an edge in this coaching battle. He coached a far less talented Ole Miss team to within seconds of an upset of Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M in primetime last year. He then stunned an LSU team loaded with NFL talent just one week later, once again in primetime. Earlier this year his Rebels took center stage before the college football universe and handed Alabama its only loss of the year, and they did so (you guessed it) in primetime. Saturday’s game against Mississippi State will be the biggest game in the country during the 3:30 p.m. ET time slot, and Freeze is sure to rise to the occasion just as he has throughout his brief but successful tenure at Ole Miss. Mullen tends to over-think in these kinds of games, while Freeze always seems to push the right buttons. Mississippi State may come out on top, but Freeze will have the better coaching performance on Saturday afternoon.

Ethan Levine

A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.