Nick Saban. Steve Spurrier. Les Miles. Gus Malzahn.
The list of accomplished and exciting SEC head coaches doesn’t stop there.
But, more than any other sport, coaches are the stars of college football. There can never be too many strong personalities to keep us all entertained and uphold the value of the SEC logo.
Given an opportunity to snag anyone for an SEC head coaching job, who would you pick? The Big Ten has been collecting some hot coaching commodities, which our panelists indicate. But, as one panelist voted, the only way to add to the SEC may be from within the SEC.
THERE ARE ONLY 14 HEAD COACHES IN THE SEC. WHO DO YOU WISH HELD ONE OF THOSE JOBS AND WHY?
Jon Cooper (@JonSDS): Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
Jim Harbaugh was made to coach Michigan football, but I wish we had his attitude in the SEC. Too many SEC head coaches are afraid of their own shadow and won’t really say what’s on their minds. Harbaugh just doesn’t care. He’s proven he could win at football’s highest level, but selfishly, I’d like to cover him from a media perspective and see the impact he could have in the conference. Is it okay to have a man crush on Harbaugh?
Brad Crawford (@BCrawfordSDS): Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Dantonio would be a fantastic addition to the SEC if the league could ever pry him away from Michigan State. He’s won 93 games since 2007, including two Big Ten championships, and has SEC roots in a way — Dantonio played defensive back at South Carolina (1976-78) long before the Gamecocks joined the conference. One would think South Carolina would at least put out a feeler once Steve Spurrier calls it quits, but it would likely take a bigger job (say, Alabama?) for Dantonio to leave his comfort zone in East Lansing.
Christopher Smith (@csmithSDS): Art Briles, Baylor
As you can see from all the mentions of Big Ten coaches, the SEC no longer is the unquestioned answer to “which conference boasts the best collection of head coaches?” Briles would change that. If you think what James Franklin accomplished at Vanderbilt was impressive, you don’t know much about the history of Baylor football. Robert Griffin III won a Heisman Trophy. That’s great. But Briles hasn’t stopped there, turning around what was a poor defense and becoming an annual Big 12 contender. Imagine what he could accomplish with SEC resources.
Kevin Duffey (@KevinDuffey): Lane Kiffin, Alabama offensive coordinator
I’m looking forward to a day when Lane Kiffin is a head coach in the SEC again. While there might be equal or better candidates with regards to experience and resume, Kiffin is easily one of the most interesting coaches in college football. Despite a policy where we only hear from him once a year at Alabama, he’s still more interesting than most coaches today!
Kiffin is controversial, he can recruit, he’s a great offensive coach and he’s probably learning more about running a program than just about anyone in college football right now while working under Saban. We also saw last year during the Broyles Award banquet that — gasp — he’s actually pretty likable! Sure, he put Tennessee in a mess and the public likes to pile on folks who are deemed to have been given opportunities without “earning it,” but it’s time to get over it, folks.
I vote for interesting, and Kiffin is interesting. Hopefully he doesn’t end up in Miami when the ‘Canes can Al Golden, because Kiffin’s got a bright future ahead. Put me in the camp that hopes that his future is in the SEC.
Nick Cole (@NickColeSports): Urban Meyer, Ohio State
The SEC prides itself on being the best of the best, so the answer to this question is simple to me.
Meyer, considered by many to be the best coach in college football not named Nick Saban, is a guy that we need back in the SEC. The former Florida coach now has three national championships to his name after last season’s College Football Playoff, which included a victory over Saban’s Alabama squad in the semifinals.
The SEC East representative has won the league championship game just twice in the last nine years. Care to venture a guess at who coached both of those teams? In addition to league championships, Meyer led both the 2006 and 2008 Florida teams to BCS national championships. Simply put, the league is better (and more interesting) with a Meyer-coached team than without one.
Right now, it seems crazy to think he might entertain the idea of leaving Ohio State, but the same thing could have been said about him and Florida circa 2008. Situations change. It is worth noting that Meyer’s six-year tenure in Gainesville was the longest stop of his nearly 30-year coaching career. He’s a guy that moves around. And at 51, there’s a chance that Ohio State is not his final destination.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
