Which third-year head coach needs a big 2015 season the most?

It’s been three years since the SEC’s last round of multiple coaching hires.

The conference inducted one new head coach each of the last two offseasons (Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason and Florida’s Jim McElwain), but three years ago the SEC added four new head coaches to the mix: Arkansas’ Bret Bielema, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and Tennessee’s Butch Jones.

Those four coaches are now preparing their respective programs for a pivotal 2015 season. All four coaches have achieved varying levels of success during their first two years on the job, and as a result these coaches with the same duration in the conference now face completely different sets of expectations.

Which third-year coach is in the greatest need of a successful 2015 season? And what constitutes a success for each coach in question?

We tried to answer those very questions by ranking the significance of each coach’s upcoming season from most to least important:

4. GUS MALZAHN

Record at Auburn: 20-7 (11-5 SEC), 2012 SEC champion and national runner-up, 0-2 in bowl games
2015 outlook: Malzahn has already won an SEC championship during his tenure on the plains. He defeated Alabama in the Iron Bowl (on one of the greatest plays in SEC history), finished 13 seconds shy of a national title and won 20 games in his first two seasons on the job. He’s as accomplished as many fifth- and sixth-year head coaches throughout the country, and while that won’t allow him the luxury of falling below eight wins without scrutiny this year, it will take some of the pressure off him compared to the other third-year head coaches in the conference.

3. BRET BIELEMA

Record at Arkansas: 10-15 (2-14 SEC), 1-0 in bowl games
2015 outlook: Bielema’s program took a major step forward last season in snapping a 17-game SEC losing streak predating his time in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks won their first bowl game since the Bobby Petrino era with a rout of Texas in the Texas Bowl last December, and they return the SEC’s most experienced starting quarterback and a pair of 1,000-yard rushers as they aim to build from last season’s success this fall. Bielema and Arkansas will be expected to improve from last year’s seven wins, but fans and experts are also aware of the challenges the SEC West poses (Arkansas finished last in the division with seven wins last season). Thus, Bielema will have a little more margin for error than a coach like Butch Jones at Tennessee, who led his team through similar growing pains to a seven-win season last year in a much weaker SEC East. Speaking of Jones…

2. BUTCH JONES

Record at Tennessee: 12-13 (5-11 SEC), 1-0 in bowl games
2015 outlook: As eluded to above, Jones has led a football revival at Tennessee in the aftermath of the Lane Kiffin debacle and the failed Derek Dooley era. His Vols won their first bowl game since the Phillip Fulmer era last season, and now appear to have one of the most talented rosters in the SEC East as the 2015 season approaches. With the way Jones’ team is trending on the field and the recruiting trail, coupled with the way the East division is trending in relation to the West, Jones’ bunch will be expected to compete for a division title deep into the season. Winning the East is not a do-or-die proposition for Jones, but contending for it might be. Tennessee has waited more than five years for a season with as much hope as this season brings, and Jones will be expected to at least capitalize on the opportunity.

1. MARK STOOPS

Record at Kentucky: 7-17 (2-14 SEC)
2015 outlook: Stoops took over a Kentucky team that had gone 2-10 in 2012 with an 0-8 record in the SEC. He posted the same record in his first year on the job in 2013, but broke through last season with five wins (more than UK won in 2012-13 combined) and his first SEC win as a head coach. The growth in Lexington was noticeable. However, the Cats lost six games in a row to close the 2014 season, failing six straight times to earn bowl eligibility in the process. Now, anything short of a bowl appearance can be considered a regression for Kentucky, making it easy to see why Stoops faces the most pressure among the SEC’s third-year coaches. He must take Kentucky to its first bowl since 2010 or risk finding himself on the hot seat three years into his gig in the Bluegrass. He’s the only third-year coach in the conference yet to taste the postseason, and he’s tied with Bielema for the fewest SEC wins in his first two seasons. For Stoops and Kentucky, it’s bowl or bust, and Stoops knows what he’s up against this fall.

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.