With six new head coaches, and two others coming off appearances in the national championship, the list of coaches with something to prove shrinks fairly quickly.

However, the coaches hired in the previous hiring wave have reached a point where fan bases are beginning to wonder if the program will take the next step with the current coach’s recruits.

Case in point: Georgia’s Kirby Smart is facing a transition season not only at quarterback and running back, which will draw most of the attention, but perhaps more important on defense where the Bulldogs lost several all-time players who will be replaced by highly recruited yet unproven players.

But Smart has generated job security. That’s not the case with some of his peers.

While not necessarily saying they are on a hot seat, here are five SEC coaches with the most to prove this season:

Ed Orgeron

New SEC coaches
2018: 6*
2017: 1**
2016: 3
2015: 1
2014: 1
2013: 4
* Including Matt Luke, who was promoted from interim to full-time head coach.
** Ed Orgeron promoted from interim.

It was well-documented that Orgeron wasn’t LSU’s first choice, and he’s done little to distinguish himself much beyond a recruiter who’s also a top flight defensive line coach.

He has put the LSU offense in the hands of Steve Ensminger, including a change in philosophy, following the departure of Matt Canada. Add a recruiting loss like 5-star Patrick Surtain Jr. to Alabama and there’s more than a couple reasons fans are restless. Without Surtain, the recruiting class was still ranked 15th in the country, but that still means LSU was fifth in the SEC. That makes it difficult to win the SEC West.

The 9-4 record in 2017 looks good on the surface, but it didn’t do much to change the career narrative of Orgeron being 31-33 at LSU, Southern Cal and Ole Miss combined. How long does he need to prove that he’s better than his record?

Barry Odom

Odom’s outlook changed considerably after Missouri’s 1-5 start. His fiery speech after the Auburn loss sparked a six-game winning streak that resulted in a bowl game. The Tigers lost to Texas, but it still represented a big jump from his 4-8 first season.

https://twitter.com/MizzouFootball/status/932113804430778368

The roller-coaster season aside, the 7-6 record was about where many expected the Tigers to be. The question remains how much Odom can lift the program beyond that 7-win plateau.

He got a large boost when QB Drew Lock decided to return.

Recently, over-under win totals peg Missouri at 6.5 this season. Sure, he has a new offensive coordinator, but the Tigers also have one of the best quarterbacks in the country. The more alarming question is when Odom, a defensive-minded coach, might improve his flagging defense, which last season was in the bottom half of the SEC in most categories.

Mark Stoops

Another coach outside of the honeymoon phase, Stoops pushed Kentucky from a lackluster 2-10 record in 2013 to back-to-back 7-5 regular seasons and bowl trips. Last year, the Cats finished 7-6 after a loss in the Music City Bowl.

Kentucky blew a 27-14 fourth-quarter lead to lose its 31st consecutive game to Florida, 28-27, in September. Then what really riled the fan base was the performance and behavior during a 44-17 loss to Louisville. The Wildcats need to be above .500 in conference play for the first time since 1977 to turn a corner, and they also can’t consistently lose three home games in the conference, along with Louisville, if Stoops is looking to stay long-term.

Gus Malzahn

Some think his huge extension means job security. Others think it puts even more pressure on Malzahn to win the SEC and reach the Playoff.

The Tigers won their final five regular season games last season, including double-digit victories over Georgia and Alabama, but then followed that with back-to-back losses in Atlanta to Georgia and UCF. Combine that with the blown 20-point lead against LSU, and at the very least, there’s a consistency question at hand. What’s more, Malzahn has work to do with his 1-4 career bowl record. And the last time Malzahn had a double-digit win season (2013), Auburn went 8-5 in 2014.

Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports 

Will Muschamp

The third-year South Carolina coach is in an interesting position largely because he has exceeded expectations at a program that, until Steve Spurrier, typically failed to meet even modest ones.

He’s somewhat in similar shoes as Odom with an experienced quarterback and a new offensive coordinator. Earlier in his career, there’s the inexplicable 2013 season Muschamp had at Florida when the Gators went 4-8 after an 11-2 season.

Muschamp has actively tried to temper expectations as the Gamecocks won 5 of 6 during a stretch late last season. As the offseason moves along, the Gamecocks will become a trendy dark horse pick to win the SEC East, and make further national noise. They have an easier nonconference schedule without the typical opening ACC opponent in Charlotte, and beyond Georgia and Clemson, there’s an argument to be made that they will be favored in every other game. Can Muschamp reach double-digit wins against that landscape?