By what standards are coaches measured?

Around the SEC, it looks like Tide head coach Nick Saban is the standard. How else do you explain successful nine-plus-win coaches getting fired?

LSU head coach Les Miles was almost thrown out of Baton Rouge with his head on a stake after losing five in a row to Saban. This was despite the fact that Miles averaged 9.5 wins per regular season in his 11 years with the Tigers.

Former Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt averaged nine wins per regular season in his 15-year stint at Georgia before he was pushed out after losing three in a row to Saban.

And Richt wasn’t the only one whose boot from the conference seems to correlate with his performance against Saban. Since Saban arrived on the scene in 2007, the SEC has seen 35 different head football coaches at the other 13 schools.

With Alabama still the team to beat, there are a few coaches in the hot seat:

LES MILES, LSU

Tigers head coach since: 2005
Record at LSU: 112-32 (61-27 in SEC)

There is no good reason for Miles to be on the chopping block. Since beginning his career with LSU, Miles has never won fewer than eight games in a season. He’s led the Tigers to one national championship (2007) and two SEC championships (2007 and 2011).

He’s returning a great team that includes Heisman frontrunner RB Leonard Fournette. Yet, he barely survived the 2015 season, and his job is still considered the most unstable in the SEC.

MARK STOOPS, KENTUCKY

Wildcats head coach since: 2013
Record at Kentucky: 12-24 (4-20 in SEC)

We would congratulate Stoops on his improvement since his first season, except that improvement was winning five games instead of just two. It seems like no matter what they do, the Wildcats just can’t get bowl eligible.

Earlier this month, CBS ranked Stoops No. 56 of 65 Power 5 coaches. Even though Stoops is on the hot seat, he’ll probably come out on top regardless of whether or not he makes any improvements in 2016. If Kentucky fires Stoops at the end of the season, the school will be forced to pay a $12 million buyout clause.

GUS MALZAHN, AUBURN

Tigers head coach since: 2013
Record at Auburn: 27-13 (13-11 in SEC)

In his first season, Malzahn led the Tigers to an SEC championship and a shot at the national title, but the Tigers lost to Florida State in the BCS National Championship Game, and things went downhill after that.

The Tigers went 4-4 in SEC play in Malzahn’s second season before dropping to an abysmal 2-6 last year. He’s gotten lucky more times than we can count, but his offense has been unable to show any sort of consistency in the last two years. The 2016 season is make or break for Malzahn.

KEVIN SUMLIN, TEXAS A&M

Aggies head coach since: 2012
Record at Texas A&M: 36-16 (17-15 in SEC)

Sumlin led the Aggies in their debut season in the SEC, and with a little help from Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, they shocked the world of college football. Texas A&M finished the season 11-2, and it scored a huge upset over No. 1 Alabama and a big bowl win over No. 12 Oklahoma. Since then, the Aggies have faced trouble on and off the field, including three very public quarterback transfers.

But Sumlin isn’t going to be scared off by the challenges he’s facing in his fifth year in College Station. “That’s an expectation that has been created since we’ve been here, and we don’t run from that,” Sumlin said. “And that should never change. And to get to that expectation was not easy, but to answer those expectations isn’t easy either.”