Tuesday’s news of Nick Saban receiving an extension and a signing bonus from Alabama has encouraged the ongoing debate regarding the SEC’s second best head coach. Without a clear-cut answer at hand, opinions vary between the likes of Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen, Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, Kevin Sumlin, Bret Bielema and Butch Jones.

While the answer is difficult, making a case for some of the coaches is easy.

Since 2014, Freeze is the only SEC coach to defeat mighty Alabama — and he’s accomplished that feat twice. McElwain is the first coach to win two division titles in his first two years at an SEC school. Mullen has turned Mississippi State into a nationally relevant program, leading the Bulldogs to the No. 1 ranking in the debut of the College Football Playoff rankings. Aside from Saban, Malzahn is the only other league coach to win an SEC title and he took Auburn within seconds of winning the last BCS National Championship.

Wednesday morning, the topic was brought up by two popular morning radio shows from around SEC territory, both of which are hosted by former SEC players: Cole Cubelic and Jayson Swain.

While appearing on Cubelic’s show, Barrett Sallee, host of the SEC: Smothered and Covered podcast, threw out both McElwain and Mullen.

Marcus Spears from the SEC Network later came on and also chose Mullen.

Chris Vannini of CoachingSearch.com fame went with Bielema.

With no clear-cut answer to the question, the debate will most assuredly rage on well into the offseason. In your opinion, which SEC coach falls in line behind Nick Saban as the conference’s second best coach?