There’s a discussion that you and your friends have probably had before and you’ll have again. Perhaps you’ve come up with an answer, or perhaps you haven’t.

Well, I’ve got the answer to the question that we’ve all been waiting for.

That is, who’s the best football-basketball coach combination in the SEC?

Obviously that question is extremely subjective, so here are my parameters. I’m putting myself in the position of an athletic director who has 2 vacancies to fill. I’m saying, if every SEC school’s coach for football and basketball were a bundle and I had to hire the best one, who would I pick?

Here are my top 5 combos in the SEC:

5. South Carolina: Frank Martin and Will Muschamp

When I did my initial rankings, I wanted to have South Carolina higher, mainly because if I had a child, I’d probably feel best sending them to Martin over any SEC football or basketball coach.

Having said that, Martin is in danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in 7 seasons in Columbia. Granted the one appearance was obviously better than any hoops coach on this list not named “Calipari.”

Martin and Muschamp both walked into tough situations and have handled themselves well. Both elevated their programs, and while they aren’t necessarily considered in the upper echelon of the conference, they deserve credit for digging their ways out of the SEC basement. Barring a total meltdown, nobody is chasing those 2 out of town anytime soon.

4. Tennessee: Rick Barnes and Jeremy Pruitt

This is tricky because as was the case for a variety of SEC programs, one coach is doing the heavy lifting. Barnes is, in my opinion, the second-best hoops coach in the conference.

It’s safe to say they love him on Rocky Top:

Pruitt, entering his second season as a head coach, is not there yet. I’m not sure if he’ll ever be, but I’d argue that nothing we saw from him in Year 1 suggests that can’t happen. He recruited extremely well, he beat a couple of Top 25 teams and he improved the Tennessee brand after it was left for dead in the Butch Jones aftermath.

Barnes’ rebuilding job is complete. Not only did he help Tennessee get out of the hole it was left in from the Bruce Pearl aftermath, but he took it to a level that few thought it could get to. The Vols surpassed 25 wins in consecutive seasons, reached No. 1 in the AP Poll and are now in position to potentially make a Final Four run. At a football-focused school, that’s an incredible achievement.

Barnes and Pruitt were both hired amidst criticism, albeit for different reasons. If and when Pruitt leads a revival, Tennessee will be risers on this list.

3. Alabama: Avery Johnson and Nick Saban

That’s how good Saban is. Yeah, he’s the G.O.A.T. and anybody would take him to lead their 2019 football program in a heartbeat. Duh. I don’t need to remind you of his accolades. And if I do, well, tell me more about that rock you’ve been living under for the past decade.

But this is a combination ranking, and obviously he’s carrying Johnson to a spot on this list. It’s not that Johnson is widely considered a bad coach. At least he shouldn’t be. The guy started his tenure in Tuscaloosa by improving Alabama’s win total in each of his first 3 seasons.

Has he underachieved with some of Alabama’s talent? Sure. But it’s worth remembering that he inherited a program that had 1 NCAA Tournament appearance in its previous 9 seasons. Life could be much worse.

We’ll see if Johnson gets an extra vote of confidence from athletic director Greg Byrne. Perhaps that’ll be determined by how this weekend goes.

2. Florida: Mike White and Dan Mullen

I’m becoming more and more of a believer that Mullen is the SEC’s best football coach not named “Saban.” Think about it. If you were starting a team right now, would you take any non-Saban coach over Mullen? I’m not sure I would.

Maybe another year of getting Florida to a New Year’s 6 Bowl will solidify that. Mullen does get credit for being the most successful coach in Mississippi State history, and it’s never a bad thing to take a 4-win team to 10 wins in Year 1 at a big-time program.

Oh, and he might be the SEC’s best dancing coach:

White is riding Mullen’s coat tails to this ranking, but it’s not like the Gators have been bad since he took over for Billy Donovan. It was just that he took over for the best coach in program history. That means you won’t impress the masses by simply winning 20 games and not having a losing record in conference play.

Time will tell if the 42-year-old coach can get Florida back to the power it was before Donovan’s final season. If he can, Florida is sitting pretty with a pair of coaches who are still plenty shy of turning 50.

1. Kentucky: John Calipari and Mark Stoops

Believe it or not, this was the easiest spot on this list. It was even easier to rank Kentucky No. 1 after Stoops was named SEC Coach of the Year for leading the program to its best season in 4 decades. Winning 24 games in a 3-year stretch at Kentucky ain’t easy.

Scratch that. Winning 24 games at Kentucky on the football field* ain’t easy. On the hardwood? That’s a different discussion. Well, Calipari certainly makes it look easy.

The man who’s become the face of the one-and-done era has easily been the most successful SEC hoops coach since his arrival in 2009. He made the SEC Tournament Championship in 8 of his first 9 years in the conference, including 6 SEC titles. For all the talk about Calipari’s shortcomings with all-world talent, the guy either won 27 games or got to a Sweet 16 all but once. That’s incredible consistency considering the roster turnover.

As Kentucky prepares for another March run and Stoops tries to make sure 2018 wasn’t a flash in the pan, here’s something to think about. No other SEC program has had its basketball and football coaches in place as long as Kentucky has.

There’s a reason for that.