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SEC Debate: Who is the Coach of the Year frontrunner after 6 weeks?

Brad Crawford

By Brad Crawford

Published:

Dan Mullen, Hugh Freeze or Mark Stoops?

For this edition of SEC Debate, some of the SDS staff reflects on the season nearing the halfway point and who should be in the discussion for top coach honors.

WHO IS THE COACH OF THE YEAR FRONTRUNNER AFTER 6 WEEKS?

Jon Cooper (@JonSDS): Dan Mullen.

Strong arguments for either Hugh Freeze or Dan Mullen can be made, but I’m going with Mullen. Truly, MSU is the toughest job in the SEC with any expectations. Outside of MSU, there’s Vanderbilt, and the Commodores don’t really expect to win the division and they don’t even have a natural rivalry. Mullen started the year 3-23 against ranked opponents, and he’s beaten two top 10 teams in his last two games: LSU and Texas A&M. College football is all about the quarterback-head coach combination, and Mullen and Dak Prescott really have it going on. Another top five opponent in No. 2 Auburn comes calling Saturday, and we’ll know for sure if Mullen isn’t only the frontrunner for the coach of the year, but he could also lead his team to be the frontrunner in college football’s nastiest division.

Ethan Levine (@EthanLevineSDS): Dan Mullen.

I never thought I’d say it, but through six weeks the best coach in the SEC has been Dan Mullen at Mississippi State. Mullen seems to have done everything right so far this season. He constantly rotated players on and off the field early in the year, and what seemed like a puzzling move at the time has actually proven to be brilliant, as Mississippi State has more depth on its roster than anyone else in the nation, even as other programs continue to out-recruit MSU. He’s been brilliant as a playcaller, maximizing the strengths of his stars on offense (Dak Prescott, Josh Robinson, De’Runnya Wilson, Jameon Lewis, etc), and his offense ranks among the best in the SEC in most categories. He’s navigated this team through a tremendous amount of adversity (the passing of Lewis’ mother and the Dillon Day suspension, to name a couple of examples), and has managed to shed his reputation as an average coach who beats bad teams and loses to good ones. It’s not as though Mississippi State is a longstanding college football powerhouse. What Mullen is doing in Starkville is unprecedented, and its never easy being a trailblazer for your program. Thanks to Mullen’s efforts this season, Mississippi State finds itself to be a national title contender. See how weird it is to even say that? How wrong it seems? THAT’S why Mullen is the best coach in SEC so far this season.

Drew Laing (@DLaingSDS): Dan Mullen.

No one has better wins than Mississippi State at this point in the season. They’ve accumulated two wins against top-10 ranked teams and a win against Auburn this weekend would give them three straight. The most impressive thing about Mullen is that he has coached up a complete football team, not one that solely depends on Dak Prescott. The Bulldogs excel in multiple areas and can certainly be a dominant team this year. Mullen, who could never win the big games at Mississippi State, seems to be on the way to shake that label as he continues to rack up some of the biggest wins in program history.

Christopher Smith (@CSmithSDS): Hugh Freeze.

The winning coach of Saturday’s Auburn-Mississippi State game may leapfrog him. But for now, the Rebels head man is my guy. Expectations at Ole Miss skyrocketed after a banner recruiting class in 2013. Each year we see coaches “fail” just because fans and the media have set the bar too high. But thus far, Freeze and the Rebels have surpassed even some of the loftiest expectations at the school in decades. Beating Alabama at home, maintaining focus with the GameDay pageantry and launching the program into the Top 5 is impressive. I considered Mark Stoops at Kentucky as well, and he’s done a good job, but getting a traditionally-bad program to a bowl game in a very down SEC East isn’t Coach of the Year worthy.

Jason Hall (@JasonHallSDS): Mark Stoops.

In his second year, Stoops has already exceeded expectations. The Wildcats have as many overall and SEC wins as they’ve had the past two years combined. Had it not been for a controversial overtime ending, Kentucky would be undefeated this season and a game away from clinching bowl eligibility.

Jordan Cox (@Jordan_Cox): Dan Mullen.

Entering 2014, his best season in Starkville was 9-4 and you began to wonder if that was the ceiling for the Bulldogs. Mullen’s done a heck of a job through six weeks, however. Dak Prescott, Josh Robinson, Jameon Lewis and Da’Runnya Wilson have made that offense one of the most explosive units in the league. The defense has its holes, but is good against the run and can force turnovers to put its offense in good situations. This team is a legitimate one or two-loss team and Mullen’s name should resurface as a hot name on the coaching carousel in the offseason.

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