Ranking the SEC Football Head Coaches

From General Robert Neyland to Bear Bryant, coaches have always played an important role in shaping the SEC.

Today's coaches are no exception, and they have no trouble staying newsworthy. Whether it's Steve Spurrier famously telling reporters that "You can't spell Citrus with UT," Mark Richt organizing a team celebration after his Georgia Bulldogs' opening score against the Gators, or Lane Kiffin accusing Urban Meyer of cheating, this batch of SEC coaches certainly talks the talk.

But they walk the walk, too, to the tune of five national championship rings and the title of nation's best conference. And it's crowded at the top, with four current SEC coaches holding at least one national crown.

So who's the best of the best? And who needs to start walking the walk?

As always in the SEC, let the debate begin.

12. Gene Chizik, Auburn

Somebody had to bring up the rear, and Auburn's new head coach is as good a choice as any.

Chizik comes to Auburn with two years of coaching experience...during which he compiled a 5-19 record at Iowa State. There's no good reason to think he'll do any better in the SEC, as he brings a defensive pedigree to a team that finished 110th in the nation in scoring in 2008.

Sure, he has Auburn ties, having served as the school's defensive coordinator from 2002-2005, but he left Auburn for the same position at Texas that year. The Tigers should have let him stay in the Big 12.

11. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas

Petrino, fresh off a 5-7 record in his first year at Arkansas, is another coach who has yet to prove he can handle the rigors of the SEC.

The Razorbacks' head coach has found success in the past at Louisville, where his teams dominated both Conference USA and a weak Big East.

Petrino's success at Louisville earned him a reputation as an offensive genius, but he has yet to prove it on a bigger stage. Instead, he has developed a reputation for disloyalty for the ugly manner in which he left jobs with Louisville and the Atlanta Falcons.

This is an example of a coach who has the potential to make a big leap up this list if he proves he can succeed in the SEC and hold down the same job for more than a couple of years. But I'm betting he won't.

10. Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt

Loyalty certainly isn't a problem for Johnson, who has been in Nashville since the 2002 season and is the second-longest tenured coach in the SEC. Sustained success, however, has been elusive.

Johnson undoubtedly has a tough job, as his teams usually face a severe talent deficit; the Commodores' winning season in 2008 was their first since 1982. Yet he did have the good fortune of coaching Jay Cutler.

And while Vanderbilt has never had much recruiting pedigree, attracting players is still part of a coach's job.

Johnson will have to take solace in his 2008 SEC Coach of the Year award (which he split with Ole Miss' Houston Nutt and Alabama's Nick Saban).

9. Lane Kiffin, Tennessee

And now the fun begins with the polarizing replacement for Phillip Fulmer. Yes, I am a Tennessee fan, which most people will assume is the reason Kiffin isn't ranked dead last.

But, while I can't put Kiffin any higher because of his lack of both SEC and head coaching experience, he has at least proven that he can recruit at the highest level.

He has already brought players such as running back Bryce Brown to Tennessee, and at the very least there is an energy in Rocky Top that hasn't existed since Donte' Stallworth fumbled against LSU in the 2001 SEC Championship Game.

I'm also completely disregarding his stint with the Raiders, which was a no-win situation.

Kiffin is another coach with a lot of potential. But at No. 9 on this list, he still needs to prove himself.

8. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State

Mullen is the highest-ranked newcomer because he has held what was probably the most prestigious assistant coaching position in college football the past four years: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Florida.

Mullen came to Florida from Utah, where he also worked under Urban Meyer, so he is very familiar with running Meyer's patented spread offense. He won't have anywhere close to the same players in Starkville, so success is no sure thing. But he deserves some credit for his accomplishments thus far.

7. Houston Nutt, Mississippi

Houston Nutt has had a long, successful SEC coaching career, spending ten years at Arkansas and one so far at Ole Miss. He has led his teams to nine bowl games, including four Cotton Bowls and two Citrus Bowls.

Yet I've never been able to shake the feeling that Nutt just can't get his teams to the next level.

Ever since 1998, his first season, when his undefeated Razorbacks were leading an undefeated Tennessee team late in the fourth quarter and fumbled when all they had to do was run out the clock, Nutt's Arkansas squads were unable to get over the hump.

It's not like he hasn't worked with talent, either; Nutt's more recent Arkansas teams featured the running back tandem of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. And he certainly isn't a bad coach, as he is familiar with the SEC and has had a certain amount of success in the conference.

But six New Year's Day bowls and no BCS appearances? That's not good enough to make the top half of this list.

6. Rich Brooks, Kentucky

Then there is Rich Brooks, a classic example of doing more with less.

Brooks took over a Kentucky team in the midst of a recruiting scandal and, after suffering through three tough probation-induced years, he has begun to turn the team around. The Wildcats have won three consecutive bowl games, and at one point were ranked as high as No. 8 in the country.

Now the rebuilding gets tougher. Brooks has never beaten Florida, Tennessee, or South Carolina. He will have to do so if he and his Wildcats are going to continue to climb the SEC latter.

5. Mark Richt, Georgia

The SEC's longest-tenured coach has found plenty of success in Athens, leading the Bulldogs to two SEC titles and three BCS Bowls since taking the helm in 2001.

Richt knows how to motivate his players, and he is perhaps most famous for his team's touchdown celebration against Florida in 2007, when the entire team stormed the field after the Bulldogs' opening score.

There was a fair amount of backlash at the time, but on-field effect of the move could not be disputed: The Bulldogs handily defeated the favored Gators.

But, for all Richt's success, he has never won a national title, and it's hard to crack the top-four of this list without a ring on your finger.

4. Les Miles, LSU

Miles, who replaced Nick Saban in 2005, has already been to two BCS Bowls in his four seasons with the Tigers, and his accolades include a National Championship in 2007.

During that 2007 season, Miles gained fame for calling risky, unconventional plays on offense, especially in the fourth quarter. He was rumored to be interested in the Michigan head coaching position but decided to stay in Baton Rouge.

Miles could eventually work his way further up this list, but at the moment he sits at No. 4 because he has yet to win a title with his own players (a decent portion of the 2007 team consisted of holdovers from the Saban era).

There's nothing wrong with being fourth on this list, though.

3. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina

Now we get to the heavy hitters. Spurrier, who won the Heisman Trophy as the Florida Gators' quarterback in 1966, has been an SEC legend since he took over the Florida head coaching job in 1990.

In his 12 years with the Gators, Spurrier won six SEC championships and one national title while popularizing his famous "Fun n' Gun" offense.

Spurrier's teams featured quarterbacks such as Danny Wuerffel and Jesse Palmer; their inability to succeed in the NFL implied that Florida's success was the result of Spurrier's system. Spurrier's Gator teams never finished a season ranked worst then 13th in the nation.

Yet, like his quarterbacks, the Old Ball Coach has struggled outside of Gainesville. After two bad years with the Washington Redskins, Spurrier returned to the SEC in 2004 as head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, but he has had difficulty implementing the "Fun n' Gun" in Columbia.

He has, however, been making slow but steady progress, and the Gamecocks appeared in their first New Year's Day bowl under Spurrier last year.

2. Nick Saban, Alabama

From one SEC legend to another: Saban won his first SEC crown in 2001, his second year as coach of the LSU Tigers, and won his first national title only two years later when LSU defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the National Championship game.

Like Spurrier, Saban followed his initial SEC success with a failed NFL stint, leaving the Miami Dolphins in 2006 after a 6-10 season.

Unlike Spurrier, though, Saban was able to find his own winning ways upon his return to the SEC. After miserable first season at Alabama, Saban led the Crimson Tide to an SEC West crown and Sugar Bowl berth in 2008, and Alabama was a national title contender throughout the year.

A few more years like 2008, and Saban will be credited with reviving football in Alabama.

1. Urban Meyer, Florida

But even reviving football in Alabama wouldn't be enough to top this list. Not after Urban Meyer's Gators have won two national championships in the past three years.

In Meyer's four years at Florida, the Gators have lost nine times; add that to his 22-2 record at Utah, and Meyer sports a 66-11 record in his past six years as a major college coach. Throw in the two national titles and his perfect 2004 season with Utah and Meyer has a resume that is virtually impossible to beat.

Meyer's spread offense has revolutionized the sport much the way the "Fun n' Gun" did 15 years ago, as teams across the nation rush to implement parts of the Florida attack.

If Meyer can sustain anything close to this level of success over the next decade, he will become one of the all-time greats.