The preseason SEC Power Poll this year (the one conducted by SB Nation's Garnet and Black Attack that I am voting in) is not a ranking of the teams, but a ranking of the coaches. Specifically, it is a ranking of coaching ability.
My ballot is based on who is good now, and it is slanted towards performance in this decade. No lifetime achievement awards are being handed out here.
(UPDATE: Final Power Poll is here.)
1. Urban Meyer
Call it a homer pick if you want, but he’s done well everywhere he’s gone. He turned in an undefeated season at Utah, becoming the first BCS Buster ever. Let’s also not forget that he did it before the BCS expanded to five games.
At Florida, he won a national and conference championship and got a quarterback a Heisman. He proved the spread could work in the SEC and did it so convincingly that other coaches in the league are going to install some spread-style goodness of their own in 2008.
Add to that his ace recruiting abilities, and you have my vote for top SEC coach.
2. Tommy Tuberville
I should specify that this is a vote for the Tuberville of 2004 and on, not for the Tuberville of 2003 and prior. There is a difference, as he suddenly got drastically better in the 2004 season.
The post-2003 Tuberville has been one of the best coaches in the country in that span, though the fact he’s only parlayed that into one conference title is the reason why he’s here on the list.
He also gets points for abandoning his old, conservative offense and actually giving former outcast/spread guru Tony Franklin the shot at major college coaching that he deserves.
3. Mark Richt
Richt is on pace to become the most successful head coach in Georgia history. He has two conference titles and a 13-1 season that wins him a national title in nearly any other year than the 2002 season in which he did it.
He also lost to Vandy in 2006, something that a top league coach shouldn’t do six years into his tenure despite the strides the Commodores have made under Bobby Johnson.
He ended up third in the league on my ballot. That is still nothing to sneeze at in the best coaching conference in the country.
How he does with the heaps of expectations on him this year will help to sort out his place in the hierarchy, as well as help to define his legacy as a head coach.
4. Nick Saban
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