Fulmer didn’t really manage his staff as well as he could have in the time between the Cutcliffe stints, but maybe this is a step forward. He will have to win the conference again to move higher on my list though.
8. Steve Spurrier
It pains me a little to put him this low, but there’s not a lot he’s done at South Carolina to support putting him higher. The Orange Bowl win in his final year at Florida was this decade so it does count some, but not being able to break past seven wins at South Carolina hurts his ability to go higher on my list.
Now, he did go to two bowls in a row in 2005-06, which ties the longest bowl appearance streak in school history. Lou Holtz also left the school on probation and in questionable shape.
However, I can’t ignore the epic collapse last season after climbing to No. 6 in the country. His upward mobility will be determined in large part by whether he can win the division.
9. Houston Nutt
This could be a little low, but we’re talking about ability to perform the duties of head coach with this list. He won the SEC West twice this decade, but with Matt Jones and Darren McFadden on those teams, you’d expect that to happen.
In recent years, his ability to be a head coach has appeared to decline. His regime at Arkansas had increasingly been marked by scandal, and last season there was precious little offensive talent behind the McFadden-Felix Jones combination.
The cupboards at Ole Miss appear to be relatively full, so he’s going to need to produce quickly in Oxford.
10. Sylvester Croom
Mississippi State was a toxic waste dump of a program when he arrived, and he got it to eight wins and a bowl just four years later despite having no dominant offensive players.
Even in Croom’s rebuilding years, he scored upsets over Florida in ’04 and Alabama in ’06 despite them being in better shape.
He has not been perfect; he initially wanted to run a West Coast scheme despite not having nearly the talent or practice time to pull it off.
However he’s built a winner, and he built it the right way. If he can sustain it, he can move up. One good year isn't enough to put him above this spot though.
11. Rich Brooks
Brooks has taken Kentucky to two consecutive bowls, and that should win him some sort of award. I mean, this is a school that used its newly-hired basketball coach to sell football tickets last fall despite having gone to a bowl the previous season.
I have a feeling though that any of the other guys on the list could have done that with the personnel Brooks had.
I also suspect that many of them would have done it faster than he did. For that reason, he’s behind the rest.
12. Bobby Johnson
I actually like Bobby Johnson, so I don’t like ranking him last. He has made Vanderbilt a competitive team week in and week out, and he has defeated Tennessee and Georgia in recent years. That’s really good for a school that doesn’t even have an athletics director.
At the same time, he’s not yet made a bowl so I can’t put him ahead of guys who have. His 2005 team with Jay Cutler was his best chance to get eligible, but they lost late in the season to 3-8 Kentucky.
As far as I know, Vanderbilt is happy with him so he’s not going anywhere, but I’d like to see him get a shot at a school with more resources.
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