The SEC Has Taken a Giant Step Backwards With New Coaching Hires

The 2008 SEC football season will go down in history as the season when the Southeastern Conference took a turn for the worse.

During 2008, three powerhouse football programs: Tennessee, Auburn, and LSU stumbled through the season, while two programs on the rise, Alabama and Ole Miss, made great strides in becoming major players in the SEC down the road. 

Florida, led by Urban Meyer, was the only SEC team that held their position on the SEC totem pole. Meanwhile, the rest of the SEC was on the move, either becoming better or in some cases, worse.

Two veteran SEC head coaches, Phillip Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville, both seen as coaching icons at their schools, were shown the exit by their Athletic Directors.

Once considered legends by their former fan-bases, their fortunes turned sour and their faithful fans suddenly became their ardent critics.

Combined, these two great veterans represented almost 30 years of head coaching experience in the SEC, a rarity in today's volatile world of coaching.

Another now newly departed coach, Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State, was about to enter his sixth year as Mississippi State's head man. Although his stay at Mississippi State was not as successful as Tuberville and Fulmer's, he now has impressive wins over Florida, Auburn, and Alabama on his resume.

Even though Croom was reported to have resigned, the pressure cooker that is college coaching today obviously led to his final demise. 

Two other SEC coaches that failed to meet pre-season expectations were LSU's Les Miles and Georgia's Mark Richt, staring with the 2009 they may be feeling a warm sensation on their backsides as the heat gets turned up by their fanbase going into next season.

Many experts are saying the SEC is just down compared to previous seasons, I would prefer to say the SEC is in the middle of a transition period.

Some SEC teams are taking  a turn for the worse, while others are stepping up to take their previously held positions in the SEC's football hierarchy.  

In military terms, the most vulnerable time for any army is during the changing of the guard.

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