SEC Football: Ranking Every Team by 2015 Coaching Staff
With big money being thrown around at marquee coordinators since last season, SEC football coaching staffs have gotten stronger on paper following a flurry of wholesale changes.
So, which teams are coming out as the winners and losers in what has become a power conference arms race?
Alabama set the bar several years ago with the hiring of head coach Nick Saban, and the Crimson Tide haven't blushed at dropping big money on high-profile assistants in recent years, either. Auburn closed in on its instate rivals with big-name hires of its own over the past few months.
Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and South Carolina all made pivotal hires this offseason as well. Most teams had to replace at least one coordinator.
As a matter of fact, Ole Miss is the only team to keep its entire set of coaches intact from last year in the same positions.
With all the staff shuffling, there will be some new wrinkles to many of the league members this year that will be visible on the field. Many will improve, and some of the hires will fall flat and take the head coaches with them.
With a look at past success, recruiting prowess, system fit, innovative minds and a nod toward needed change, let's rank the league's coaching staffs after the recent turnover.
14. Vanderbilt Commodores
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There were times during a forgettable 3-9 inaugural season at Vanderbilt in 2014 where first-year coach Derek Mason simply looked overmatched.
From a season-opening 30-point loss to Temple to his bizarre quarterback derby to beating Massachusetts, Charleston Southern and Old Dominion by a combined 18 points, Mason struggled mightily.
Perhaps sensing impatient unrest around Nashville following the successful tenure of James Franklin, Mason fired both his offensive and defensive coordinators as well as hired a new receivers coach, a cornerbacks coach and a strength and conditioning coach.
It's pretty much a do-over for Mason in what may be an improve-or-be-fired season.
After what he dubbed a nationwide search proved fruitless, Mason named himself as the defensive coordinator just a couple of years removed from holding that position for Stanford. He also hired Wisconsin's Andy Ludwig to be the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
"I needed a guy who could utilize the talent and develop the quarterback position the way I wanted it developed," Mason told ESPN.com's Chris Low. "I talked to everybody I could about Andy. He's smart, articulate and been in a lot of different programs and has been able to adapt and make it work wherever he's been."
There's plenty to work on at VU. The Commodores scored 17 points or fewer eight times and finished dead-last in the league in scoring defense. These staff changes may be what the program needed, but it hasn't been proved yet.
The 'Dores could improve drastically and still be last in a loaded league full of star coaches.
13. Kentucky Wildcats
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Kentucky got off to a torrid 5-1 start last season before a lack of depth and injuries spiraled the Wildcats back down to earth with five consecutive losses to close the season. The finish left them without a postseason appearance yet again.
Still, that hasn't done much to dampen the excitement Mark Stoops has brought to rebuilding Big Blue Nation over the course of his two-plus years in Lexington.
When offensive coordinator Neal Brown left to become Troy's new head coach this offseason, Stoops made what appears to be another strong hire when he pegged West Virginia offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson to replace him.
According to ESPN.com's Travis Haney, Dawson left the same post after a successful tenure with the Mountaineers because it was "an opportunity for Dawson to branch out and run his own offense." WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen had shared play-calling duties with Dawson.
D.J. Eliot had to rebuild the Wildcats' entire defense, but it was strong early in the season before it ran out of gas. He is seen as an up-and-comer around the industry.
Tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow brought a level of success to UK on the recruiting trail that it hasn't experienced in years. With a strong presence in the Midwest—especially Ohio—Kentucky will keep bringing in solid talent.
But the 'Cats have to translate it to on-field success to move higher in SEC royalty.
12. Florida Gators
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The Will Muschamp era was forgettable for Florida.
Besides a strong 11-2 season in 2012, his other three seasons in Gainesville carried a combined 17-19 record. That'll get you fired in a hurry at a place with such high expectations, and he was indeed canned after four seasons.
What transpired this offseason was athletic director Jeremy Foley tabbing Colorado State head coach and former Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain as his next head coach.
While McElwain is known as being an innovative offensive mind, the hire is anything but a guaranteed home run, mainly because his recruiting prowess is untested.
Sitting on such a hotbed of talent in the Sunshine State, McElwain must be able to compete with Florida State, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Miami and others for recruits.
Perhaps most puzzling were McElwain's coordinator hires, as he plucked Geoff Collins from Mississippi State to man his defense and fellow former 'Bama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, who'd struggled in 2014 at Michigan, to lead the offense.
Defensive line coach Chris Rumph is the only real strong hire (on paper) on the staff. Everybody else is an array of reaches (Randy Shannon) and unprovens (Kerry Dixon II).
A couple of late recruiting victories for star prospects CeCe Jefferson and Martez Ivey will help the recruiting perception, but the 2016 cycle isn't off to the best of starts.
McElwain's coaching chops are proven on lower levels, and he should be able to build a strong offense with time. The question in Gainesville is, how much of that will he have before the natives get impatient?
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11. Arkansas Razorbacks
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Love him or hate him, Bret Bielema has proved that he knows exactly how to build a dominant rushing attack, no matter where he is.
He did that again a season ago, finally bringing that hard-nosed mentality down to Arkansas that was present in his Wisconsin teams that made so many Rose Bowl trips.
The Hogs ran over, around and through opponents on their way to a big 7-6 rebound season that has set up a considerable buzz heading into the 2015 season.
With all that running prowess returning along with a hulking offensive line, the Razorbacks are expected to be tough to defend this year. That makes it even odder that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney left for what appeared to be a lateral move (at best) to Pittsburgh.
Bielema went for an out-of-the-box hire as his replacement, convincing Dan Enos to leave his head coaching job at Central Michigan to head south of the Ozarks.
Enos was a highly successful assistant and recruiter at Michigan State before taking over the Chippewas, but he has a history of developing quarterbacks in pass-heavy attacks at CMU.
However, he did coach running backs Javon Ringer, Edwin Baker and Jehuu Caulcrick with the Spartans, so he may be a better philosophical fit than Chaney. It'll be interesting to see how he meshes with an offensive staff that includes one of the nation's top offensive line coaches in Sam Pittman.
Defensive coordinator Robb Smith has a lot of talent to replace defensively, but he validated Bielema's ability to hire assistants with a hugely successful first season in Fayetteville in 2014.
This is going to be a huge season to see just how high Bielema's ceiling can be in the SEC. If the Hogs live up to the massive expectations in 2015, this staff will shoot up this list next year.
10. Mississippi State Bulldogs
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Dan Mullen's coaching prowess was on full display last season as he brought Mississippi State out of the wilderness of mediocrity and onto the national stage.
But the Bulldogs were embarrassed by Georgia Tech once they got there.
Now, entering the final year of the Dak Prescott era, it'll be interesting to see how much longer this window of success stays open in Starkville, especially with major defensive holes to fix.
Mullen attempted to address that by rehiring new (old) defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, who left his first stint in Starkville to coach defense at Texas. After getting fired there, he moved on to Louisiana Tech in 2014, where he really thrived.
Which Diaz is MSU getting remains the biggest question.
Though the Bulldogs were once one of the hottest names on the recruiting trail a season ago, they plateaued and wound up 18th nationally (and eighth in the SEC), according to the 247Sports rankings. That's pedestrian considering the success of "Big Dawg Night" and how good a start MSU was off to.
There are some good recruiters on the staff in guys like Billy Gonzales, Tony Hughes and Deshea Townsend, but it's short on star power. The group doesn't really have a lot of stable success at wooing recruits from out of state to come to MSU.
Once they get there, the coaches have found ways to win, and last year may have been a big step for the program. It also may have been a one-hit wonder.
With Prescott back for another year, the staff has the opportunity to look good, but the coaches will have plenty of chances to prove their worth by rebuilding the support system around their all-star.
9. South Carolina Gamecocks
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So much was expected of South Carolina a season ago as the Gamecocks returned most of their offensive firepower from a team that had won 11 games in three consecutive seasons.
When South Carolina sputtered to a 7-6 finish that was mostly tainted by deep-rooted defensive struggles, head coach Steve Spurrier made a major change to the staff on that side of the ball.
Essentially, he demoted defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward. Though Ward—once thought to be a rising star in the coaching ranks—retained a "co-defensive coordinator" title, it's expected new hire and fellow co-defensive coordinator Jon Hoke will call plays.
The duo of Spurrier and Hoke will try to recreate the success they had in 1999 to 2001 at Florida. Hoke spent the past 13 seasons as an NFL assistant, and he brings a wealth of knowledge across all three levels of the defense to Columbia.
Safety Jordan Diggs told GreenvilleOnline.com's John Brasier he thinks the unit thrived under Hoke this spring.
"I wouldn't say we're anywhere close to where Coach Hoke wants us to be, but we're definitely making great strides," Diggs said. "Each day, everybody's coming out and working hard. Everybody's excited. There's a good vibe in the meeting room. Everybody's willing to learn. It's going good."
There's rarely a dip in production on the offensive side of the ball for Spurrier-coached teams, so it'll be interesting to see how the Gamecocks look on both sides of the ball this year. They must break in a new quarterback and a stable of receivers to go along with Pharoh Cooper.
The Gamecocks remain solid recruiting-wise, and the offense was stout again last season. But how much of a desire does Spurrier have to correct things this late in his career? Hoke's hiring was a major move in the right direction.
8. Missouri Tigers
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There was a prevailing thought that Missouri would have a difficult time acclimating to the SEC after coming over in 2012.
It took the Tigers one rocky year.
Since then, veteran head coach Gary Pinkel has taken Mizzou to back-to-back SEC Championship Games in his second and third years in the league. Though the Tigers have lost both title games by sizable margins, they've been the elite of the SEC East the past two years.
Now comes the hard part: sustaining the success with the division building back up.
They'll have to do so without longtime defensive coordinator Dave Steckel, a widely respected coaching staple who finally got the opportunity to helm his own program when he left to be the new head coach at Football Championship Subdivision's Missouri State.
Replacing 16 years (six as DC) of Steckel's experience will be difficult, but Pinkel plucked a rising star in Memphis defensive coordinator Barry Odom. He played at the school as well as began his coaching career in Columbia.
Odom told ESPN.com's Sam Khan of the opportunity:
"Knowing the situation here and what Coach Pinkel consistently does with his program, the way that he works day-to-day structurally, the consistency of how he approaches every day, I knew the work environment and you want to go to work for somebody that you trust. I obviously have a great deal of trust in him. I knew the situation with two of the coaches that were on the defensive staff and looked forward to working with them. There was an environment set over a number of years of work that provided the ability to go in and be successful.
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It helps that Odom will have defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski to help him. He's one of the best D-line coaches in the nation.
Other than that, though, there aren't a lot of names on the staff you've heard of. Mizzou doesn't recruit particularly well compared to the rest of the league, and it is uncertain whether a team that struggles to recruit at a high level can have long-term success in the SEC.
The last couple of years have been magical for MU, but how long will it last?
7. Ole Miss Rebels
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The only staff that stayed entirely together from a season ago is one that will have to prove plenty on the field in 2015.
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze watched as his program broke through for a 9-4 record that ended with a thud in a 42-3 loss to TCU in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. After having to replace quarterback Bo Wallace and several defensive leaders, 2015 is going to be an interesting year to gauge the ability of this staff.
Freeze has a terrific blend of top-notch recruiters such as Chris Kiffin and brilliant, veteran football minds like defensive coordinator Dave Wommack, whose "Land Shark" defense was one of the best in the nation a season ago. It is the kind of coaching staff that can succeed long-term.
The Rebels already are off to a huge recruiting start in the 2016 cycle. So even though they had a bit of a down year in '15 after making national noise by signing Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil, Laquon Treadwell and others in a loaded class two years ago, it was just a hiccup.
Freeze's on-field coaching still leaves a bit to be desired, however. He doesn't always make the best decisions when it comes to going for it on fourth downs, and the offensive play-calling the past two seasons was vanilla with Wallace at quarterback.
Defensively, Ole Miss couldn't ask for much more. The Rebels are big, athletic, versatile and elite on all three levels. With talent continually coming in on that side of the ball, they have a high ceiling. Wommack's aggressive scheme fits the talent perfectly.
Really, all Freeze needs is more experience coaching at this level. He already has continuity on the staff, and he is bringing in the players to sustain winning ways in Oxford. It's just a matter of keeping the momentum going with some key pieces departing.
Having a stable coaching staff is huge.
6. Tennessee Volunteers
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OK, so the on-field results haven't fully materialized quite yet, but the Tennessee Volunteers began to show signs of breaking through in head coach Butch Jones' rebuild last year.
The Vols finished 7-6 with a convincing win over Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl, and they did so while playing a slew of freshmen and sophomores. Once second-year quarterback Joshua Dobbs took his place guiding the offense, the program's trajectory changed.
This year will go a long way in proving just how strong Jones and his staff are.
They've already proved themselves on the recruiting trail, outfitting the Vols with back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes in their first two full seasons on Rocky Top. Not only are the classes highly ranked, but they also met major needs and helped UT flip the roster by bringing in 61 players in two years.
Player development has been obvious all over the field as the Vols made strides on both sides of the ball and on special teams in virtually every statistical category from Year 1 of the Jones regime to Year 2.
UT is also much more competitive on the field than it was just a season ago.
While most of the coaching staff remained intact from a season ago, UT had to replace offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian, who left to become the quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jones did so with longtime assistant Mike DeBord.
The loss of Bajakian wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He hadn't produced consistently in his two years in Knoxville. DeBord's start, meanwhile, excites Jones.
"I wanted a teacher, I wanted a great person of great character, a great competitor, but a knowledge base coupled with great experience and somebody I could trust," Jones told Bleacher Report of DeBord. "I wanted somebody to be able to fix the problems at every single position group and be able to hold everyone in an offensive setting accountable. He's been able to do that, and he’s earned the trust of our players right away."
The Jones regime has been a success thus far. There seems to be the perfect blend of strong football minds and longtime coaches, a group that has been together for a long time and has proved it can recruit on the highest level.
Now that the pieces are in place, the wins should come in bunches.
5. LSU Tigers
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It has now been seven seasons since Les Miles won his national championship at LSU.
Though he is only a year removed from four consecutive years of double-digit victories, the changes he has been forced to make on his coaching staff need to pay dividends sooner rather than later.
The Tigers invested big money in offensive coordinator Cam Cameron prior to the 2013 season, and while his unit finished 32nd nationally in total offense (the school's best since '07) in his first year, it fell way off a season ago.
Then, after John Chavis bolted to division foe Texas A&M this offseason, Miles made a puzzling hire on the surface, replacing him with Alabama linebackers coach Kevin Steele.
The longtime assistant experienced a long run of coordinator success, but he hasn't been one since 2012. A team of LSU's ilk could have probably made a splashier hire.
When Miles added Ed Orgeron to the staff to coach the defensive line, it begged the question of whether there will be a clash of egos on the Bayou.
One thing it hasn't hurt is recruiting. The Tigers are arguably one of the hottest names on the recruiting trail right now, tearing it up with Orgeron, running backs coach Frank Wilson and defensive backs coach Corey Raymond owning the trail.
That trio is reloading the talent pool in Baton Rouge, and if the coordinator hires prove to be good ones, LSU could bounce back after a disappointing 8-5 season a year ago.
Still, those are big question marks at some high-level assistant spots. Miles' on-field gambling antics and tenuous grasp of the English language have made him a fan favorite for years, but losing five games at LSU won't be tolerated long.
He has earned some rope, but how long?
4. Georgia Bulldogs
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Say what you want about Georgia coach Mark Richt, but the man has been a picture of consistency.
In his 14 years as the head coach of the Bulldogs, he has averaged 9.7 wins per year. Even amid all the scrutiny, Richt managed to reach double-digit victories in three of the past four seasons after a shaky stretch from 2009 to 2010.
He doesn't get the credit deserves, but Richt is a major reason why expectations are always high in Athens.
"Well, we're always expecting to win the East," Richt recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chip Towers.
Now, it appears he has two potential star coordinators to help him guide Georgia football into the next era.
A season ago, UGA made one of the biggest splash hires of the past five years when it stole Florida State defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt from the Seminoles shortly after he helped lead them to the national championship.
After a year of getting acclimated to Pruitt, the Bulldogs were beginning to show signs of dominance toward the end of last season.
Longtime offensive coordinator Mike Bobo took advantage of a successful stint at his alma mater to latch on as the head coach at Colorado State after Jim McElwain took over the Florida job.
Bobo's move allowed Richt to conduct a search that wound up pegging NFL offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for the gig. He is young and smart and certainly has the football pedigree, so he has the intangibles to do well between the hedges.
Throw in all the recruiting success Georgia always has in a state rich with talent, and you have a perfect recipe for sustained success. With the way the Dawgs have started their 2016 recruiting class, they have plenty of kids who believe in the stability of the program.
Richt may not be able to always win the big one, but he wins plenty. In a league with few sure things, Georgia competing for the East is one of them.
3. Texas A&M Aggies
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There's been so much hype surrounding the Texas A&M Aggies and head coach Kevin Sumlin over the past few years.
Yet, they've always failed to break through with a huge season because of defensive woes.
That's why wooing longtime defensive coordinator dinosaur John Chavis from division rival LSU was such a huge coup.
For all his well-documented issues coaching third-down defense and with games on the line throughout his career at Tennessee and with the Bayou Bengals, Chavis most always builds quality units full of NFL talent.
With all the star prospects the Aggies have been able to recruit in recent years, Chavis will have a wealth of talent to mold. That's why it's not a logic leap to see a huge turnaround at A&M this season. Chavis is that good of a coordinator.
Offensively, Sumlin is one of the brightest minds in college football. With Jake Spatival molding Kyle Allen at quarterback and calling the shots on an offense full of weapons, that side of the ball is in good hands.
It will be interesting to see how Dave Christensen fits in as the offensive line coach and run-game coordinator. He is a longtime assistant who previously coached at Utah and has 30 years of experience that he'll bring to a unit that always boasts NFL prospects.
Sumlin and his crew have brought in consecutive top-10 recruiting classes and are winning major battles for players in the fertile recruiting grounds of Texas. They have more than enough talent to win big in College Station, and there is coaching talent on both sides of the ball.
They ponied up big bucks to buy Chavis, expecting him to be the missing piece of a puzzle that can get them into the SEC Championship Game and beyond. He may be the only thing that had been lacking from an Aggies program ready to explode.
2. Auburn Tigers
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Speaking of defensive overhauls, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn was so sick of watching opponents march down the field at will last year that he fired respected defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson.
You don't do that unless you're sure you can make a dynamic hire.
Auburn obliged.
The Tigers secured recently ousted Florida head coach Will Muschamp to be the new defensive coordinator, and he will join Mississippi State's Manny Diaz as coordinators making their second stint at one school. Muschamp spent 2006-07 on the Plains as the Tigers' DC before moving on to Texas.
Now, he's charged with resuscitating a defense that allowed 30 or more points in five of its final six games a year ago.
He'll have plenty of help. AU also hired linebackers coach and elite recruiter Lance Thompson from Alabama. Joining Muschamp from his dissolved Florida staff is defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson, too.
That's an elite coaching and recruiting staff that includes longtime SEC staple Rodney Garner as the line coach.
Seven paragraphs into the slide, and Auburn's dynamic offensive staff hasn't even been mentioned. That's when you know you have a staff full of stars.
Offensively, Malzahn is a guru, and Rhett Lashlee is his protege who serves as the quarterbacks coach while Malzahn calls the plays. Throw in Dameyune Craig and Tim Horton, and AU's staff is a stout cast on both sides of the ball.
With those high-profile moves, the Tigers may have closed the gap and overtaken the hated Tide as having the league's best coaching staff, but that has to be proved on the field first.
Just a year removed from losing to Florida State in the national title game, Auburn spent the money to get back there soon.
It has the coaches to do it.
1. Alabama Crimson Tide
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Back in 2007 after years of embarrassing coaching hires, Alabama got its man when it paid a hefty sum to lure Nick Saban back to the college ranks from the Miami Dolphins.
Eight years later, he's still worth every penny.
Three national championships and 91 wins later, Saban is still the class of the SEC. He makes big money, but Bama football is big business that pays for his salary and that of his assistants and has much more leftover.
Saban has proved he isn't shy about hiring big-name coordinators. The controversial Lane Kiffin came in prior to last season, and he kept his mouth shut, transformed Blake Sims into a quality quarterback and led a unit that posted big numbers.
The Tide also have proved they don't care to make difficult decisions. After longtime defensive coordinator Kirby Smart's side of the ball struggled last year, Saban hired NFL assistant Mel Tucker to take over the back end of the defense.
Tucker was once the Chicago Bears' defensive coordinator, and he will help shore up some lapses on that side of the ball that had become unacceptable with the wealth of talent at the Tide's disposal.
As the Montgomery Advertiser's Duane Rankin wrote: "College football is a passing game. Hell, football is a passing game. If you can't cover receivers, you can't win a national title. Alabama found that out this season."
Beyond that, the Tide have a former college head coach (Mario Cristobal) coaching the offensive line and another one (Bobby Williams) coaching tight ends and special teams. They have elite recruiters such as Billy Napier, Burton Burns and Tosh Lupoi.
They sign a top-ranked recruiting class every year, and they're in contention for the national championship every year. They may not always win it, but having the chance each season is the envy of every team in college football.
Until that changes, nobody is topping the Tide.
All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports composite rankings unless otherwise noted. All statistics gathered from CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted. Quotes and observations gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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