Ranking the Top Recruiting Head Coaches in the SEC
Recruiting is the lifeblood of SEC football, so if you can't convince top prospects to come to your school, your program may as well be on life support.
Few conferences match the recruiting battles of the SEC. Winning living rooms is the foundation for winning championships, and that's why teams want head coaches who can relate to prospects.
Many of the nation's top prospects reside below the Mason-Dixon Line, and it's vital that programs have the men in place to earn their signature. Recruiting the top players in the country can make any coach look good on the sideline.
The league has its share of some of the best recruiters in the nation. If you can hold your own in the recruiting wars of the SEC, you can hold up anywhere.
Anyone who coaches for a university with deep pockets can hire a bunch of top-notch recruiters on their staffs. But which head coaches in the SEC are the best salesmen, the guys who can go into the home of any top prospect in the nation and seal the deal with the players, their moms and their dads?
After examining several recent heated battles for top prospects, looking at individual bodies of work over coaching careers and determining a coach's prowess in landing elite classes, here's the list of the league's best.
14. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt
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When Vanderbilt was trying to find a replacement for former coach James Franklin—the man who re-energized a longtime SEC doormat—the Commodores wanted, among other things, somebody who could keep the excitement around the program.
The search landed on former Stanford defensive coordinator Derek Mason, who was known as being a solid recruiter for the Cardinal. Since coming to Nashville, however, the success on the trail hasn't transferred.
In his first full class as the head coach at VU, Mason signed 18 players in a class that ranked 47th nationally and last in the SEC, according to the 247Sports composite. The group consisted of just three 4-star prospects, with two coming from Tennessee and both being Commodores legacies.
After replacing Franklin, the 2014 class finished 46th and featured just two 4-star players.
On the heels of a 3-9 season, Mason's recruiting struggles haven't endeared him to a program that was used to being on the uptick under Franklin. It's way too early to draw any significant conclusions about Mason's program, but thus far, he just hasn't been able to fuel any momentum.
If there's not some significant improvement on the field and in recruiting very soon, Mason may find himself as a really good defensive coordinator again sooner rather than later.
13. Gary Pinkel, Missouri
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Let's get this out of the way: Gary Pinkel is an exceptional coach with a keen eye for players who fit his system.
But that doesn't make him a great recruiter.
In fact, it's even more remarkable that he has led the Tigers to back-to-back SEC Championship Games despite not really ever making much major noise on the recruiting trail.
That is a testament to his ability to develop talent rather than recruit it. When it comes to recruiting rankings, however, Pinkel probably isn't a huge fan. A study of the 247Sports composite rankings over the past five years shows that the average recruiting ranking of Pinkel's Tigers is 39th.
Yet he absolutely fills up the NFL with defensive linemen, and he has established a spread offensive scheme that has been a terror on SEC East teams over the past couple of seasons.
Nobody fears Pinkel when it comes to recruiting battles, but maybe Mizzou is beginning to catch on. This year, the Tigers won one of the most coveted prospects in the nation in 5-star defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. and also secured the quarterback of the future in Drew Lock.
That class ranked 25th, which is the best the Tigers have finished in February in years.
Lock told Fox Sports Midwest's Luke Thompson of the class: "It shows how Missouri is starting to come around in the SEC. Actually, it hasn't been that slow, winning an SEC East championship two out of three years."
Sometimes, it takes winning on the recruiting trail to win on the field. In the case of Pinkel and Mizzou, it's the other way around.
12. Jim McElwain, Florida
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For a while after Florida fired Will Muschamp and hired Jim McElwain, recruiting was a disaster.
Things picked up, though, and the Gators have been somewhat of a hot name ever since.
In February, the Gators rallied to finish 21st in the recruiting rankings, capping off the class with two huge national signing day wins with CeCe Jefferson and Martez Ivey. That's one of the best defensive linemen and the best offensive tackle in the entire cycle.
A strong start to the 2016 class has UF with eight current commitments after a torrid March that saw them land five players. Every single one of those are from the Sunshine State.
Though seven of the Gators' current commits are 3-star players, McElwain must really want them to take them this early in the process.
Despite the early success in this cycle, you still never hear of recruits mentioning McElwain as being a key reason for committing to the Gators. While he's an innovative offensive mind and a good coach, he doesn't have the dynamic personality that players gravitate toward.
The way he builds a program, according to Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde, is much like one of his mentors, Nick Saban.
"The way McElwain sees things is through a Nick Saban lens—he used the Saban trigger words "process" and "organization" in the same sentence. But so did the last guy, and that didn’t work out so well.
McElwain is not just a former Saban assistant; he's closer to a Saban clone in terms of structuring a program. Which is another part of what the former Alabama assistant wants to change at Florida.
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Saban assistants don't always work out as head coaches, but it doesn't hurt to have someone entrenched who knows how to lure top talent to an elite program. Now, all McElwain has to do is prove that he can.
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11. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
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The Ol' Ball Coach hasn't been known for his recruiting prowess for some time now. But when you've got a name like Steve Spurrier and a championship legacy, recruiting can be put on autopilot.
When Spurrier took over with the Gamecocks, he immediately brought a brand name to Columbia and turned around a stagnant program. After three consecutive 11-win seasons, Carolina fell off last year, and recruiting dropped off as well.
Still, they wound up 16th and 19th the past two years in the 247Sports composite rankings, and while you're much more likely to find Spurrier on the 10th tee box than a prospect's living room, he still has the ability to lure top-notch talent, especially offensively.
He can carry into a prospect's home or school a "wow" factor just because of who he is. But he isn't likely to get caught up in the heated battles, which is something that every team wants in a head coach.
Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow relayed a classic example of this on the SEC Network last year when he recalled telling Spurrier he was leaning toward the Gators. "Alright, we'll look forward to playin' ya," Spurrier said.
Winning in February doesn't matter to Spurrier, and it never has. A couple of years ago, he told ESPN.com's Chris Low in typical brash Spurrier form:
"It's important to recruit well, but it’s not the only thing. I tell people all the time that we're never going to out-recruit Alabama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and a lot of those schools, but that doesn't mean they're going to always beat us. Shoot, we've been beating them more than they've been beating us lately. So, yeah, it's important, but it’s what they do after they get here that counts.
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He knows he isn't the best recruiter in the league, and it doesn't faze him. Spurrier has a long history of proving that he can whip them into form once they get on campus.
10. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
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Recruiting in the state of Mississippi is a different animal than most anywhere else in the nation. There is always an abundance of talent, and a lot of it is under-evaluated due to the large number of rural areas and a shortage of quality film.
So, it's completely possible to outfit a top-10 team full of 3-star players from that state who were really more talented players than their ratings.
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen has won his share of battles in the Magnolia State against rival Hugh Freeze and other national names who come in and try to take away talent. But he hasn't really been successful going into other states and convincing top players to come to Starkville.
Out of the 62 players the Bulldogs signed in the past three classes, only 25 of them came from out of state. Even when Mullen has reached into Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana to take players, they're usually niche players who aren't among the top guys in the rankings.
Even so, Mullen wins. He turned lightly recruited Dak Prescott (two offers) into an All-SEC-caliber quarterback who'll be on everybody's short list for the Heisman Trophy this year. He always has beast defensive players who make their way to the NFL. And Mullen never has a shortage of running backs.
Learning under Urban Meyer at Florida, Mullen got a taste of big-time recruiting, and he won his share of recruiting battles as an assistant. So he is able to go into a home and close the deal on players, especially in Mississippi.
That's why he gets a place so high on this list. But until he can lure other players to Starkville, he'll remain in the middle of the pack.
9. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
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Just being a Stoops may get Kentucky coach Mark Stoops recognized in high schools around the country. But he made his mark building defenses and luring top-notch talent to Florida State before taking over at Big Blue, so he knows his way around the recruiting trail.
That's why he gets the nod this high over some of the SEC's blue bloods.
Stoops hasn't proven yet that he can out-coach men such as Steve Spurrier, Dan Mullen or Gary Pinkel, but he built his reputation on defense and recruiting. It's a big reason he got the job with the Wildcats, and it's a big reason why he is recruiting up there better than anybody ever has at Kentucky.
His recruiting prowess is so evident, it's a key factor in why he received an extension and bonus a year ago. In UK's official release, the word "recruiting" was mentioned eight times.
Over his first two full classes at UK, the Wildcats have averaged 30th nationally. He'd be even higher on the list had he been able to close the deal on several prospects who flipped to bigger programs late in the process.
This year, he'll try to hang onto a class that has swelled to 16 commitments and a national ranking of seventh. Only Miami currently has more commitments.
Stoops has won a ton of battles in the Midwest (particularly Ohio) and even beaten the Buckeyes for several players. He kept instate quarterback Drew Barker and defensive tackle Matt Elam at home in the 2015 class, and this year, he has a pledge from Drake Jackson, the nation's top-ranked center.
Having elite recruiter Vince Marrow on his staff certainly doesn't hurt, but Stoops has years of background to suggest he can hold his own in the homes of players across the nation. Put him at the helm of a more established program, and Stoops would recruit with the best in the country.
8. Bret Bielema, Arkansas
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Much like his Midwestern counterpart Gary Pinkel, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema hasn't made a name for himself as a recruiter.
He gets guys on campus who fit what he wants on both sides of the ball, then he develops them into players to execute his hard-nosed system.
He did the same thing with rousing success at Wisconsin, taking the Badgers to a bevy of Rose Bowls. After a year to get acclimated to the rugged SEC, Bielema's program began to take shape in Fayetteville last year as the Hogs finished with a 7-6 record and a bowl win over Texas.
This year, Bielema's on-field success really boosted the Razorbacks' recruiting class with seven 4-star players outfitting a group that wound up 23rd nationally.
Bielema has enjoyed two years of recruiting success in Florida, and a large part of that was because of departed assistant Randy Shannon, who took a job with the Gators. But he also got a perfect player to make his offense go in South Florida running back Alex Collins.
He's also had some success in Texas.
Bielema may not be a guy you think about when recruiting gurus come to mind, but his track record of developing marquee running backs and offensive linemen get his foot in the door in a lot of places. His offense is never going to be one that attracts an elite quarterback, but it doesn't need one.
The state of Arkansas produces a good number of SEC-caliber players each year, and if the Hogs can have some success in Memphis and the Midwest and still carry some presence in Florida, they'll be successful.
Bielema isn't going to win many battles against the Nick Sabans and Urban Meyers of the world, but that isn't his game. Once they get on campus at Fayetteville, he has shown the ability to turn them into winners.
7. Gus Malzahn, Auburn
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With the additions of defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, secondary coach Travaris Robinson and linebackers coach Lance Thompson, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn has assembled arguably one of the nation's top two or three recruiting staffs.
But Malzahn himself is much better known for being an offensive mastermind and system developer than a recruiter.
The additions of those coaches will allow the Tigers to have a massive presence in the state of Florida, and they were already surging in Georgia, even if they have to scratch and claw for every recruit in their own state because of the presence of Alabama.
Still, you have to give Malzahn some credit for all of the success. After all, he hired the coaches. Secondly, there are tons of prospects who want to go to Auburn to play feature roles in the explosive offense that is the cornerstone of the Malzahn brand.
Battling against Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide for recruits every year isn't easy, but AU holds its own.
According to the Ledger-Enquirer's Ryan Black, Malzahn said of the recruiting battle instate during the last cycle, "We signed eight players from the state of Alabama, including Mr. Football, which is the third year in a row. One of our main goals is to win the state of Alabama and we feel like we did that this year."
Malzahn played a major role in the commitment and development of Cam Newton, who wound up one of the top 10 college football players of all time. Back then, he was only a coordinator. But since becoming the head coach, he's won his share of battles.
That's why it's hard to dispute that Malzahn belongs in the upper half of the league when it comes to individual recruiting prowess, regardless of the elite staff around him.
6. Mark Richt, Georgia
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This may seem low for a coach as accomplished on the recruiting trail and at winning SEC football games as Mark Richt, but he just doesn't belong over anybody higher on the list.
That's not an indictment against his recruiting, which is elite. Instead, it's a testament to the recruiting head coaches in the league.
Richt has the unenviable task of trying to keep rival SEC coaches from raiding his talent-rich state. While he wins his share of battles (such as the all-out war for Trent Thompson a season ago), Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee and others pluck several guys the Dawgs want every year.
Even so, Richt still solidifies a top-10 class every year. A study of the 247Sports composite rankings over the past five years shows the Bulldogs' average class ranking is eighth.
Richt dips down into Florida and wins some key battles every year, and his quarterback recruiting has been nothing short of elite.
Sure, he has a staff full of top-notch recruiters such as Bryan McClendon, Jeremy Pruitt and Tracy Rocker, but Richt holds up in the living room with his Southern charm.
The veteran UGA coach is a man of faith, and he wears that unabashedly. That plays very well with the parents of prospects who believe their sons are going to be playing for a man of character. Yet it's not a put-on. Richt is a genuinely good man, and that translates on the recruiting trail.
As long as he's in charge between the hedges, the Dawgs will be getting elite prospects.
5. Les Miles, LSU
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Speaking of elite recruiting staffs, LSU coach Les Miles has surrounded himself with some very good ones on the Bayou.
In the past year, he hired Ed Orgeron and Kevin Steele to complete his defensive staff, two men who have had extreme success for years in luring players to their respective schools. Frank Wilson and Corey Raymond are exceptional recruiters, too.
But Miles has been around recruiting long enough to know how to do it and do it well.
He played a huge role in luring the nation's top-ranked player two classes ago, Leonard Fournette, to LSU, and he has proven on multiple occasions that he is keeping up with the times. He can use social media with the best of coaches.
Sitting on such a hot bed of talent, Miles—much like Mark Richt—has to keep coaches out of the fertile recruiting grounds of Louisiana. Though he has done a pretty strong job of that, he loses a few big ones every year.
When that happens, he dips down into Florida or convinces Texas athletes to join the Tigers.
Miles may get docked somewhat because of all of the star recruiters on his staff, but he has proven time and again that he can secure commitments. His daring on-the-field style and the way he trusts his players to make key plays at pivotal moments have to be things high school prospects get excited about.
4. Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
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One look at Hugh Freeze's Ole Miss coaching staff shows there is an ideal blend of solid recruiters and veteran football minds.
But in living rooms across the country, Freeze is the glue that keeps that staff stocked with top talent.
It has been decades since the Rebels were able to recruit with elite programs nationally, and after years of being dormant, Freeze has led Ole Miss back into the national picture. They go to battle over some of the top players nationally and win their share.
Recruiting wins such as Robert Nkemdiche (Georgia), Laremy Tunsil (Florida) and Laquon Treadwell (Illinois) kind of announced Freeze onto the scene as an elite recruiter in the 2013 cycle. That amazing Rebels class wound up fourth nationally and has sparked a program resurgence.
Even though the NCAA went sniffing around Oxford, it wasn't able to find anything. Perhaps Freeze is just that good of a recruiter. He's reportedly a good man, and much like Mark Richt, his Christian faith is a strong point with parents of the players he recruits.
The past two seasons, their ranking has dropped considerably to 15th and 17th, but those are still very strong rankings for Ole Miss.
This year, Freeze is back at it again, luring 5-star quarterback Shea Patterson along with seven more 4-star players already in a class that appears poised to be exceptional.
Before Freeze arrived at his dream job in Oxford, Ole Miss was rarely in the conversation for top players. Now, the Rebels are on the minds of elite recruits all over the Southeast.
3. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
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For years, Mack Brown owned the state of Texas when it came to recruiting.
Kevin Sumlin changed all of that. Once he arrived at College Station, the Aggies began to lure top talent, and now he battles Longhorns coach Charlie Strong for talent in one of the most loaded states in the country.
His "We Run This State" slogan is something Sumlin tries to back up with his recruiting, and in the 2015 class, he did. According to 247Sports' Jeff Tarpley:
"In the 2015 class, there were about 35 prospects who boasted offers from both A&M and Texas (depending on which entity you get your recruiting information from). Now, you can add two or three players that each school probably should have offered and didn’t but for the most part it represents a pretty representative collection of the state’s best prospects. Of those 35 prospects, Texas A&M signed 14 of them and Texas signed seven. That’s an overwhelming victory on the part of the A&M coaching staff and it’s a surface indicator of just how much recruiting has swung in favor of the Aggies since Kevin Sumlin took over beginning with the 2012 class.
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A perfect example of how Sumlin relates to prospects transpired in the recruitment of 5-star defensive tackle Daylon Mack last year. His decision came down to the end, and that's where Sumlin sealed the deal.
"Like I said, TCU, that in-home visit with Coach Patterson was great," Mack told the Star-Telegram's Travis L. Brown. "The in-home with Texas was great, too. At the same time, when Coach Sumlin came, there weren't even any questions we had to ask. We were just so familiar with their staff and their program."
Prospects love Sumlin. If you look at his staff, he has some strong recruiters, but there aren't many who would be mistaken as being elite. The reason for the success of the past few years (the Aggies' average recruiting ranking the past four years is 10th) is Sumlin.
2. Butch Jones, Tennessee
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The sample size may be small (just two full classes), but there's no denying how formidable of a force Butch Jones is on the recruiting trail.
Though he isn't blessed with having a state that is as fertile of a recruiting ground as many around the Southeast, that hasn't stopped the third-year coach from securing classes that rated seventh and fourth in the 247Sports composite rankings the past two years.
Sure, he has secured the top talent within state borders, signing 17 players from Tennessee in those two classes. But he also has recruited nationally, securing players from 13 different states and Washington D.C.
When asked about why UT has been so successful recruiting despite relatively small on-field success, 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons told the Knoxville News Sentinel's Dustin Dopirak:
"I think there's a lot of factors in place. One is that Tennessee has been a sleeping giant. They have the facilities, the stadium, the fan base, the resources. Then all it takes is for someone to sort of capture that and realize it. I think Butch Jones understood those advantages and really has been pretty masterful in taking advantage of those. He's taking advantage of legacies, taking advantage of commitments, using those guys to recruit other players. Butch Jones understands the big picture of recruiting. He has a great vision and a clear grand strategy. I've been as impressed with his overall grand strategy as any coach in the country since he's taken over.
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Jones relates to players, and he has sold some of the top athletes in the country on helping the Vols compete for championships again. There really is only one elite recruiter (Tommy Thigpen) on UT's staff, so a lot of the success should be attributed to Jones.
He has flipped the roster from the dismal days of Derek Dooley, signing 61 players in the past two seasons. During those two years, only Alabama, LSU, Florida State and Ohio State have signed a better composite ranking of classes.
1. Nick Saban, Alabama
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Four consecutive recruiting titles is all really anybody needs to say to validate Nick Saban being at the top of this list.
But the Alabama head coach's recruiting prowess goes way back before he ever ventured to the Capstone.
It was a key reason why LSU hired him away from Michigan State, and while Saban was in Louisiana, he built elite recruiting classes that eventually won a national championship for him and helped Les Miles win another one.
At Alabama, he has taken recruiting to a whole new level, combining his elite skills in the activity with a tradition-rich program. Winning four straight recruiting titles in an era where it's big business arguably makes Saban the greatest recruiting college coach ever.
No matter what needs to be said to lure recruits, Saban is always on the cutting edge. At first, he convinced players to help rebuild the Crimson Tide back to championship competitors. Then, he sold them on the chance to contend for national championships every year.
With the way he puts players in the NFL, Tuscaloosa has become a factory. He now even sells running backs on joining a loaded backfield so they are fresh for the pros.
From eating gator tail with recruits to letting them wear all of his national championship rings, Saban always knows what to say. Bama doesn't always get who Bama wants, but the Tide gets enough players to win every recruiting championship and compete for the title every year.
Until somebody stops that, Saban will be the king of the trail.
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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