Blake Toppmeyer of USA TODAY Sports recently ranked the 14 head coaches in the SEC heading into the 2022 college football season.
In a conference that still has Nick Saban, there’s hardly a question who occupies the No. 1 spot on the list. Despite Georgia and Kirby Smart finally conquering Saban and the Crimson Tide, Smart is likely to remain below Saban on any list until the Alabama head coach resigns.
Related, via UGA Wire: Ranking the SEC head coaches for 2022 college football season
Is Smart the clear-cut No. 2 head coach in the SEC? Toppmeyer says yes, and really anyone else should probably say yes as well.
On Smart, USA TODAY wrote:
Smart knows recruiting. Smart knows defense. And he proved last season that still can be a winning combination, even in this quarterback-driven era. Despite Stetson Bennett IV’s improvement, Smart has not delivered an elite quarterback. And he still must prove he can avoid any major program drop-off after the loss of 15 players to the NFL Draft. Saban has separated himself from others by the way he keeps the machine rolling with no significant backsliding. The way Smart recruits, he’s positioned his program to do the same.
But as for the rest of the conference, there’s plenty of debate as to who goes where.
Here’s a look at Toppmeyer’s head coaching rankings as we inch closer to September’s kickoff:
- Nick Saban, Alabama
- Kirby Smart, Georgia
- Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
- Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
- Brian Kelly, LSU
- Mark Stoops, Kentucky
- Sam Pittman, Arkansas
- Mike Leach, Mississippi State
- Josh Heupel, Tennessee
- Billy Napier, Florida
- Shane Beamer, South Carolina
- Bryan Harsin, Auburn
- Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
- Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
