2024 Pressure Check Rankings: Which SEC head coaches are under the most pressure this fall?

football season is that much closer and the heat on teams and coaches is about to get cranked up. 

Last year, I released my pressure ratings for every coach in the Power 5, and we’re running back the series this summer. 

One of the most popular slogans among football coaches is “pressure is a privilege,” and while all these guys are paid handsomely, they all face varying degrees of demand depending on their lot in the sport. 

Some coaches, like Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian and Ryan Day, are under pressure to win championships, while others, like Billy Napier or Dave Aranda, are under pressure to simply show program improvement or else risk being fired come season’s end. 

Notably, this is not a hot seat list. It’s a pressure gauge — Low, Medium, High and Extreme. 

So here’s a Pressure Check on every power conference head coach, starting today with the SEC:

Kalen DeBoer, Alabama — High

DeBoer is the perfect head coach to kickstart this exercise, as Alabama’s first-year head coach is tasked with replacing the GOAT in Nick Saban and maintaining Alabama’s lofty expectations. DeBoer has quickly answered any doubts about his recruiting acumen, but in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, he faces legitimate pressure in Year 1 to position Alabama for a chance to contend for a national title. 

After taking Washington to the championship game last season, anything short of a CFP berth will be seen as a failure by those in Tuscaloosa.

Sam Pittman, Arkansas — Extreme 

Two years ago, Sam Pittman was riding high and among the most popular figures in Arkansas, but since the Hogs’ surprising 9-4 season in 2021, they’ve gone 11-14 (with nine losses in one-score games). The roster continues to turnover with little stability, and more staff changes took place this offseason, too. 

Arkansas brought in former head coach Bobby Petrino to be Pittman’s newest OC — and potential replacement. Unlike most on this list, Pittman is a real hot-seat candidate, and barring an unexpected bowl season (or better), he’s unlikely to be on the sidelines in 2025.

Hugh Freeze, Auburn — Medium

Despite a frustratingly inconsistent 6-7 season in Year 1 that resulted in a major staff overhaul, the Tigers are encouraged by the direction of Freeze’s program entering the 2024 season. He’s continued to upgrade the roster with strong recruiting efforts and he has a better group of assistants with SEC experience now (Charles Kelly, Derrick Nix, D.J. Durkin), too. 

But with Saban now gone from Alabama, Auburn fans do not want to see their program take any step backwards. There’s also pressure on Freeze to prove he made the right call by sticking with Payton Thorne at quarterback. 

Billy Napier, Florida — High

Napier is just 11-14 in two seasons at Florida, and while the affable head coach from Louisiana-Lafayette is well-liked personally, he’s struggled to implement his blueprint to return the Gators to championship contention. 

If there’s any saving grace for Napier, it’s that he did land 5-star quarterback DJ Lagway in the 2024 class and the 2024 schedule is so nightmarish (eight games vs. preseason Top 25 teams) that the administration may be willing to cut him some slack. He also isn’t talking (or acting) like a coach sitting on some simmering hot seat. If Napier avoids a third-straight losing season he could get a prove-it, or lose-it Year 4. 

Kirby Smart, Georgia — Medium

Kirby Smart might have the most job security in the SEC, and even though he hasn’t lost a regular-season game in three years, there’s pressure on the Bulldogs to get back to the national title game. Led by senior quarterback Carson Beck, they return one of the best (and deepest) rosters in the country.

Even with a much more difficult schedule (at Alabama, at Texas and at Ole Miss), missing the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row would be considered a disaster for Smart and the Bulldogs.

Mark Stoops, Kentucky — Medium

Stoops is set to enter his 12th season with the Wildcats, and although he still is the program’s best coach since Bear Bryant, there’s some angstyness around the program right now. Kentucky is coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons and Stoops flirted with leaving Lexington for the head coaching job at Texas A&M. 

Kentucky continues to burn through offensive coordinators, and Stoops’ portal approach to the QB position hasn’t delivered consistent results, either. He has a veteran team this season but the schedule isn’t very forgiving. 

Brian Kelly, LSU — High

Brian Kelly has a pair of double-digit win seasons in two years at LSU, and yet he faces the weight of both his decision to leave Notre Dame (because he didn’t believe the Irish could win a national title) and the accomplishments of his predecessors with the Tigers (Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron all won a championship). 

After last season’s embarrassing defensive output, Kelly fired his entire staff and made Mizzou’s Blake Baker the highest-paid coordinator in the country. He also stole ballyhooed DL coach Bo Davis away from Texas. The personnel upgrades weren’t as significant, though, pitting LSU as maybe the 6-7 best team in the SEC. If the Tigers don’t make the expanded playoff this fall, Kelly will enter the 2025 season with the pressure cooker ratcheted up another level. 

Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri — Medium

Drinkwitz is coming off his best season with the Tigers, going 11-2 with a win over Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. He staved off any hot seat talk and more than earned his reworked contract and extension. 

But now Tigers expect similar — or better — results this fall. Their 2024 schedule is among the easiest in the SEC, and they bring back their best roster in over a decade. Flirt with a CFP invite and all will be well, but if Missouri regresses and squanders its opportunity, then some will start asking questions again about Drinkwitz’s longterm future with the program.

Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State — Low

The Bulldogs fired Zach Arnett after just a single season in Starkville, but Lebby does not face the win-now-or-else pressure with a new administration in charge. The former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, Ole Miss and UCF is tasked with making Mississippi State an annual bowl team again — only he’ll be given some time to transition the program back into an Air Raid adjacent offense. 

The first-time head coach will likely experience some growing pains in a new role, but there’s optimism the Bulldogs hired a young, up-and-comer who can spark some energy within the program.

Brent Venables, Oklahoma — Low

These ratings are fluid — perhaps best evidenced by Oklahoma’s Brent Venables. Had I written this piece a week earlier, Venables’ pressure gauge certainly would’ve been higher entering a pivotal Year 3. And then the Sooners’ administration handed Venables a contract extension and raise. 

It’s clear that AD Joe Castiglione believes strongly in Venables’ vision for the program, and while the transition could prove to be a bit choppy from the outset (OU has a brutal schedule in 2024), they’re behind their head coach 100 percent. Maybe those sentiments will change in 2025, but for now, Venables won’t be under the microscope many (myself included) thought he would be just a week ago.  

Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss — High

Lane Kiffin has been excellent at using the transfer portal, trolling foes on Twitter and winning the games he’s supposed to, but now Ole Miss has lofty expectations and CFP hopes. Can Jr. meet the moment? 

The Rebels had their best season in school history in 2023 (11-2) and they’ve pushed their chips all-in for 2024. Kiffin might not have this good of a roster ever again in Oxford, so while his job security isn’t in question, he must make sure all those NIL investments were worth it — and not waste an opportunity to do something special this fall. 

Shane Beamer, South Carolina  — High 

Unfairly or not, Beamer is being judged against his own moderate success with the Gamecocks — exceeding expectations in his first two seasons before cratering to 5-7 in 2023. At 20-18, he’s actually off to a worse start than his predecessor Will Muschamp.

Beamer has recruited fairly well at South Carolina, and has done a nice job plugging roster holes in the transfer portal, but if he suffers another losing season in Columbia, he’ll find himself atop every hot seat list in 2025. 

Josh Heupel, Tennessee — Medium

Though some scoffed initially at Tennessee’s decision to hire Josh Heupel, he’s shown to be the right man to lead the Vols back into national relevancy. Following the program’s historic 2022 season, Tennessee still won nine games last fall even amid all its clunky QB play. 

With 5-star Nico Iamaleava now under center, coupled with the return of the top pass rusher in the SEC in James Pearce, Tennessee should vie for a CFP spot this season. The Vols get Alabama at home again this fall, but beating Florida and Kentucky might be even more important games for Heupel to cement Tennessee’s new standing in the SEC.

Steve Sarkisian, Texas — High

Sarkisian wasn’t even considered a Top 25 coach in the country before last year, and then he won the Big 12 Championship and took Texas to the CFP in easily his best year as a head coach. 

Now can he do it again — only in a tougher conference? The pressure is on Sarkisian to prove last season was not a one-year wonder. The Longhorns have a stacked roster and will be a unanimous Top 5 team entering the season. 

Mike Elko, Texas A&M — Low

The former Duke head coach has totally changed the tenor around the Aggies’ program — both from a volume (a very quiet optimism vs the preciously public chestiness from Jimbo Fisher) and identity perspective. After paying a record buyout to make Fisher go away, Texas A&M is fully-invested in doing everything it can to make Elko successful. 

He’ll be given a long leash in College Station, but there’s real opportunity to seize some early momentum in Year 1. Despite some significant losses in the portal, he has a really nice roster and a schedule that sets up for Texas A&M to make a sneaky, darkhorse run at a playoff spot.

Clark Lea, Vanderbilt — High

Lea inherited an impossible situation, but he hasn’t made it better, which is why he suddenly is under real pressure to show better results in 2024. The Commodores are just 2-22 in SEC games the last three seasons, and their roster has been raided by the portal. 

After initially scoffing at the transfer model, Lea has done a 180 this offseason, loading up on plug-and-play newcomers. He also made multiple staff changes, including taking over defensive play-calling duties himself. Vandy is unlikely to pull the plug on an alum, but if the ‘Dores have another disaster season, Lea might not be long for Nashville. 

2024 Pressure Rankings: SEC head coaches

1. Sam Pittman
2. Billy Napier
3. Kalen DeBoer
4. Clark Lea
5. Shane Beamer
6. Brian Kelly
7. Steve Sarkisian
8. Lane Kiffin
9. Kirby Smart
10. Eli Drinkwitz
11. Hugh Freeze
12. Mark Stoops
13. Josh Heupel
14. Brent Venables
15. Jeff Lebby
16. Mike Elko