The Sporting News ranks SEC Football Coaches from best to worst

SEC Media Days is annually the unofficial start to the college football season for fans throughout the SEC footprint. And when it kicks off Monday from the Atlanta Omni Hotel, all 16 of the league’s coaches will grace the main stage over the four-day event to preview their current squad ahead of the 2025 season.

And while the SEC’s daily car wash lineup of head coaches in Atlanta this week doesn’t adhere to any specific ranking standard, if it did, it might look a little like how Sporting News ranked the league’s coaches as part of its annual list of college football’s top 136 head coaches, released June 28.

To little surprise, Georgia’s Kirby Smart — the SEC’s only multi-time national champion following the 2024 retirement of Alabama‘s Nick Saban — tops Sporting News’ list of head coaches at No. 1 overall and first in the league. From there, though, everything is up for debate.

You can check out Sporting News’ complete list of college football’s top head coaches, ranked 1-136. In the meantime, here’s how Sporting News ranked the SEC’s 16 head football coaches:

1. Kirby Smart, Georgia (No. 1 overall)

Despite what some fans might consider a disappointing 2024, Georgia and Kirby Smart remain the class of the SEC and college football at-large due to the Bulldogs consistency in the win column.

Smart enters Year 10 at his alma mater with a 105-19 career coaching record. But he’s been especially tough to beat in recent years, racking up an incredible 53-5 mark over the past four seasons, including winning back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships in 2021-22.

2. Steve Sarkisian, Texas (No. 5)

Sarkisian slides in at No. 2 in the SEC and No. 5 overall for officially bringing Texas back. The fifth-year Longhorns head coach is 38-17 in Austin, including 25-5 with two CFP appearances the past two seasons.

Sarkisian led Texas to the SEC Championship game in its first season in the league last year, and appears primed for even bigger things in 2025 with former No. 1 overall recruit Arch Manning now leading the Texas offense and a veteran-heavy defense coming back off last year’s squad.

3. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama (No. 6)

Replacing a legend is never a simple task, and DeBoer learned that firsthand during his 9-4 inaugural season at Alabama, snapping a 16-year run with 10 or more wins since Nick Saban‘s first season in 2007.

But, after a highly-successful offseason on the recruiting trail, and a largely returning roster, hope springs eternal in Tuscaloosa, and DeBoer’s overall success with a career 113-16 head coaching record certainly bodes well for further improvement in Year 2 at Alabama.

4. Brian Kelly, LSU (No. 9)

Kelly slots in at No. 4 in the SEC based in large part to his overall body of work, including a 292-107-2 career record across 35 years as a collegiate head coach.

But after last season’s 9-4 mark following back-to-back 10-win seasons at LSU, Kelly is beginning to feel the heat under his seat ahead of Year 4 in Baton Rouge. Thankfully for Kelly, the Tigers return an experienced roster that’s led by second-year QB1 Garrett Nussmeier and the sky is the limit in 2025.

5. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss (No. 10)

Social media personality aside, Kiffin has transformed the Rebels into a consistent winner with three 10-win seasons in the last four, something that hasn’t happened since the early 1960s under Johnny Vaught.

Given that run, Kiffin has built himself quite the cushion in Oxford, something he could need as Ole Miss enters 2025 without the program’s all-time leading passer Jaxson Dart at QB. Still, Kiffin has topped the 10-win mark five times in the eight years since returning as a head coach and is 70-31 in that span.

6. Josh Heupel, Tennessee (No. 11)

Despite an offseason that saw the Vols’ QB1 (Nico Iamaleava) hit the portal after Spring, Heupel begins his fifth season in Knoxville looking to build off last season’s 10-3 mark and first-ever CFP appearance.

Heupel has a career 65-23 record across seven seasons as a head coach, including 37-15 at Tennessee, but is still trying to work his way into the league championship conversation. And given the offseason roster overhaul, that might be hard to accomplish in 2025, but Heupel has proven himself quite capable.

7. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri (No. 21)

There’s a jump between Heupel and the SEC’s next crop of coaches, but Drinkwitz gets the nod to lead the pack after back-to-back double-digit win seasons in Columbia, going 21-5 overall during that span.

Given the recent success, Drinkwitz has transformed the Tigers into a consistent contender for the first time since Gary Pinkel roamed the sidelines (2001-15). Now Drinkwitz will turn the ball over to former Penn State transfer QB Beau Pribula, who is expected to take over as Mizzou’s QB1 in 2025.

8. Mike Elko, Texas A&M (No. 26)

Elko returned to College Station after a successful two-year run at Duke and kept the Aggies competitive in Year 1 at A&M (8-5). The 47-year-old Elko is 24-14 across three years as a head coach

Of course, given rival Texas‘ run last season and the revailing hype around the ‘Horns, Elko’s rope just got a little tighter entering Year 2. The Aggies are betting on improvement from second-year dual-threat QB Marcel Reed and a litany of playmakers spread throughout a loaded A&M roster in 2025.

9. Shane Beamer, South Carolina (No. 40)

The 48-year-old Beamer had the Gamecocks on the verge of the program’s first CFP appearance last season after closing out the 2024 regular-season on a six-game win streak.

Unfortunately, the CFP selection committee didn’t quite agree South Carolina was deserving at 9-4 overall. But if uber-talented QB1 LaNorris Sellers can live up to the preseason hype and pull off a couple of upsets in the process, Beamer might have his first Playoff team in five years in Columbia.

10. Brent Venables, Oklahoma (No. 41)

The longtime college assistant is entering his fourth season in Norman, during which he’s bookended a 10-3 season in 2023 by a pair of disappointing 6-7 seasons for a rather middling 22-17 record.

Still, Venables went all-in on the transfer portal this offseason, including landing Heisman Trophy hopeful John Mateer from Washington State, that has brought a renewed hope to Oklahoma. Of course, if Venables doesn’t come through, the hot seat talk in Norman will only intensify.

11. Billy Napier, Florida (No. 44)

Napier managed to hold off the doubters and avoided his own hot seat talk thanks in large part to the stellar play of then-freshman QB DJ Lagway, who led a 6-1 push to finish 8-5 in 2024.

But that’s not going to carry over to 2025, where Florida fans expect continued improvement despite one of the most difficult schedules in the nation once again. If Lagway continues to flash the same potential he showed last season, Napier and the Gators could be in for a special 2025.

12. Mark Stoops, Kentucky (No. 45)

With Nick Saban‘s retirement, the 58-year-old Stoops became the SEC’s longest tenured head football coach after 12 seasons in Lexington, where he’s gone 67-73 overall and 28-62 in league play.

A win-loss record like that doesn’t usually bode well for a long coaching tenure, and after a disappointing 4-8 mark in 2024, Stoops’ future at Kentucky faces its first serious hot seat test in 2025. If the Wildcats can’t get back to winning more than they lose, Stoops could be looking for a new home after the season.

13. Sam Pittman, Arkansas (No. 49)

This is officialy the hot-seat part of SEC’s coaching ranks, with Pittman once again entering the upcoming season with his future in Fayetteville squarely in question.

The 63-year-old longtime assistant is 30-31 overall and 14-28 in SEC play across five seasons leading the Razorbacks, but enters the second season with former Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino at offensive coordinator, providing a potential in-house succession plan if things get off to a rough start in 2025.

14. Hugh Freeze, Auburn (No. 53)

The ex-Ole Miss coach enters his third season back in the league and is already facing turmoil from fans after struggling through an 11-14 record and 5-11 mark during his first two seasons on The Plains.

That said, Freeze hasn’t shirked from the expecations, tland ex-Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold out of the transfer portal to lead Auburn’s offense in 2025. If Freeze can get the Tigers moving in the right direction and deliver Auburn its first winning season since 2020, expect the hot seat talk to cool considerably.

15. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt (No. 60)

With the help of dynamic QB Diego Pavia, who returns for a sixth collegiate season in 2025, Lea delivered Vanderbilt its first winning season since 2013, when James Franklin produced back-to-back 9-4 years.

But as history shows, winning seasons are hard to come by in Nashville. Lea is a combined 16-33 overall and 5-27 in SEC play across four seasons, and appears primed to build off the 7-6 mark in 2024 thanks to a largely returning squad from last year’s group.

16. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State (No. 79)

As one of the youngest head coaches in the SEC, the 41-year-old Lebby and the Bulldogs struggled throguh a 2-10 season, including 0-8 in league play, in his first year in Starkville.

Lebby enters Year 2 at Missisippi State knowing there’s only up to go from here, and enters 2025 with a healthy Blake Shapen at quarterback after the former Baylor transfer suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4. If Shapen can return to his Big 12 form in Lebby’s offense, wins will come.