The SEC is often described as the toughest power conference, and fanbases expect nothing less than excellence every season. That intensity fuels constant turnover at the head coach position. Here is how the current SEC coaches stack up, from proven champions to first-year leaders.
#1 – Kirby Smart
Kirby Smart is undeniably the best coach in the country right now. The stats speak for themselves: 106-19 overall, 62-11 in the SEC, four straight top-3 recruiting classes, and back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Since his first year in 2016, when he went 4-4 in conference play, Smart has not lost more than two SEC games in a season.
#2 – Steve Sarkisian
A Broyles Award winner in 2020, Steve Sarkisian is one of the top coaches in the country. Unlike Brent Venables, Sarkisian improved after Texas’s move to the SEC. He is coming off a 13-3 season and a College Football Playoff appearance, where he lost in the Cotton Bowl to eventual national champions Ohio State. With three straight top-10 recruiting classes (including an overall #1), the Longhorns look poised to be an annual force in the CFP, despite a week 1 loss in Columbus.
#3 – Kalen DeBoer
It is difficult to be the man who follows the greatest coach in college football history, but Kalen DeBoer has handled the transition well, despite what Crimson Tide fans might think. A 9-3 record in his first year in the SEC is no small accomplishment. His record against ranked teams as a head coach is 15-3. DeBoer has also been to a national championship game and he won three NAIA titles. He is a proven winner, and despite a tumultuous start to this season with an unexpected loss to Florida State and a very hot seat now for him in Tuscaloosa, I have faith in DeBoer and he is a premier coach in this league.
#4 – Brian Kelly
Kelly has been coaching for 35 years and has the 15th-most wins in college football history. He has won 16 bowl games but no FBS national championships yet. His record against ranked teams is 35-37, which keeps him just outside the top three. Longevity and consistency matter, and Kelly has both, but the résumé is not quite there to place him in the top 3.
#5 – Josh Heupel
Heupel has never missed a bowl game in his seven years as a head coach, and unlike Lane Kiffin (one spot below), he reached the College Football Playoff last year. He is also 2-0 head-to-head against Kiffin and owns a .500 record against ranked opponents. Heupel has restored a winning culture in Knoxville and could potentially land in the top 3 on this list by the end of the season.
#6 – Lane Kiffin
Kiffin’s résumé is lengthy, with a 106-52 career record, but his lifetime mark against ranked teams is just .314. That figure lags behind other top SEC coaches, which keeps him outside of the top tier. He is still an accomplished coach, but his losses in big spots and the lack of a CFP appearance limit his ceiling for now.
#7 – Eli Drinkwitz
After some early struggles, Drinkwitz has established himself with back-to-back 10-win seasons. In six years as a head coach, he has never missed a bowl game. His recruiting has been average by SEC standards but still good enough to produce consistent top-25 classes nationally and he knows how to develop that talent well. Drinkwitz is not yet in the upper echelon, but he has cemented himself as a steady, successful leader in Columbia.
#8 – Shane Beamer
Beamer has kept South Carolina competitive both on the recruiting trail and on the field. His record in conference play sits at 15-17, but he has managed to avoid long losing stretches and has finished ranked in the top 25 twice. Beamer has had only one losing season in his four at the helm of South Carolina, he seems to have this program rising, and he remains a solid mid-tier SEC coach.
#9 – Mike Elko
Elko could easily jump to the top 5 by next season. He went 16-9 in his two seasons at Duke (Duke!) and moved to College Station last year where his Aggies posted a disappointing 8-5 mark. But they are 2-0 now with a big game against Notre Dame this weekend. I personally think Elko is a hidden gem and will get A&M to be a perennial playoff contender, but his 3-6 record against ranked teams keeps him lower on this list.
#10 – Billy Napier
This is a tough one. Napier had a lot of success at small school Louisiana before coming to Gainesville in 2022. He had a decent 8-5 record last year while they played one of the toughest schedules in the nation, and there was plenty of buzz heading into 2025. But Florida lost last weekend to South Florida, which is never supposed to happen. I still have faith in Napier, and his recruiting is top notch, but he needs to develop the talent better and show results on the field or he will be out of a job by November.
#11 – Brent Venables
In three years as head coach at Oklahoma, Venables has had mixed results. Twice he finished with losing records and last year’s squad was abysmal. His 10-2 season in 2023 showed that he can get it done, but that was before the move to the SEC. He has an elite quarterback this season in John Mateer, and a nice win on Saturday against Michigan has his Sooners sitting at 2-0. Similar to Napier, I’m not exactly sure what to make of Venables quite yet. If he has a strong 2025 and sniffs the CFP, he could catapult to near the top tier. But for now he lands here.
#12 – Mark Stoops
Stoops deserves credit for lasting more than a decade at Kentucky, where football is an afterthought to the hardwood. He has brought a legitimate foundation to this school, and he is the winningest coach in program history. But, his conference record of 28-62 is a major blemish, and only two of his seasons have finished above .500 in SEC play. Longevity counts, but so does winning in conference, and Stoops has struggled in that area.
#13 – Sam Pittman
Pittman holds a 30-31 overall record at Arkansas. He has done well to avoid out-of-conference upsets, but his teams have struggled to consistently win SEC games. Three bowl wins in four years are a positive sign, but he has not shown the ability to elevate the Razorbacks into the league’s upper half on a consistent basis.
#14 – Hugh Freeze
Freeze has SEC experience but a checkered past. Many of his Ole Miss wins were vacated due to scandal, leaving him with an official SEC record of 11-32. He proved he could win at Liberty, with three bowl victories, but since arriving at Auburn he has gone just 5-11 in conference play. The controversy at Ole Miss still clouds him and puts him near the bottom of this ranking.
#15 – Clark Lea
Lea delivered a breakthrough 7-6 season in 2024 that included a bowl win and a staggering upset over Alabama, but his overall record of 16-33 in the SEC and his bottom-tier recruiting rankings hold him back. We’ll acknowledge that coaching at Vanderbilt is always an uphill battle, but the reality is he has two winless SEC seasons in his four at the helm in Nashville. Momentum could be on his side with the winning record last season, and a 2-0 start so far in 2025. But for now, he stays near the bottom.
#16 – Jeff Lebby
First-time head coaches rarely succeed in the SEC, and Lebby is proving no exception. His Mississippi State team finished 2-10 last season, including an 0-8 mark in conference play. He has not proven to be adept at recruiting or attracting high impact transfers, but he does have the Bulldogs at 2-0 so far this season with a nice win over 2024 CFP participant Arizona State, so maybe he can still build something in Starkville.
Want more Sandman? Come connect with us here at sandmansports.com/onestopshop
