There are no new coaches in the SEC this year. No new teams either for that matter, as Texas and Oklahoma enter their second full year as Southeastern Conference Members. After a year in the SEC, Texas fans have seen which programs are direct competition, which ones are up-and-coming and which ones are doormats. For the most part, it all comes down to the coaches.
There is definitely a top tier of coaches in the SEC. The top four seem far ahead of the rest of the field. There are a handful of about six or seven coaches that are good, but need to do more to move up the rankings. Then there are the overrated, the under-performing or the out of their depth tier of SEC coaches.
It’s no surprise Georgia and Texas top this list. After all, the Bulldogs and Longhorns met in the SEC Championship Game last year. They’ve also both had recent college football playoff success.
Factoring in career, 2024 season and recruiting, here is our updated 2025 preseason power ranking of SEC coaches:
1. Kirby Smart, Georgia Bulldogs
Head Coaching Record: 105–19
Annual Salary: $13 million
Analysis: Skins on the wall. Smart is the only SEC coach to win a national title and he did it back-to-back. Smart beat Texas twice last season. In the SEC title game, Georgia was forced to rely on a backup QB and still won the conference championship.
2. Steve Sarkisian, Texas Longhorns
Head Coaching Record: 84–52
Annual Salary: $10.3 million
Analysis: Sark is the only coach in the country to lead his team to back-to-back college football playoff semifinals. His transformation of the UT program is remarkable. But the Texas coach needs championships to move ahead of Smart.
3. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
Head Coaching Record: 113–16
Annual Salary: $10.25 million
Analysis: The job DeBoer did at Washington was truly remarkable. His first year at Alabama was a little shaky, with losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and a close call to South Carolina.
4. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
Head Coaching Record: 105–52
Annual Salary: $8.75 million
Analysis: Kiffin is similar to Sark in that, both became head coaches at a young age, probably before they were ready, thanks to being successful young coaches on Pete Carroll’s USC staff. It took each a while to figure out the right system on and off the field as the boss. Both got finishing school from former Alabama coach Steve Saban. Kiffin is raising Ole Miss to new heights now.
5. Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Head Coaching Record: 29–22
Annual Salary: $8.15 million
Analysis: Beamer is underrated. He’s won more games than any coach in program history over his first four seasons at South Carolina, topping Steve Spurrier by one. The Gamecocks beat Clemson last year and almost made the CFP.
6. Brian Kelly, LSU
Head Coaching Record: 292–107–2 (Does not include 12 wins at Notre Dame by the NCAA in 2013)
Annual Salary: $9.7 million
Analysis: Kelly is overrated. He has relied on his school’s brand name, be it at Notre Dame or LSU. He’s always been good enough to survive. It was shocking when LSU hired Kelly, who has never won a national title despite great resources.
7. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
Head Coaching Record: 50–25
Annual Salary: $9 million
Analysis: Drinkwitz is kinda like the Matt Campbell of the SEC. His teams are always solid. Always ready to surprise a more acclaimed program. Missouri is typically better than it should be thanks to Drinkwitz.
8. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
Head Coaching Record: 65–23
Annual Salary: $9 million
Analysis: Heupel runs a good offense that thrives when he has a good QB. His defenses have been the big problem. If he finally solves that side of the ball he could shoot up this list.
9. Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Head Coaching Record: 24–14
Annual Salary: $7 million
Analysis: Elko was a safe, relatively inexpensive hire by the Aggies as they continue to pay off Jimbo Fisher’s $77.5 million dollar buy out. The Aggies struggled in big games last year, so nothing really changed.
10. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
Head Coaching Record: Private
Annual Salary: $3.75 million
Analysis: Vandy beat Alabama! It is still hard to believe. And Lea’s Commodores almost beat Texas! If Lea has another year like 2024, he won’t be at Vanderbilt for long.
11. Billy Napier, Florida
Head Coaching Record: 59–31
Annual Salary: $7.1 million
Analysis: Rumors swirled around Napier last season after struggling with the toughest schedule in the country, but upsets of LSU and Ole Miss at the end of the season has given Gators fans hope for 2025.
12. Mark Stoops, Kentucky
Head Coaching Record: 67–72
Annual Salary: $6.75 million
Analysis: Stoops always does enough to stay on at Kentucky. He was reportedly heavily considered for the Texas A&M job last year that ultimately went to Elko. Stoops is lucky UK fans care about basketball.
13. Brent Venables, Oklahoma
Head Coaching Record: 22–17
Annual Salary: $8.5 million
Analysis: Venables is like a photo negative of Heupel. His defenses are good, but OU has been a mess at times on offense. Especially last year. They should be better this season with John Mateer at QB.
14. Hugh Freeze, Auburn
Head Coaching Record: 87–61 (Does not include 27 wins vacated by the NCAA in 2019)
Annual Salary: $6.5 million
Analysis: Freeze has been making more headlines for his golf than his coaching. He also has seasons worth of vacated wins on his ledger. If Auburn struggles, look for War Eagle to move on.
15. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
Head Coaching Record: 30–31
Annual Salary: $6 million
Analysis: The Razorbacks are serviceable under Pittman. They typically have a winning record. But Arkansas hasn’t been relevant since joining the SEC in the 1990s. Pittman isn’t going to change that.
16. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State
Head Coaching Record: 2–10
Annual Salary: $4.51 million
Analysis: Lebby seems out of his depth. He was a decent coordinator at Oklahoma, but turning around Hail State might be too big of a job for him. If he’d been promoted to a bigger, established program he’d fare better.
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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Ranking all 16 SEC coaches entering the 2025 college football season
Reporting by Trey Luerssen, Longhorns Wire / Longhorns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
