“This shit is hard.” Mark Stoops didn’t mince words last week at SEC Media Days. The Kentucky coach has brought stability to Lexington, but the team took a nosedive last season, finishing conference play at 1-7. Coaching in the SEC is a grind. It’s not a trope or a tired narrative as our counterparts in the Big Ten or ACC want us to believe. Sure, they don’t play nine conference games, but they have a depth that most other coaches could only dream of.
The SEC Difference
Diego Pavia said as much a few weeks ago, when asked why he spurned B1G offers to remain at Vandy. When coming up with our list of top SEC coaches, we had about eight or nine names to choose. Our editors asked for five, so before we get to our list, let’s take a look at who just missed our list (no, Stoops wasn’t in the conversation).
- Kalen DeBoer, Alabama Crimson Tide: DeBoer is on a meteoric rise as a coach. Going from NAIA to Tuscaloosa is impressive. Losing to Vandy and only scoring three points against Oklahoma is not. Do better in 2025.
- Josh Heupel, Tennessee Volunteers: Heupel led the Vols to the College Football Playoffs in 2024. He would be near the top of our list if this were early December 2024. But, a blowout loss to Ohio State and an ugly divorce from his prized (and expensive) quarterback add more questions than answers heading into 2025.
- Shane Beamer, South Carolina Gamecocks: Beamer struck gold in quarterback LaNorris Sellers. A nine-win season, almost knocking off Alabama and LSU, and just missing a CFB Playoff appearance. Sellers is a generational talent that will be asked to carry a heavy load for the Gamecocks. Has Beamer and company given him enough to break through? The jury is still out.
Game of Thrones: Top SEC Coaches for 2025
#5 Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri Tigers
Wait, did we really just rank the Missouri coach in the Top 5? That school doesn’t even fit in the SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE. Easy, Karen. Drink is the real deal. He has found a way to lead the Tigers to punch up, finishing with double-digit wins (including a win against Ohio State) in back-to-back seasons. Drink goes to his own drum and has mobilized the Tigers into a solid and formidable foe. They are still lacking that signature win, but one could see the Tigers falling into irrelevancy if Drink is scooped up (Hello, Auburn or Florida) and given more resources.
#4 Brian Kelly, LSU Tigers
When we ranked Big Ten coaches, we discussed the challenge of where to place “mid-game” James Franklin. Franklin and Kelly are quite a pair. They are really good, but you can’t help but wonder, are they great? Two years ago, Kelly had the Heisman winner and an offense that was its own EA cheat code. Too bad, his defense was non-existent. 2025 is a big year. The Tigers have spent big in the Portal and front office staff. An SEC Championship and a deep run in the College Football Playoff are the expectations; a win in the “other” Death Valley would also help. Anything less will lead to unemployment.
#3 Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss Rebels
What has Lane Kiffin done to deserve a #3 ranking? All he does is tweet about Hugh Freeze’s golf game. Well, he wins a lot at Ole Miss. Something that hasn’t been done since the 1960s. Kiffin has shown an ability to navigate “the business” of college football. Where coaches have cried about NIL and the Transfer Portal, or feared competition. Kiffin has embraced it. Kiffin’s best team was 2024. Three losses, all by one score, left the Rebels feeling like Uncle Rico thinking about his soul mate. It’s infuriating, but Ole Miss shouldn’t be this good. They should be winning the party in the Grove. Instead, Lane has turned The Vaught into home-field advantage. A favorable 2025 schedule could make a seat at City Grocery hard to come by for a December playoff game.
#2 Steve Sarkisian, Texas Longhorns
Hey, what’s the new guy doing here? Well, all the new guy did was take the Longhorns to an SEC Championship Game appearance, sorry Aggies, and a second straight College Football Playoff Semifinal appearance. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and it’s tough to argue. Sark has shot to the top of the SEC Coaches list because he has taken the Nick Saban blueprint of roster building, adapted it to 2025, and injected it straight into the Longhorns’ veins. He has leveraged the transfer portal and been a thorn in Georgia’s side in the battles for key recruits. Now, he has Arch Manning, whom he “stole” from the Dawgs, stepping in as QB1. The lights are bright in Austin, but Sark is ready to embrace it and bring the “All Gas, No Brakes” mentality to the season.
#1 Kirby Smart, Georgia Bulldogs
Smart has to love all of the flowers and press clippings going to Austin. Last year, Georgia was the media darling. Sure, they won’t win the SEC Championship, but the 2024 season was far from the standard Smart and the fans have come to expect in Athens—Smart’s two national championships and three SEC Championships, and being a fixture atop the recruiting rankings. Where Stoops may complain about “this shit being hard,” Smart embraces it. He wants to have the chip and keep the SEC locked in the Dawgs’ sights.
Main Photo: Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
The post Embrace the Grind: Top SEC Coaches for 2025 appeared first on Last Word on College Football.