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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The SEC’s deepest coaching lineup ever?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Destin, Fla.-Good morning from Destin where the SEC Spring Meetings are scheduled to begin this afternoon.
Everybody knows that the SEC has five coaches who have won national championships in football. But in the course of doing research for a story that will run this week, I discovered how deep the lineup of coaches in this league really is. Of the 12 head coaches in the SEC, 11 have won a conference championship at some point in their careers.
Seven have won SEC championships. Four others won championships in other leagues. Three have won championships as a head coach in two different conferences. And the one man who has not won a conference title as a head coach, Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom, has been around championship football all of his life, as you will see below.
Here is a rundown of the 12 SEC coaches and their experience with championship football. I’m sure I may have missed a championship connection or two but you get the picture.
In fact, you could argue that this is the deepest lineup of coaches that the SEC has ever had. The early 60s has always been considered the golden age when the league had Bryant (Alabama), Dooley (Georgia), Vaught (Ole Miss), Jordan (Auburn), McLendon (LSU), Dickey (Tennessee), Graves (Florida) and Dodd (Georgia Tech). All are in the College Football Hall of Fame.
A generation or two from now, will this group compare favorably with them? Tell me what you think.
Nick Saban, Alabama: National championship (2003 at LSU); SEC championship (2001, 2003 at LSU); Mid-American Conference co-championship (1990 at Toledo).
Tommy Tuberville, Auburn: SEC championship (2004); SEC championship game (2000); assistant coach on Miami national championship teams in 1987, 1989, and 1991.
Bobby Petrino, Arkansas: Big East championship (2006 at Louisville); Conference USA champ (2004 at Louisville).
Urban Meyer, Florida: National championship (2006); SEC championship (2006); Mountain West championship (2004 at Utah).
Rich Brooks, Kentucky Pac-10 championship (1994 at Oregon); interim head coach on 1998 Atlanta Falcons, who went to the Super Bowl.
Mark Richt, Georgia: SEC championship (2002, 2005); SEC championship game (2003); assistant on Florida State national championship teams in 1993, 1999; assistant coach on nine ACC championship teams.
Les Miles, LSU: National championship (2007), SEC championship (2007); played on one Big Ten championship team at Michigan (1974); was an assistant coach on five Big Ten championship teams at Michigan.
Houston Nutt, Ole Miss: Ohio Valley championship (1995, 1996 at Murray State); SEC championship game (2002, 2006 at Arkansas).
Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State: Played on Alabama’s 1973 national championship team; assistant coach on Alabama’s national championship teams in 1978 and 1979; assistant coach (under Bobby Ross) on San Diego’s Super Bowl team in 1994.
Steve Spurrier, South Carolina: National championship (1996 at Florida); SEC championship (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000 at Florida); ACC championship (1989 at Duke);
Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee: National championship (1998); SEC championship (1997, 1998); SEC championship game (2001, 2004, 2007); played on Tennessee’s SEC championship team of 1969.
Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt: Southern Conference champion (1999, 2001 at Furman); defensive coordinator on five Southern Conference champions at Furman, including the 1988 Division I-AA national championship team.
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