The SEC's streak of four straight national championships was broken in 2023, but the conference enters 2024 looking stronger than ever. That's due in large part to the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, two of college football's premier programs that now officially call the SEC their home as of Monday.
The Longhorns and Sooners also bolster the SEC's litany of talented coaches. Even with Nick Saban finally hanging up the headset after an illustrious 17 years at Alabama, the SEC boasts some of the sport's top minds and most successful helmsmen.
Three of the top five names in CBS Sports' Power Four college coach rankings now reside in the SEC, including Texas' Steve Sarkisian. Kalen DeBoer's move to Alabama gives the SEC four names in the top 10, more than any other power conference in the nation. In total, half of the SEC's now 16 coaches made CBS Sports' top 25.
That coaching depth is why the SEC doesn't look like it's anywhere close to surrendering its position as one of college football's preeminent conferences. The league is set to flourish with the expanded College Football Playoff; Texas and Oklahoma multiply that prestige.
With the Longhorns and Sooners now in the fold, let's take a look at how the SEC's coaches stack up as voted by the CBS Sports and 247Sports college football staff.
2024 SEC Coach Rankings
| 1 |  |
| Kirby Smart (1 overall): There's a huge power vacuum left following Nick Saban's retirement and Smart, a former Saban disciple, is first in line to fill it. Few individuals are as close at this point, given Smart's back-to-back national titles from 2021-22. The Bulldogs are a College Football Playoff regular under Smart and won't be going anywhere given how adept he is at stacking talent -- both from the high school and transfer portal ranks. Last year: 2 in the SEC | |
| 2 |  |
| Brian Kelly (4 overall): Maybe Kelly's LSU tenure hasn't gone exactly to plan. The Tigers haven't been bad by any stretch of the imagination -- they're one of just four SEC programs with at least 20 wins over the past two seasons -- but Kelly set his eyes on championships when making the move to Baton Rouge, and those have yet to materialize. There's also the sense that LSU fell well short of its potential last year, going 9-3 in the regular season and finishing tied for second in the SEC West despite fielding a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in Jayden Daniels. Still, Kelly's already got an SEC West title under his belt and has proven that he can compete for national titles before. LSU certainly affords him the resources to return to that level, especially with an expanded playoff increasing opportunity. Last year: 3 in the SEC | |
| 3 |  |
| Steve Sarkisian (5 overall): Texas looks like it's ready to hit the ground running upon joining the SEC. The Longhorns have steadily grown each year under Sarkisian, and it all culminated in a Big 12 title and College Football Playoff appearance in 2023. With quarterback Quinn Ewers back to lead the charge and an impressive transfer haul filling the gaps on a roster already laden with tremendous talent, the Longhorns have national title upside entering the 2024 season. A spot in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game is the expectation, at the very least. Last year: N/A in the SEC | |
| 4 |  |
| Kalen DeBoer (7 overall): Another newcomer to the SEC, though he's filling a position quite familiar to the conference, DeBoer is stepping into some massive shoes. Following Saban isn't an easy task. Following Saban as the SEC adds two blue bloods in Texas and Oklahoma magnifies the challenge. DeBoer seems more than up to it, at least. He's only won fewer than 10 games in a full season as a head coach once in his career (Fresno State went 9-3 in 2021). In just two seasons at Washington, he won 25 games and led the Huskies to their first College Football Playoff National Championship appearance. Now, he has the keys to a premier college football team. Last year: N/A in the SEC | |
| 5 |  |
| Lane Kiffin (14 overall): Kiffin's never won a division title, but there's no denying the work that he's done with Ole Miss thus far. In 2021, he led the Rebels to their first 10-win regular season in program history. For an encore, Ole Miss won 11 games for the first time ever in 2023. Now, there's significant buzz that the Rebels will occupy one of the expanded CFP spots after a mighty portal haul that brought multiple blue-chip transfer prospects to Oxford. Whether Ole Miss can finally break through under Kiffin and compete against the Georgias of the world remains to be seen. Last year: 4 in the SEC | |
| 6 |  |
| Mark Stoops (20 overall): Stoops has settled into a comfortable groove at Kentucky. The Wildcats will always make a bowl game and sometimes achieve even more. Stoops has two 10-win seasons in the last six years and hasn't had a losing record, outside of the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, since 2015. It is hard to envision the Wildcats competing for much more. That isn't necessarily an indictment of Stoops. He's done a great job winning at a program that hasn't so much as made it to an SEC Championship Game since the conference split into divisions. Last year: 6 in the SEC | |
| 7 |  |
| Eli Drinkwitz (21 overall): After a few mediocre seasons that put Drinkwitz teetering near the hot seat, Missouri changed its outlook in a major way with an 11-win effort in 2023. The cherry on top was a win against Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers could be capable of even more this season. Quarterback Brady Cook and surefire future first-round NFL Draft pick, WR Luther Burden, are back as the SEC's top QB-WR duo. Whether Drinkwitz can consistently win at a high level remains to be seen, but there's CFP upside with this team. Last year: 12 in the SEC | |
| 8 |  |
| Josh Heupel (23 overall): It is a bit odd to see Heupel behind Stoops and Drinkwitz in these rankings considering he's never lost to Kentucky and is 2-1 against Missouri with an overall scoring advantage of 135-84. Maybe 2023 was a step back after an explosive 2022, but Heupel is tied with Kelly for second-most wins over the last two years among returning SEC coaches. This year should see a return to form for the Vols' offense, ending with perhaps even a playoff berth if things go exceedingly well. Last year: 5 in the SEC | |
| 9 |  |
| Mike Elko (32 overall): Following Texas A&M's whirlwind coaching search, Elko has quietly set about rebuilding the roster and getting his team ready for a more rigorous SEC schedule. There's reason to believe that the Aggies could outperform expectations in Year 1. Elko only has two years of head coaching experience under his belt but took Duke to a 9-4 record -- its highest win total since 2013 -- during his debut. He followed that up with a 7-5 performance in 2023 despite the fact that three separate Duke quarterbacks dealt with injuries at various points. The man can coach, and he has every chance to make some waves. Last year: N/A in the SEC | |
| 10 |  |
| Hugh Freeze (33 overall): Freeze's first year on The Plains was a bit of a dud, but most knew that at least a slight rebuild was in order given the roster he inherited. The former Ole Miss boss has set out to improve the talent across the board -- particularly along the lines of scrimmage -- and has surrounded incumbent quarterback Payton Thorne with enough talent to improve upon last year's six-win total. Thorne himself may be a bit of limiting factor, but Freeze's teams have always improved between his first and second years. No reason to think 2024 will be different. Last year: 8 in the SEC | |
| 11 |  |
| Brent Venables (34 overall): Brent Venables had to flip the culture and instill his own vision upon arriving in Norman, so the Sooners went through some growing pains in 2022. With a year of work, we saw improvement across the board: 10 wins, a 7-2 record in the Big 12 and a huge leap in every major defensive statistic. It's hard to pin exactly how this team will look in its inaugural SEC campaign, especially with a completely rebuilt offensive line protecting a first-year starting QB in Jackson Arnold, but the pieces are there to leave an impression. Last year: N/A in the SEC | |
| 12 |  |
| Shane Beamer (46 overall): Beamer's proven that he can win against the best, evidenced by the Gamecocks' close in 2022 that saw them beat a pair of top-10 teams in Tennessee and Clemson. That makes 2023's downturn way more surprising. South Carolina failed to make a bowl for the first time under Beamer and fell to 5-7 with just three wins in SEC play. Last year: 9 in the SEC | |
| 13 |  |
| Billy Napier (47 overall): The Gators are 11-14 with six total SEC wins in two years under Napier. That includes a decrease in wins between the first and second years. Florida was still making mistakes in Year 2 that you'd only expect from a team in its first few games under a new coach. Though the Gators could be a lot better in 2024, an absolutely brutal schedule may mean no actual improvement to the record. Last year: 11 in the SEC | |
| 14 |  |
| Sam Pittman (58 overall): There's a sense that Pittman's Arkansas glory days are far behind him. It's been downhill since that 9-4 breakout in 2022. Last season represented an entirely new low: the Hawgs dropped all the way to 4-8 with a 1-7 mark in SEC play, the worst conference effort since Pittman took over. Pittman did overhaul his staff, which includes return of Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator, in an effort to spark some sort of revival, but no improvement could spell disastrous results. Last year: 10 in the SEC | |
| 15 |  |
| Clark Lea (63 overall): Lea has arguably the hardest job at the power-conference level, and things certainly aren't getting easier with Texas and Oklahoma in the fold. Lea should be applauded for dragging the Commodores to five wins in 2022, though the 2-10 record in each of the other two years of his tenure is more the norm around Nashville. Lea's a good coach with a proven track record as an assistant, but it's a tough situation. Last year: 13 in the SEC | |
| 16 |  |
| Jeff Lebby (66 overall): Mississippi State is on its third coach in less than two years following Mike Leach's death. His successor, Zach Arnett, didn't even make it a full season before he was ousted. Now, Lebby, a 40-year first-time coach, inherits a depleted roster set amidst some difficult circumstances. Given Lebby's background as a disciple of Heupel and Kiffin, the Bulldogs should at least be exciting to watch offensively. There's no telling what their identity will be or how much Lebby can turn things around. This is a serious rebuild. Positive results may take time. Last year: N/A in the SEC | |
