Best and Worst of the Divisional Era.

The “Ears Whitworth” of each SEC school, revealed!

     War Eagle, everybody! This morning, I had planned to go over the Auburn offense, from the past season. Quite honestly, that was a project with a little glory in the center, sandwiched between two pretty awful, stale bread crusts. Instead, I decided to steal an idea, and avoid that topic for a week.

     Who have been the best, and worst coaches in the SEC? What I’ll do today is look at each school, during the past 25 years. This idea came from a day of driving around the Tragic City, and listening to sports-talk radio. The guys on the WJOX Roundtable were contemplating this very concept, and I was glued! Their idea was who was each team’s worst, in the modern era. Credit where it is due. Today, I’ll look at the SEC since the league split into divisions, more than 25 years ago.

     My ground rules are as follows. First, we have a couple of teams that have only been in the league the past 5 years, Missouri and Texas A&M. What we’ll do here is just look at their overall record, and the few games each school played against the SEC in pre-SEC days. Secondly, what should I do about coaches overlap an earlier era? It’s quite unfair, for instance, to judge Pat Dye entirely upon only the 1992 season, where he finished 5-5-1, 2-5-1 in the SEC. So, I will include the entire career of any coach that was still coaching in the SEC at the start of the 1992 season.

     We will start with Missouri. Since 1992, the best coach here is easily Gary Pinkel, who won 117 times, vs. 73 losses. Against current SEC schools, Pinkel was 26-19. Pinkel coached Mizzou for 15 seasons, between 2001 and 2015, before retiring for health reasons. The worst coach was Bob Stull, who served from 1989 thru 1993. Stull won just 15 games in 5 seasons, lost 38 and tied 2. Against modern-day SEC schools, Stull was 0-2, with both losses coming to Texas A&M.

     The best and brightest at Vanderbilt was James Franklin, who served just 3 seasons in Nashville before being hired away by Penn State. Franklin was at Vandy from 2001 thru 2003, and the Commodores finished with 24 wins and 15 losses overall. In the SEC, Franklin was 11-13. The worst of the modern era, and there have been a number of losers in Vanderbilt over the years, was Robbie Caldwell, who served just a single season in 2010, taking over for Bobby Johnson, who resigned abruptly in the summer of that year. Caldwell was 2-10, with wins only over Ole Miss and Wake Forest. Caldwell went 1-7 in the SEC. Then there was coach Rod Dowhower, in 1995-1996. Dowhower had a better overall record at 4-18, but was only 1-15 in SEC play, with a lone win over Kentucky in 1995.

     At Kentucky, Rich Brooks had the best overall record of any coach in the past quarter century. Brooks took over a bad, probation-laden team in 2003, and his tenure ended with 4 straight bowl teams. Brooks was 39-47, over his 7 seasons in Lexington, before retiring. That included a 16-40 record in the SEC. The worst Kentucky overall coaching record of the era belongs to Bill Curry, who went 26-52 over 7 seasons. Curry was 14-40 against current SEC teams.

     South Carolina was best under Steve Spurrier, who coached 10 and a half seasons in Columbia. The visored one finished with 86 wins and 49 losses. Spurrier was 29-28 in SEC play. The worst record would go to Spurrier’s replacement, interim coach Shawn Elliot. Elliot managed just 1 win and 5 losses, including 1-3 against SEC foes.

     Georgia’s best coach in the past 25 seasons has been Mark Richt, who tallied a 145-51 record, including 83-37 in the SEC. Ray Goff came in last, with 46 wins, 34 losses and a tie. Goff was 26-29 against SEC teams.

     At Tennessee, interim coach Jim Chaney was perfect at the end of 2012, with a 1-0 record after coach Derek Dooley was fired. That win was over Kentucky, so Chaney was also 1-0 in the SEC. Dooley was easily the worst Vol coach of the period, finishing with 15 wins and 21 losses over 3 seasons. He was the first Tennessee coach to finish with a losing record since the 1930s. Dooley was 4-19 in SEC play.

     In a photo-finish, Steve Spurrier was slightly better than Urban Meyer, at Florida. Spurrier finished his Florida career with 122 wins, 27 losses and a tie. His SEC mark was 87-12 in Gainesville. Charlie Strong takes the title for the worst coach at Florida, with a 0-1 record in 2004, as the interim coach after Ron Zook was fired. That was a bowl loss, out of conference.

     The Texas A&M Aggies were best under coach R. C. Slocum, for 14 seasons. Slocum compiled a 123-47-2 record, before being fired in favor of Dennis Franchione. Slocum was 12-4 vs. current SEC teams. Gary Darnell was the interim coach at the end of the 2007 season, and he finished 0-1.

     Harold Hunter finishes as the top LSU coach, 1-0 with a big win over Arkansas as the interim coach at the end of the 1999 season. He replaced Gary Dinardo, who had been fired. The worst coach since the divisional split was Curly Hallman, who finished with 16 wins and 28 losses in 4 seasons. Hallman was 10-25 vs. current SEC schools.

     At Arkansas, Bobby Petrino stands at the top of the pile, before he fell off his motorcycle and was fired. Petrino finished with 34 wins and 17 losses, including a 17-15 SEC record. The worst of the Razorbacks was intirim coach John L. Smith, who had a 4-8 record in 2012 after Petrino was jettisoned. Smith was 2-6 in the SEC.

     The best at Mississippi State is the only coach in the last 25 years to have a winning overall record, Dan Mullen. In 8 seasons, Mullen is 55-35, including 29-35 in the SEC. Sylvester Croom was the worst, with a 21-38 record. Croom was just 10-30 in the SEC.

     At Ole Miss, Hugh Freeze has the best record, currently at 39-25. Freeze is 19-21 in the SEC. Ed Orgeron takes last place, with a 10-25 record. Coach O was just 4-20 in SEC play.

     At Alabama, there is little debate. Nick Saban has been their top coach all-time, edging out even Bear Bryant. Saban has 113 wins at Alabama against only 18 losses. He has a 67-12 record against the SEC. Mike Shula finishes in the dumper, with just an official record of 10-23, 7-19 in the SEC.

     At Auburn, the best record goes to Terry Bowden, who finished 47-17-1. Bowden was 30-15-1 in the SEC. In the cellar was Gene Chizik. Mean Gene was 33-19 overall, with a 16-17 SEC record. Chizik was the first Auburn coach to finish with a losing SEC record since Earl Brown, some 70-odd years ago.

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