Finebaum: Miles Ranked in the middle among SEC Coaches

http://www.finebaum.com/blog/

I don't understand how he ranked Fulmer ahead of Miles. Other than that, an interesting blog.


The last bowl games have been played and the national champions crowned. The last poll has been released. Well, except, this one.

This bi-annual poll ranks the SEC head coaches on a number of factors, from a look back to an examination of the present to a projection of the future. It is not solely based on the most recent season, although naturally that has some sway. Here is the best and worst of the SEC:

-- 1. Steve Spurrier (South Carolina): Spurrier inherited a mess and was able to will the Gamecocks into a bowl game. Losing the last two games has taken some of the luster off the season. The Vegas experts had South Carolina's win total at 5½ and remarkably he won 7. Still, Spurrier is the best in the SEC -- just like four years ago when he left for the NFL.

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-- 2. Mark Richt (Georgia): The season ended poorly but notching his second SEC title in five years cannot be overlooked. Richt is a tremendous football coach and also a great recruiter.

-- 3. Tommy Tuberville (Auburn): The bowl game was embarrassing. OK now, get over it. Beating his two biggest rivals down the stretch is nothing to "thumb" your nose at. Tuberville's record the last two years is a very impressive 22-3 and his solid recruiting indicates the future remains bright.

-- 4. Phillip Fulmer (Tennessee): The dean of SEC coaches had the worst year of his career. The hiring of David Cutcliffe to run the offense bordered on both desperation and brilliance and most objective observers believe Fulmer will bring this program back quickly.

-- 5. Urban Meyer (Florida): All things considered, it wasn't a bad first year for Meyer. He got schooled by Alabama, LSU and South Carolina, but wins over Georgia and Florida State and in the Outback Bowl helped to mask the early pain. Meyer is also cleaning up in recruiting with a mind-boggling class.

-- 6. Les Miles (LSU): Miles took enormous heat throughout the season but showed amazing resiliency by leading the Tigers to an 11-2 season and No. 6 finish in the AP poll. Considering the talent left behind by Nick Saban, some LSU fans believe he underachieved.

-- 7. Mike Shula (Alabama): The biggest win of the season wasn't Florida or Tennessee, but beating expectations. Shula is riding high off a 10-2 mark and No. 8 poll finish but questions still dog him concerning his offensive philosophy and his inability to beat Auburn. Still, give Shula credit for staying the course.

-- 8. Houston Nutt (Arkansas): Nutt faces a make or break season in Fayetteville. Most of the tough games are on Arkansas soil. Unfortunately, those games include tilts with Southern Cal, Alabama, Tennessee and LSU, with road games against Auburn and South Carolina. Bottom line: Nutt should have taken the Nebraska job two years ago.

-- 9. Bobby Johnson (Vanderbilt): Johnson was a blocked field goal away from a bowl game and possibly SEC Coach of the Year honors. With good talent, this guy could be one of the league's upper echelon coaches.

-- 10. Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State): There is no getting around the fact that Croom has been a big disappointment in his first two years. The win against Ole Miss was huge. But it was against Ole Miss. Croom took over a downtrodden program, but progress must be shown in the next two years.

-- 11. Rich Brooks (Kentucky): The biggest upset in the SEC this year was that Brooks kept his job. It will be a bigger upset if he sees the end of the 2006 season.

-- 12. Ed Orgeron (Ole Miss): After one season, this is looking like one of the most bizarre hirings in SEC history. Ole Miss officials were looking for a big turnaround after firing Cutcliffe and they got it. Things changed dramatically for the worse.

Contact Paul Finebaum at:

[email protected]

His column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Mobile Register

 

I still think fulmer is a bad coach despite his record and titles.

 

I think Fulmer has completely lost it at Tenn and runs a posterchild program for thugs and criminals. However, he does have an excellent record even though this past year was pretty bad.

I pretty much agree with these rankings except Miles should be about 4th or 5th.

 

It is really too early to compare Miles to some of the other coaches who have been in the league for awhile.

And based on the list, Miles really has no where to go but up.

Fulmer actually had the best defensive unit that he has had in the last 4 years. Next year may be just as ugly.

Meanwhile, Urban Meyer is still riding the media wave. He will get taken behind the barn several times next year.

 

If he based on just what every coach in the SEC accomplished last season, then the list should have looked like this:

1. Mark Richt, Did well with top 10 talent
2. Steve Spurrier, good recruiting helped, along with good talent returning.
3. Tommy Tuberville, in a rebuidling year held thier own.
4. Les Miles Top 5 talent and finished well, if not for the effects of the storms may have been in the BCS CG.
5. Mike Shula, kept Bama going in the right direction, lack of depth finished Bama off.
6. Urban Meyer, finished well.
7. Houston Nutt, early season blues, turned into next season rebuilding well under way.
8. Phillip Fulmer, took a top 15 talent team and had a losing season? How does Finebaum have him in the top 5?
9. Bobby Johnson, Vandy made some noise, but in the ned lack of depth and talent pulled them back to earth.
10. Sylvester Croom, still rebuilding
11. Rich Brooks, very hard to win at Ky and being making a bad choice at coach hurts more (he does have very good ast. coaches).
12. Ed Orgeron talk about taking a team in the worng direction.

 

well he is still one of only two SEC coaches to lead their team to a NC--that does (and should) carry a lot of weight.

 

One of three...

Aubarn won the People's National Championship remember?

 

Auburn also won the Opelika High School Junior Times NC

Tuberville needs to actually win back to back 10 win seasons before I believe the idiot is a 'great' coach.

Richt, Spurrier, Fulmer have all done that and winning 10 games is a big deal

 

why all the love for Spurrier?

I have no doubts that he WILL turn SC into a powerhouse, but I can't call him the best until he does...

He won 7 games, whereas Holtz won 6, and would have won 7 if he was given the chance to play his bowl...

 

The question is who is the best coach right now. Just because Spurrier hasn't turned USC into a NC doesn't mean he didn't do the best job OR isn't the best coach. What he did and how he did it at UF shouldn't be forgotten. He was still kicking ass in 2001 when he left which is just 4 years ago.

I personally would take Spurrier over anyone else in the SEC.

Salty used to mock me for kissing his ass so much but that douch left the site