Georgia coach Dennis Felton coveted Jodie Meeks as a prospect.

Meeks is from Norcross, Georgia, but he picked Kentucky over UGA.

“We wanted him very, very, very badly,” Felton said. “I always had tremendous respect for his fierce competitiveness and toughness and fight.”

Felton then had this observation.

“If he had a hole in his game, it was shooting from the perimeter,” Felton said. “He did start to turn the corner (as a shooter) in high school. But he didn’t exhibit the ability to shoot outside like now.”

Meeks is the SEC’s top scorer and 3-point shooter. And he made 10 of 15 treys against Tennessee.
 

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings has seen enough of Mississippi State jumping-jack Jarvis Varnado to pay him a high compliment.

“He’s probably the most prolific shot blocker in college basketball history,” Stallings said.

My first reaction: Stallings is crazy.

After doing some research, maybe Stallings isn’t so far off.

The SEC has been keeping shot blocking stats since 1984. No SEC player blocked more shots in a season than Varnado’s 157 last year. LSU’s Shaquille OoNeal blocked 157 in four fewer games in 1992. O’Neal also blocked 140 as a sophomore and 115 as a freshman.

Varnado (6-9, 203) has blocked a nation’s best 90 shots. That’s more than eight SEC teams. That’s double the #2 shot blocker in the SEC, Kentucky’s Perry Stevenson at 39.

And Varnado is on pace to shatter his mark from a year ago. he averaged 4.6 blocks per game last year. This year, he’s averaging 5.4.

He might indeed go down as the SEC’s top shot blocker ever.

Vanderbilt will see him up close tomorrow night in Starkville.

In today’s column:

ESPN’s Pat Forde changes his SEC favorite,

More on Jodie Meeks’ 54,

UK fans are paranoid,

ESPN hates everybody,

and Florida has replace Marreese Speight’s numbers, but not his presence.



Like the rest of us, sportswriter Pat Forde of ESPN.com is entitled to change his mind.

After one look at Kentucky versus Tennessee, he has.

Before this season, Forde picked Tennessee to win the SEC.

“I thought Tennessee was definitely the best team in the league,” Forde said.

But after Kentucky’s 90-72 win at Thompson-Boling Arena, Forde is going in a different direction.

Read the rest of this entry »

Before this season, SEC basketball coaches were split in their opinion on the impact moving the 3-point line back one foot would have on the game.

The results thus far: Another split decision.

South Carolina, LSU and Mississippi State are shooting a whole lot better from 3-point range.

Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Alabama are shooting a whole lot worse.

Overall, five SEC teams have hit the three better this season than last.

Why have some teams shot better? Why have some shot worse?

That depends on who you talk to.

Vanderbilt had the best 3-point shooting team in the SEC last year (.399). It ranks eighth thus far this season (.342).

“It’s hard to tell (the impact) from us because my team is not a good shooting team,” Vandy coach Kevin Stallings said.

The main reason Vandy’s accuracy has declined is the departure of Shan Foster, by far the best 3-point shooter in the SEC a year ago at 46.9 percent. Guard Alex Gordon was third in the league at 40.1 percent.

With Foster and Gordon gone, Vandy is attempting four fewer 3-point attempts per game (from 22.3 to 18.1) and hitting fewer.

You can point to personnel at Tennessee as well. The Vols lost two 3-point marksmen in Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith and the team accuracy has gone from 35.7 percent to 30.8 percent and slipping. Since a decent start, the Vols have hit about 27 percent from beyond the arc over the last nine games.

And instead of experienced seniors taking the 3-pointers, Tennessee has seen first-year players take the majority of long-range shots. Cameron Tatum has fired up 76, Renaldo Woolridge 59 and Scotty Hopson 41. Only Hopson (41.5 percent) has hit better than 33 percent. UT has three regulars hitting less than 27 percent; J.P. Prince has made 1 of 14.

Alabama lost its best outside shooter, Mykal Riley, and is last in the SEC at 29.6 percent from long-range.

While losing good shooters has affected Vandy, Tennessee and Alabama, LSU has the same cast of characters, but has found a way to be more effective from the perimeter. Perhaps that’s a result of better shot selection.

LSU has gone from making 32.2 percent to 38.8 percent. The number of attempts has been reduced from 20.1 to 15.5.

Rather than Marcus Thornton and Terry Martin jacking up threes, the Tigers have been more judicious when pulling the trigger.

It’s worth noting that the SEC’s top three 3-point shooting teams are attempting, collectively, 10.8 fewer long-range shots per game. USC has gone from 21.6 to 16.2. LSU has gone from 20.1 to 15.5 and Mississippi State has gone from 20.7 to 19.9.

Kentucky is one of the few teams attempting more threes than a year ago. That’s surprising considering the Wildcats lost Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford from last year’s team. Each fired up more than 150 treys and no returner tried more than 50.

Kentucky guard Jodie Meeks has made up for Bradley and Crawford. Meeks is on pace to attempt well over 250 treys. Last year’s attempts leader, Tennessee’s Chris Lofton, had 307 tries from down town.

Florida coach Billy Donovan noted that 3-point attempts are about the same as a year ago while the accuracy is down.

A longer three “will not deter teams from taking it, but it forces defenses to cover more area in the half court,” Donovan said. “It’s more difficult to pack it back in. … It’s helped with the spacing for good 3-point shooting teams.”

South Carolina coach Darrin Horn said adding a foot hasn’t been a major change to the game but it “separates the guys who can make the shot from the guys that might can make the shot, if you know what I mean.”

Georgia coach Dennis Felton said the arc change “hasn’t changed anything strategically. It doesn’t make any difference to the shooters. Maybe the fringe shooters don’t take as many 3-pointers.”

Tennessee has been among the SEC leaders in 3-point attempts since Bruce Pearl arrived four seasons ago. But even the Vols are taking two fewer threes a game.

Pearl said the longer three was a “double whammy” for Tennessee. The Vols lost their two best 3-point shooters and the shot became more difficult to make.

As for a change of strategy, Pearl said UT used to use more ball screens to get perimeter shooters open. Not anymore.

He also said UT’s inability to hit the outside shoot has alloweD opponents to double down on big men Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism.

Yet, when Tatum was struggling at Georgia, missing his first nine shots, Pearl didn’t want Tatum to become gun shy. Tatum hit a game-tYing 3-pointer late in the contest to help the Vols overcome a 10-point second-half deficit.

Has moving the 3-point line helped field goal defense?

Not really. Thus far, four SEC teams are playing better defense, five not as good and three are about the same.

Alabama seems to have benefited the most. The Crimson Tide leads the SEC in 3-point defense at .279, compared to .355 a year ago. Georgia is also holding foes to less than 30 percent from beyond the arc (.296).

LSU and South Carolina have better 3-point defense numbers.

Kentucky, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida are worse. UT has regressed the most, from .312 a year ago to .352.

Here’s a look at how SEC teams are shooting the three compared to last season.

 

FREE THROW

Only one SEC team is ranked in this week’s AP poll, Tennessee at #24.

The last time the SEC didn’t have a ranked team was March 1989.

No SEC team is ranked in the coaches’ poll, the first time that’s happened since the inception of the poll in 1991.

In today’s column:

How the SEC has benefited from the BCS…

How SEC title game losers have fared in bowls (surprisingly well)…

LSU’s weak basketball schedule tied to academics…

Freshman basketball players making a difference…

And Phillip Fulmer gets a new job.



Some SEC teams wouldn’t have been #1 without the BCS

The year after Urban Meyer was hired at Florida, a media friend told me Meyer would win multiple national championships at Florida.

I thought he was nuts. 

Turns out, he was right.

Last night Meyer captured his second national championship in three years, handing Oklahoma a fifth consecutive BCS loss.

Remember when former Auburn coach Pat Dye said the SEC wouldn’t win another national title if it expanded and went to divisional play?

Well, the SEC has won three in a row and seven since Dye’s dire prediction in 1992.

Read the rest of this entry »

Some news, notes and scuttlebutt on the Tennessee salary situation everyone is talking about, on the end of Steve Spurrier’s honeymoon at South Carolina, and on Urban Meyer’s views on undefeated teams.

Tennessee’s salary pool won’t reach $6 million

By the time Lane Kiffin completes his football staff, Tennessee will be the nation’s pace setter for assistant coaches’ salaries.

But the total amount paid to the football staff – including the head coach – will rank between third and fifth in the SEC, according to Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton, who I spoke with this week. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s too early to project how many SEC teams will make the NCAA Tournament field in men’s basketball.

After all, a year ago at this time, you would have said Kentucky had little chance. The Wildcats lost at home to Gardner-Webb and San Diego, but then went 12-4 in a watered down league to earn a postseason berth.

But based on early returns, the SEC hasn’t been very impressive on the court. Tennessee is the only team ranked in the Top 50 of the RPI, and the Vols are #25.

Florida is #58, followed by 67 Kentucky, 82 Vanderbilt, 87 Ole Miss and 88 Auburn. Ole Miss is sure to fall out of the Top 100 after losing point guard Chris Warren and two other perimeter starters.

That’s just six SEC teams in the Top 100.

That means six others are not in the Top 100, with Alabama at 220 despite a 7-3 record. LSU is 10-1 but only 120 in the RPI because of a weak schedule.

The SEC is ranked #7 among conferences, trailing the Big Ten, the Big East, the Pac-10, the ACC, the Big 12 and the Atlantic 10 (in no particular order).

The SEC is only 3-18 against teams in the Top 50 of the RPI. The wins: Tennessee over Georgetown, Auburn over George Washington and Kentucky over West Virginia.
           
While Tennessee has a win over ranked Marquette and Auburn has a nice victory against Virginia, Marquette and Virginia are not in the Top 50 of the RPI.

With the majority of non-conference play over in a week, it’s going to be hard for some SEC teams – and the conference as a whole – to climb out of this treacherous hole.



Only 4 Teams Have Clearly Improved

This marks the second consecutive season that the SEC is down.

In 2007, Florida won the national championship, Tennessee and Vanderbilt reached the Sweet 16 and eight teams won at least 20 games.

Last season, Florida didn’t make the NCAA field, only Tennessee reached the Sweet 16, and six teams won 20 games. Only Tennessee and Mississippi State were clearly better. Vanderbilt won four more games but had the same SEC record and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament by 20 points to Siena. Arkansas won two more games. Every other team was about the same or worse.

Entering SEC play, it appears Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina and LSU will be improved over last season. Auburn and Alabama might be better. The others will be about the same or worse.  
          


By The Numbers
 
Mississippi State leads the nation in blocked shots per game (10-2) and Bulldog Jarvis Varnado is first at 6.0 blocks per game. Kentucky is second in blocks (8.3) and LSU is fourth.
           
South Carolina is second in the country in steals per game (11.8) with Devon Downey #3 at 3.4 steals. Florida is eighth in steals (10.5).
           
Kentucky ‘s Jodie Meeks is the nation’s #6 scorer (24.1) and the Wildcats’ Patrick Patterson is fourth in field goal percentage (.685).
           
LSU is fifth in field goal defense (34.9) while Vanderbilt is 10th (36.0), Mississippi State 12th (36.2), Kentucky 16th (36.7) and Alabama 10th (37.0). Alabama is 12th in 3-point defense (26.9).
           
LSU is first in rebound margin (13.3) with Arkansas third (12.4).
           
Tennessee is eighth in scoring (84.1).
           
Florida and Tennessee are tied for 10th in assists (18.3).
           
Arkansas’ Michael Washington is 10th in rebounds per game (11.1).
           
Nick Calathes of Florida is fifth in assists (7.1).
           
 

Free Throws

Alabama has held seven opponents to less than 40 percent shooting.
 
Arkansas has started 8-1 three consecutive seasons; the Hogs were 9-1 entering the Oklahoma game December 30th.

Florida’s Alex Tyus has had a seven-game stretch in which he averaged 16.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and shot 65 percent from the field. He averaged 4.3 points and 2.6 rebounds as a freshman.

Jodie Meeks’ 46 points were the most by a Kentucky player since Dan Issel’s 47 in 1970. Meeks has the top three scoring games in the SEC this season.

Ole Miss has just nine healthy scholarship players, four of them guards.

Mississippi State sophomore guard Ravern Johnson has made more 3-pointers (27) than he attempted all of last season.

South Carolina (9-1) combined for just 28 wins the last two seasons.

Tennessee has started nine different players and had six different starting lineups.

Vanderbilt is 23-2 when junior guard Jermaine Beal scores in double figures. 

At about midseason, I realized the SEC was down in football.
           
My first hint was poor quarterback play. Eight teams started at least two quarterbacks, and three started three. Only three offenses in the league ranked among the top 45 in the nation and six rank among the bottom 25.
           
My second hint was the league’s non-conference record. The SEC was 6-9 against other BCS teams and suffered losses to Louisiana Tech and Wyoming.
            
My third hint was the coaching fires. Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State were so bad, they got rid of Tommy Tuberville, Phillip Fulmer and Sly Croom. Those three teams won 27 games in 2007. They won 14 this past season.
           
Moreover, only three teams were appreciably better this season than last: Alabama, Florida and Ole Miss.

LSU went from 12-2 and a national championship to 7-5. Tennessee went from 10 wins to five. Auburn went from nine wins to five. Mississippi State went from eight wins to four.

Seven teams have at least two fewer wins going into the bowl season.
           
When more than half the teams in your conference are worse than the year before, your league is down.
           
Based on records and rankings and quarterback play, I think the Big 12 and ACC were better than the SEC this season.
           
But the SEC, year in and year out the best football conference in the nation, can gain a measure of respect based on bowl performances. It’s got two matches against Big 12, Big Ten and ACC teams.
           
And with the right results, the SEC could win a third consecutive national title and finish 1-2 in the final polls for the second year in a row. Last year’s 1-2 finish was a first. The SEC had teams finish 2-3-5 in 1959, 1-4-5 in 1961, 2-3 in 1995 and 1-3 in 2006.
           
The SEC has won three consecutive AP national titles once (1978-80) and gone back-to-back three other times (1957-58, 1964-65, 2006-07). And from 2003 to present, the SEC has won three national crowns with a shot at a fourth, and had a 13-0 team that wasn’t given a chance to play for the crystal football.
           
Many times, the bowl result isn’t about matchups. It’s about which teams cares the most. Which team is excited about playing. Which team has something to prove.
           
Almost 10 years ago, Kansas State was left out of a BCS bowl and pouted all the way to a bowl defeat. In 2003, Tennessee felt it should have made a BCS bowl and played uninspired against Clemson in a Peach Bowl loss.
           
That’s what makes predicting bowls a tricky business.
           
Here’s my forecast on how the SEC will fare in bowl games.
           


Music City: Boston College (9-4) v. Vanderbilt (6-6)
           
Boston College played for the ACC title. The Eagles have been the winningest program in the ACC over the past five years. Vanderbilt had a strong 5-0 start, but limped to the finish line, losing six of seven, with defeats to two four-win teams — Mississippi State and Duke. The Commodores have the SEC’s worst offense and fourth-worst defense.

Boston College 27-13.
           


Chick Fil A Bowl: Georgia Tech (9-3) v. LSU (7-5)
           
In two games against those overrated SEC defenses, Georgia Tech averaged 41.5 points and over 420 rushing yards. The Yellow Jackets scored 21 or fewer points in five ACC games. LSU appeared to pack it in after an overtime loss to Alabama, allowing 31 points to Troy, Ole Miss and Arkansas. Plus, the Tigers will start a true freshman quarterback. LSU has more talent, Tech more desire.

Georgia Tech 38-28.
           


Outback Bowl: Iowa (8-4) v. South Carolina (7-5)
           
The Hawkeyes’ Shonn Greene won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. Iowa won five of its last six, including a huge upset over Penn State. All four losses were by five or fewer points. The Gamecocks allowed 87 points in their last two games and their top tackler, safety Emmanuel Cook, is academically ineligible. Steve Spurrier questioned the desire of some players down the stretch.

Iowa 24-20.
           


Capital One Bowl: Michigan State (9-3) v. Georgia (9-3)
           
The Spartans’ Javon Ringer was a Doak Walker finalist. But MSU lost to Ohio State and Penn State by a combined 94-25. This might be the last game for Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno. Georgia went from preseason No. 1 to out of the top 15. The Bulldogs want to make up for a disappointing regular season.

Georgia 34-20.
           


Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech (11-1) v. Ole Miss (8-4)
           
Will the 7th-ranked Red Raiders and be down about not going to a BCS bowl? Or will Mike Leach and Graham Harrell be determined to ring up 40 against an SEC team? The Rebels are on a roll, having won five straight. Ole Miss had the SEC’s worst pass defense until playing Mississippi State. The last time the Red Raiders played an SEC team in a bowl, Alabama shut down Leach’s attack (13-10).

Texas Tech 34-30.
           


Liberty Bowl: East Carolina (9-4) v. Kentucky (6-6)
           
The Pirates were resilient in winning Conference USA over high-powered Tulsa. Coach Skip Holtz’s team opened the season with impressive wins over Virginia Tech and West Virginia before losing three straight, only to regroup. Kentucky went from the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense to the 40s. Losing athletic Randall Cobb will hurt an already inept offense.

East Carolina 24-17.
           


Sugar Bowl: Utah (12-0) v. Alabama (12-1)
           
Four years removed from Urban Meyer, the Utes racked up a terrific season, led by quarterback Brian Johnson. Utah beat two 10-win teams (TCU and BYU), a team that beat Southern Cal (Oregon State), an eight-win team (Air Force) and a team that’s already won a bowl game (Colorado State). Alabama won’t let losing the SEC title game deter from a marvelous season. The Tide should be able to power through Utah’s defense.

Alabama 27-17.
           


BCS Championship Game: Oklahoma (12-1) v. Florida (12-1)
           
Oklahoma has a fantastic team. It has scored at least 60 points in five straight games. It scored at least 50 in four others. It beat two 10-win teams in non-conference (Cincinnati and TCU). Its defense is much better than the numbers suggest because many of the points allowed have come with the game no longer in doubt. Florida led the SEC in scoring with 44 points per game. Oklahoma has faced better passing attacks, but not a team with Florida’s overall offensive speed.

The Gators went from worst to first in the SEC in pass-defense efficiency. Oklahoma is without its best running back. Florida’s Percy Harvin could play but might not be 100 percent. You won’t find a better matchup of quarterbacks. Both offenses are explosive, both defenses solid. Florida gets the nod on special teams.

Florida 35-31.

Should an assistant coach who has taken a head coaching job with another school stay with his former team through the bowl game?
           
Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen has decided to coach the Gators in the national championship game against Oklahoma on January 8th, rather than take the controls at Mississippi State in mid-December.
           
LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini coached the Tigers in the national championship game last year against Ohio State, rather than jump right away to Nebraska.
           
But Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe left the Vols before the national title game to coach Ole Miss in December 1998.
           
What’s the best route to take?
           
Each situation is different.
           
Cutcliffe was hired by Ole Miss in early December. The Rebels were headed to a bowl game after Tommy Tuberville exited for Auburn. So, Cutcliffe left Knoxville to coach the Rebels for two weeks in December to prepare for a bowl game. That gave him a jump on preparing for his first season in Oxford.
           
In the case of Mullen, Mississippi State is not going to a bowl.
           
In the case of Pellini last season, Nebraska was not bowl bound.
           
So the advantage of Mullen and Pellini taking over immediately at their new schools was minimized.
           
You can still assemble a staff and do some recruiting while helping your former team prepare for a major bowl. Remember, much of the bowl season is a dead period in recruiting.
           
But if you’re a fan of Mississippi State, are you upset that your newly hired coach is coaching another team until January? Do you feel he’s getting behind on recruiting? Are you bothered that he’s wearing two hats instead of your favorite team’s hat?
           
Or, does the possibility of your new coach winning a national championship (in the case of Mullen, a second national title) further enhance his credentials?
           
If your new coach is on the national stage for a few weeks, if he’s winning another championship, maybe it’s worth the wait. Maybe it helps recruiting in the long run. And maybe it helps your current players buy in just a little bit more.
 


Tennessee’s Hits Sacrifice Fly With New Hire
 
           
ESPN analyst Jim Donnan isn’t fond of successful coaches being fired.
           
Maybe that’s because of the way he got axed at Georgia. Donnan won 35 games and all four bowls in his final four seasons with the Bulldogs, only to be fired.
           
Donnan said he has a great deal of respect for former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, and Donnan said UT athletic director Mike Hamilton better not hit a single, double, triple or home run with Fulmer’s replacement. He better hit a grand slam, Donnan told a quarterback club last month.
           
Asked if UT hit a grand slam by hiring Lane Kiffin, Donnan said: “It was a sacrifice fly.”
           
Bringing Monte Kiffin as the defensive coordinator ups the swing to a double, Donnan said.
           
Donnan, like many others, does not believe Tennessee or Auburn made an upgrade in coaching.
           
Time will tell. But nowadays, coaches don’t get as much time as they used to. Two decades ago, a coach got five years to build his program. That went to four. Then to three with the ousters of Ron Zook and Ty Willingham and Ed Orgeron, among others.
           
Then Army, of all places, fired a coach after TWO seasons.
             


New Coach, Scheme Can Help A Quarterback
 
It will be hard for Monte Kiffin to match the defensive production at Tennessee of former coordinator John Chavis, just as it will be hard for Chizik to make the defensive numbers at Auburn under Tuberville.
           
Both programs need an offensive spark, not a defensive overhaul.
           
Before last season, Auburn and Tennessee hired offensive coordinators from smaller schools to revamp offenses that had been in place for years. The experiment in both cases was a miserable failure.
           
Much of the blame was placed on poor quarterback play. But that doesn’t mean the quarterbacks at Auburn and Tennessee can’t be productive with a different coach and a different system.
           
For example, Auburn’s Al Borges help turn Jason Campbell into a first-round draft pick in 2004.
           
David Cutcliffe tutored Erik Ainge into two solid seasons at Tennessee. Ainge was drafted by the Jets and made the team.
           
Shane Mathews was buried on the depth chart at Florida before Steve Spurrier tutored him into being the two-time SEC Player of the Year.
           
Charlie Weiss turned Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn into a first-round pick.
           
Norm Chow turned USC’s Carson Palmer into a Heisman Trophy winner.
           
Can Chizik get production out of Kodi Burns or Chris Todd?
           
Can Lane Kiffin mold Jonathan Crompton, Nick Stephens or B.J. Coleman into a successful player?
           
That will be the key to immediate turnarounds at both Auburn and Tennessee. 

Few would argue that the SEC is traditionally better in football than basketball.

Even fewer would argue that the SEC traditionally has better football coaches than basketball coaches.

Going into this past football season, five SEC football coaches have won a national championship.

One SEC basketball coach had won a national championship.

And the pay scale is tilted heavily in favor of football.

The average annual pay for the top seven SEC football coaches entering this season was more than $3 million.

Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Meyer all make over $3.5 million. Mark
Richt and Bobby Petrino each make over $2.8 million. Phillip Fulmer
averaged $3 million but his successor, Lane Kiffin, comes in making $2
million the first year. Tommy Tuberville made $2.8 million last year.

The average annual pay for the top seven SEC basketball coaches is less
than $2 million. Only Billy Donovan, Billy Gillispie and Bruce Pearl
make over $2 million. In fact, Donovan is the only hoops coach who
ranks among the top eight of football salaries.

We’re going to compare the football and basketball coaches at each SEC
school. For the purpose of this exercise, we’ll take the football coach
from this past season and last season’s basketball coach.

Here’s a look:



Alabama: Saban just won
national coach of the year honors after guiding Alabama to a 12-0
record before losing the SEC Championship. He won two SEC titles and a
national championship at LSU. He is one of the top five coaches in
college football.

Gottfried has had two winning SEC records in 10 years. He has won just
12 SEC games in the past two years combined. He has one SEC title and
he’s on the hot seat.

Advantage: Football.



Auburn: Tommy Tuberville won or
shared the West Division four times in five years, captured one SEC
title and turned in a 13-0 season. Against the other elite SEC teams,
he had the best record of any SEC coach over the past eight years.

Jeff Lebo has had three 4-12 SEC records in four years. He hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament and he’s clearly on the hot seat.

Advantage: Football



Arkansas: Bobby Petrino went
5-7 in his first year with the Hogs, inheriting a weak team from
Houston Nutt. But Petrino did finish strong, beating LSU, and he won 41
games in four years at Louisville.

John Pelphrey was 23-12 in his first year at Arkansas and won an NCAA
tourney game with a talented roster. He made the NCAA field once in
five years at South Alabama. 

Advantage: Football.



Florida: Meyer has won two SEC
titles and a national championship. He was successful at Bowling Green
and Utah before going to Florida. He could win his second national
crown in three years.

Donovan has won two national championships. He has won 20 games 10
years in a row and had a streak of nine consecutive NCAA Tournament
appearances snapped last season.

Advantage: Push.



Georgia: Mark Richt has won two
SEC Championships, was No. 2 in the nation in 2007 and had a streak of
four straight seasons in the top 10. No current SEC coach has achieved
that.

Dennis Felton’s job was on jeopardy until the Bulldogs (4-12 in SEC
play) won the SEC Tournament and made the NCAA field for the first
time. But Felton remains in trouble if his team doesn’t do well this
season.

Advantage: Football.



Kentucky: Rich Brooks guided
the Wildcats to three straight bowls for the first time since 1949-51
when a coach named Bear Bryant patrolled the sidelines in Lexington.
Brooks also had back-to-back eight-win seasons.

Gillispie had great success at UTEP and Texas A&M, orchestrating
remarkable turnarounds. In his first year, Kentucky, after losing at
home to Gardner Webb and San Diego, went 12-4 in the SEC.

Advantage: Basketball.



LSU: Les Miles won 34 games, a
national title and an SEC Championship in his first three seasons. The
Tigers slumped to 7-5 this past season.

John Brady took the Tigers to the 2006 Final Four but he got fired two
seasons later after his team had back-to-back SEC records of 5-11 and
6-10.

Advantage: Football.



Ole Miss: Houston Nutt did a
terrific job in his first season at Ole Miss, guiding the Rebels to an
8-4 record, the Cotton Bowl and the lone victory this season over
top-ranked Florida. Ole Miss won six of its last seven games.

Andy Kennedy was named SEC Coach of the Year his rookie season in
Oxford, but the Rebels didn’t make the NCAA Tournament and he is two
games under .500 in his first two seasons at Ole Miss.

Advantage: Football



Mississippi State: Sly Croom
was the 2007 SEC Coach of the Year when his Bulldogs won eight games,
but his team dropped to four wins and he resigned under fire. Croom was
20 games under .500 in five seasons.

Rick Stansbury is one of the SEC’s most underrated coaches. Folks, it’s
not easy to recruit to Starkville. Stansbury has been to five NCAA
tournaments in the past seven years and he’s won or shared the West
Division four times in 10 seasons as head coach.

Advantage: Basketball



South Carolina

Steve Spurrier is 28-21 and four games below .500 in SEC play in four
years at South Carolina. But his body of work is impressive, especially
at Florida and at Duke. He’s not the coach he used to be, but his teams
are still capable of pulling big upsets.

Dave Odom failed to have a winning SEC record in seven seasons at the
Gamecocks coach. He won two NIT titles but got into the NCAA field only
once.

Advantage: Football



Tennessee: Phillip Fulmer won
two SEC titles and a national championship, but he went 10 years
without either, and after a second losing season in four years, he was
forced out. He was 100 games over .500, no small accomplishment in the
SEC.

Bruce Pearl has done a terrific job in three seasons. He won the SEC
regular-season outright for the first time in 41 years, he won the 2006
East Division over eventual national champion Florida, and he’s
finished ahead of Kentucky three straight seasons. Pearl still has a
job. Fulmer doesn’t.

Advantage: Basketball



Vanderbilt: Bobby Johnson is
recognized as one of the SEC’s better coaches. You wonder how many
people could win as many games at Vanderbilt as he has. Yet, in seven
years, Johnson has yet to go .500 in SEC play, and if Vandy doesn’t win
its bowl game, it will finish with a losing record for the 26th
consecutive year.

Kevin Stallings went to one NCAA Tournament in his first seven seasons
in Nashville, but the Commodores have done better of late, making the
Sweet 16 in 2004 and 2007.

Advantage: Basketball



If you’re keeping score, that’s 7-4-1 in favor of football — and a couple of those nods in basketball are debatable.