Where does OU's Brent Venables fit?

Nick Saban retired as SEC dean after 17 seasons and six national championships at Alabama.

Georgia’s Kirby Smart, one of Saban’s brightest students, is now the conference’s top coach, but Smart is not the SEC’s longest-serving head coach.

That title belongs to Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, who is set to begin his 12th season in Lexington.

Smart, entering his ninth year at Georgia, ranks second behind Stoops in SEC tenure.

Third? Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. And he was hired not too long ago, on Dec. 7, 2019. The next day, Arkansas hired Sam Pittman and Missouri hired Eli Drinkwitz.

The SEC is the strongest conference in college football, but it lacks experienced coaches. There is a Saban-sized hole that several candidates could try to climb out of.

Here are The Oklahoman’s rankings of SEC coaches from 16th to 1st:

OU Football from A to Z: Everything you need to know about the 2024 Oklahoma Sooners

16. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State University

FBS head coaching record: 0-0
Mississippi State Record: 0-0

Lebby, by default, is at the bottom of this list.

The former Sooners offensive coordinator has no head coaching experience, but hey, you have to start somewhere. And few get a job in the SEC right out of the gate. Mississippi State is an awfully tough place to win, but Lebby should be given time to prove himself.

15. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

FBS head coaching record: 9-27
Record at Vanderbilt: 27-9 (22-22 SECOND)

Lea could be the reincarnation of Knute Rockne, but we’d never know. Not even Rockne could coach the Commodores in this hyper-competitive, arms-race era of college football.

Vanderbilt doesn’t have a chance in this SEC, and that has nothing to do with Lea.

As unfair as it may seem, it’s hard to justify Lea being higher on this list.

14. Sam Pittman, Arkansas

FBS head coaching record: 23-25
Record in Arkansas: 23-25 (11-23, SEC)

Arkansas went 9-4 (4-4 in the SEC) in Pittman’s second season. But subsequent seasons of 7-6 and 4-8 have Pittman in his sights. The Razorbacks went 1-7 in the SEC last season.

Pittman, who grew up in Grove, was a lifelong assistant until he was hired by Arkansas as head coach at age 58.

Further: OU football: What to know about the Oklahoma Sooners’ 2024 schedule, roster and more

13. Brent Venables, Oklahoma

FBS head coaching record: 16-10
Record at the OU: 16-10 (10-8 Big 12)

It is too early to draw conclusions about head coach Venables.

The first year was a disaster. The Sooners went 6-7 and finished with a losing record for the first time since 1998. Venables righted the Schooners last year, but that was against a relatively weak Big 12 schedule. Now OU faces the toughest conference schedule in the SEC.

Venables has revamped OU’s defense, but questions abound on the offensive end. It’s a big year for the Sooners and a critical one for Venables.

12. Shane Beamer

FBS head coaching record: 20-18
Record in South Carolina: 20-18 (10-14, SEC)

According to our rankings, South Carolina is the second-worst program in the SEC. A member of the SEC since 1992, the Gamecocks have a .424 winning percentage in the conference.

At 10-14, Beamer is a bit worse (.416), but it’s still a solid job from the former Sooners assistant.

11. Billy Napier, Florida

FBS head coaching record: 51-26
Record in Florida: 11-14 (6-10, SEC)

Results in Florida have been poor for Napier. Two consecutive 3-5 finishes in the SEC won’t be enough.

Napier’s seat is hot, and it’s bad timing, because the Gators face a brutal schedule.

But unlike the five coaches mentioned on this list, Napier has proven himself at another school. Napier went 40-12 in his four seasons at Louisiana. He led the Cajuns to four bowl games, three of which they won.

In 2020 and 2021, Louisiana was ranked in the final College Football Playoff poll.

Further: Is OU football a playoff contender or pretender? We examine the cases of the SEC-ranked teams

10. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri

FBS head coaching record: 40-22
Record in Missouri: 28-21 (17-17, SEC)

Drinkwitz, who was a hot topic not long ago, has one of the highest approval ratings among SEC coaches.

That’s what an 11-2 season can do. And Missouri could pull off another 10-win season in 2024, given the Tigers’ manageable schedule.

Drinkwitz will quickly rise up this list if he proves last year was no fluke.

9. Mike Elko, Texas A&M University

FBS head coaching record: 16-9
Texas A&M Record: 0-0

The New Jersey native might seem like an odd fit for College Station, but Elko spent four seasons (2018-21) at Texas A&M as the defensive coordinator. Now he’s back as the head honcho after two seasons as Duke’s head coach.

Under Elko, the Blue Devils went 9-7 in the ACC. It was Duke’s best two-season stretch since 2014-15.

You’ll have a few more resources at your disposal at Texas A&M.

8. Hugh Freeze, Auburn

FBS head coaching record: 89-50
Auburn record: 6-7 (3-5, SEC)

Freeze can train, but with him comes a lot of unseemly baggage.

He had a .609 winning percentage in five seasons at Ole Miss but resigned in 2017 amid a flurry of controversy. The NCAA criticized Ole Miss for a “lack of institutional control.”

Freeze landed softly at Liberty, where he led the Flames to four bowl games in each of his four seasons.

Auburn gave Freeze a second chance in the SEC.

7. Josh Heupel, Tennessee

FBS head coaching record: 55-20
Record in Tennessee: 27-12 (14-10, SEC)

The former Sooner national champion quarterback has made a strong comeback as a coach since being fired as OU’s offensive coordinator after the 2014 season.

From offensive coordinator stints at Utah State and Missouri to his first head coaching job at UCF, Heupel landed at Rocky Top.

The Volunteers won the Orange Bowl in 2022 and followed that up with a nine-win season in 2023.

6. Steve Sarkisian, Texas

FBS head coaching record: 71-49
Record in Texas: 25-14 (17-10, Big 12)

Sarkisian had an unremarkable five-year tenure in Washington. Then he hit rock bottom at Southern Cal, and was fired before he had been on the job for two seasons.

But after two stints as Alabama’s offensive coordinator under Nick Saban, Sarkisian landed one of the best jobs in college football.

Texas is back? Looks like it.

Sarkisian went 5-7 as a freshman, 8-5 as a sophomore and 12-2 last season as the Longhorns won the Big 12 championship and reached the College Football Playoff.

5. Mark Stoops, Kentucky

FBS head coaching record: 63-65
Record in Kentucky: 63-65 (30-55, SEC)

Stoops has led Kentucky to eight consecutive bowl games. Those eight bowl games were from 2016 to 2023. Kentucky’s previous eight bowl games spanned 40 years, from 1985 to 2015.

Stoops’ SEC record looks bad at first glance, but consistently winning more than three SEC games per season at Kentucky (which Stoops has done since 2016) is no easy feat.

Stoops flirted with the Texas A&M job, but UK’s all-time winningest coach is back in the Bluegrass for Year 12.

4. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss

FBS head coaching record: 95-49
Record at Ole Miss: 34-15 (20-13, SEC)

Kiffin’s .694 winning percentage at Ole Miss is second-best in school history, behind John Vaught (.745).

Historically, Ole Miss has been a bottom-five program in the SEC, and Kiffin has coached the Rebels into contenders.

It’s safe to say he’s matured since his days in Tennessee and Southern California. Yes, he’s still quirky, but Kiffin’s demeanor is tolerable when he’s winning.

3. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

FBS head coaching record: 37-9
Record in Alabama: 0-0

From Sioux Falls to Fresno State to Washington, DeBoer has done nothing but win as a head coach.

He had a 25-3 record in two seasons in Washington, culminating with an appearance in the national championship game last season.

DeBoer has no ties to the Southeast, but neither did Nick Saban until he won a combined seven national championships at LSU and Alabama.

2. Brian Kelly, Louisiana State University

FBS head coaching record: 186-69
Record at LSU: 20-7 (12-4, SEC)

Among active head coaches, only North Carolina’s Mack Brown (276) and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (196) have more wins than Kelly (186). That doesn’t count the 118 games and two national championships Kelly won at Division II Grand Valley State.

Kelly has coached seven consecutive 10-win teams dating back to his final five seasons at Notre Dame and including his first two seasons at LSU.

Kelly’s 113 wins at Notre Dame are the most in program history.

1. Kirby Smart, Georgia

FBS head coaching record: 94-16
Iowa State Record: 94-16 (56-9, SEC)

In all of college football, only three active head coaches have won a national championship: Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney and Mack Brown.

Smart and Swinney have won two each.

Smart’s resume is ridiculous: nine SEC losses in eight seasons at Georgia, and of those nine, four of them came in his first season with the Bulldogs.

Georgia is 42-2 (24-0 SEC) over the last three seasons.

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Where does OU’s Brent Venables fit?

ByS. Jacob