Is it tougher being a successful head coach in the SEC than anywhere else in the college football landscape, or even the NFL for that matter?
It’s a fun debate, and with the addition of the No. 3 Texas Longhorns and No. 16 Oklahoma Sooners, the SEC will be as brutal as ever heading into the 2024 season. Just ask the Sooners and Florida Gators.
Usually the coaching hot seat is limited to those that are in jeopardy of losing their job. We’re expanding the hottest seat to those SEC head coaches with the most pressure on them this season, especially with the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
Some of the biggest omissions from our top six.
Georgia Bulldogs’ Kirby Smart
With a stacked roster and the consensus preseason No. 1 ranking, Smart not only has total job security, he is playing with an eternal amount of house money given that he’s won back-to-back national championships in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Auburn Tigers’ Hugh Freeze
After a disappointing 6-7 season, the former Ole Miss Rebels head coach could have made the list for sure. But with a top-10 2025 recruiting class, a track record at Ole Miss and Liberty of turning programs around, Freeze will be given a little more runway to figure it out.
Texas A&M Aggies first-year head coach Mike Elko, Oklahoma’s Brent Venables, and the Tennessee Volunteers’ Josh Heupel could have made it for various reasons well, but they too were, luckily for them, left off of our top six.
No. 6: Arkansas Razorbacks’ Sam Pittman
As CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd perfectly puts it, “If you just want to sit around, shoot the bull and have a beer, Pittman's your guy.” As the first SEC coach to be fired, he’s right up towards the top along with Florida’s Billy Napier. It also doesn’t help that Bobby Petrino is his offensive coordinator.
The only reason Pittman isn’t higher is because the Razorbacks haven’t been relevant for awhile. Plus, if Pittman is such a great guy, maybe there’s already an understanding that if he doesn’t win this year, he’s giving the keys to Petrino: over beers of course.
No. 5: Texas Longhorns’ Steve Sarkisian
Head coach Steve Sarkisian has nothing to worry about from a job-security standpoint. This is all about the hottest pressure of delivering a national championship, where the Longhorns haven't seen a title since Vince Young’s heroic performance vs. Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush’s vaunted USC squad in the Rose Bowl back in the 2005 season.
With Heisman hopeful quarterback Quinn Ewers and a stacked offensive unit, plus coming off an almost epic comeback against the Washington Huskies in last year’s playoff semifinal, anything less than a natty will be a disappointment for Longhorns fans.
No. 4: Alabama Crimson Tide’s Kalen DeBoer
No doubt, DeBoer has won the SEC college football offseason. He now boasts arguably the No. 1 2025 recruiting class after landing five-star offensive tackle Ty Haywood. DeBoer is excited about the progress of quarterback Jalen Milroe and the vastly improved offensive line, and while he’s lost some star transfers like Caleb Downs (to Ohio State) and Isaiah Bond (to Texas), the Tide are still ranked No. 6 in the preseason.
But once the season starts, that Nick Saban shadow will loom large. The seven-time national champion GOAT head coach is still a large presence at Alabama and across college football. Oh, and he’s only an analyst for a little show called ESPN “College Gameday.”
No. 3: Florida Gators’ Billy Napier
From a job security standpoint, no one is under more scrutiny than Napier. His teams have middled since he took over the reins, going 11-14 overall and 6-10 in the SEC, and that just doesn’t cut it in Gainesville. It also doesn’t help that Anthony Richardson could be a blossoming star quarterback in the NFL.
Napier does boast a top-five transfer class, but his 2025 recruiting class currently sits outside of 247Sports composite team rankings. Oh, and the Gators also have one of the toughest schedules in college football history.
No. 2: Ole Miss Rebels’ Lane Kiffin
Kiffin is a world class Twitter troll and head coach when he’s the underdog. When he’s the frontrunner: not so much. See tarmac firing at USC.
Ole Miss is the darling barely-sleeper team to not only make the expanded College Football Playoff, but to possibly win it all if quarterback Jaxson Dart and Kiffin’s high-flying offense put up a lot of points. Plus with a significantly improved defense and the No. 1 transfer class, portal-king Kiffin could shock the world. Imagine The Grove if that happened.
As far as living up to a ridiculous amount of hype, Kiffin faces the most pressure.
No. 1: LSU Tigers’ Brian Kelly
Kelly’s Week 1 matchup against Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans could easily be labeled the Buyout Bowl. Both head coaches face an enormous amount of pressure and expectations from their fanbases, and neither has matched the latter.
Both coaches have ridiculously large buyout clauses, but both schools have the impatient boosters that want College Football Playoff appearances with a sprinkling of national championships or bust.
For Kelly, he can boast about having the reigning Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels, a respectable 20-7 record, and the No. 6 2025 recruiting class, including the generational five-star talent, quarterback Bryce Underwood (No. 1 overall in 247Sports composite rankings).
His job should be secure for the next couple of seasons, but with the expanded playoff, there are no more excuses.
