Many things in this world goes in cycles. Motorcycles, Bicycles, and football. For most of the last 20 years the SEC has been the best Conference in America. Even though this year could be an anomaly, it definitely appears the powers in Conference Supremacy has shifted. It’s cycle of greatness lasted longer than most cycles do. In my always unbiased and objective opinion, the SEC stock arrow has been pointing down for a few years. The talent gap was shortening due to a number of reasons. Also what I believe to be the biggest reason, the Head Coaching talent has plummeted.
It was just a short decade ago that the SEC had Head Coaches named Saban, Fulmer, Meyer, Spurrier, Myles and Richt. Since then, the latter 4 all lost their edge. Out of those 5 coaches, only Saban remains coaching at a high level. Les Myles never adapted. Fulmer and Spurrier lost their edge and stopped winning. And Richt? Well, he just couldn’t win the National Championship. The SEC also hired some Up and Comers like Dan Mullen from the Urban Meyer tree and Hugh Freeze from a movie. Their respective Ole Miss and Mississippi State schools did as well as you could hope for schools from Mississippi. Even Vanderbilt made a great hire in Keegan-Michael Key look a like, James Franklin. Eventually the SEC brought in Texas A&M and Missouri at their peaks with their best Head Coaches. As a whole, it was undeniable the SEC was the best conference.
Fast Forward to 2016 and look around the SEC. Gone are Fulmer, Richt, Meyer, Spurrier, Myles, and Franklin. You will see Butch Jones, Kirby Smart, Will Muschamp, Derek (Radio) Mason, and Ed Orgeron. Mullen, Freeze, and Kevin Sumlin fell into the same ruts. They didn’t beat Saban with their best teams so they have fallen off. You can’t sell potential to recruits when they’re ready to see results. Saban gave Urban Meyer chest pains and he found comfort in a conference that had no great teams in it. Franklin joined Meyer and left a school after consecutive 9 win seasons to lead a school under HEAVY sanctions. The SEC is left with Saban. Who’s the next best coach in the SEC?
Where are the best head coaches? The Big 10 has two of the best Head Coaches in College Football: Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh joined the down Big 10 after he saw Urban Meyer streak through it. James Franklin has turned Penn St around and they won the Big 10 in 2016. Before 2016 there were multiple openings in the SEC. There was also multiple Head Coaching candidates ready to sell their stock high and move up to better opportunities. Names like Justin Fuente, Dino Babers, Bronco Mendenhall, and Tom Herman were being shopped around. Mark Richt got fired because his fan base got tired of not winning big enough. Thus he was on the market as well. Tom Herman decided not to coach in the SEC and stayed at Houston an extra year. The remaining four coaches went to the ACC. Hell, Fuente darn near took the ACC Championship game to overtime.
There is a common theme. In a world where coaches are fired if they aren’t successful soon enough, they are taking the easiest path to victories. Just like any stock, they bought low on their schools and conferences. Remember, everything goes in cycles. We can assume that there will be a time when an aspiring head coach looks at the schedule and says to themselves “Do I really want to coach against Meyer, Harbaugh, and Franklin just to win my division?” Eventually, the SEC East will get the next wave of good coaches who say to themselves, “Who’s going to stop me?” The ACC Coastal divison had three coaches tell themselves this past off season. (Fuente won it at Virginia Tech) But for now, a guy nicknamed Swamp Donkey has won the SEC East the last two years due to coaching malpractice from other schools in the division. (Looking at you Butch!!!)
That’s the cycle of College Football. Much like the ACC of 2014, the SEC has one pony in the race this year. For now, the best Head Coaches reside in the same conference so therefore the best teams do to. It looks like it’s the Big 10’s turn to run College Football. It’s just a matter of how long their cycle lasts.
