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The 2025 college football season may still be three months away, but that hasn’t stopped diehard fans of the sport from trying to figure out the hierarchy of various topics in college football. That’s the case at Athlon Sports, where staff writer Steve Lassan ranked every SEC head coach from worst to first.
The conference returns each head coach from a season ago, but plenty of them are on thin ice. Such is the case in college football’s toughest conference, where wins mean more than anything else.
Here are Lassan’s rankings of every head coach in the SEC:
Jeff Lebby enters Year 2 at Mississippi State after a 2-10 overall season and an 0-8 mark in league play. He inherited a major rebuilding project in Starkville, but the Bulldogs should be better in 2025 with another year in Lebby’s scheme under their belt.
15. Clark Lea – Vanderbilt Commodores
Clark Lea and the Commodores had one of their best seasons in a long time last year. Vanderbilt went 7-6 and posted a 3-5 conference record. The offseason changes in Nashville worked beautifully for Lea and he enters Year 5 with a chance to build on the positive momentum.
Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks also had a bounce-back year in 2024, finishing 7-6 overall and 3-5 in SEC play. Arkansas enters year Year 6 of the Pittman era with plenty more to prove, but his seat is cooler this summer in Fayetteville than it was a year ago.
13. Brent Venables – Oklahoma Sooners
Brent Venables hasn’t lived up to the expectations at Oklahoma. The Sooners went 6-7 last year and posted a 2-6 conference record in their first season in the SEC. Venables may be on his last chance in Norman, as Year 4 will be the biggest yet as a head coach. Surprisingly he’s behind one of the coaches he beat last year.
Another coach who hasn’t lived up to expectations is Auburn’s Hugh Freeze. The Tigers went 2-6 in SEC play and 5-7 overall in 2024, which just doesn’t cut it in Auburn. Freeze’s seat is hot heading into Year 3, but a bevy of transfer portal additions could put an end to back-to-back losing seasons on the Plains.
11. Billy Napier – Florida Gators
Billy Napier’s time at Florida looked to be coming to a close last season, but the Gators ripped off four consecutive wins to close 2024. The team finished 8-5 overall and posted a 4-4 mark in the SEC. The 2025 season is a big one in Gainesville for the overall direction of the program in Year 4 under Napier.
10. Mark Stoops – Kentucky Wildcats
The longest-tenured head coach in the SEC, Mark Stoops, enters a pivotal season in Year 13 at Kentucky. After going 1-7 in league play and 4-8 overall in 2024, Stoops and the Wildcats need a bounce-back in 2025. Last year’s record was the worst in Lexington since 2013.
Mike Elko enters Year 2 in College Station after a solid 8-5 overall record and 5-3 mark in SEC play in 2024. The Texas A&M job comes with a lot of expectations, but the Aggies were in the conference title hunt until the final week of an up-and-down regular season under Elko last year.
8. Shane Beamer – South Carolina Gamecocks
Shane Beamer is coming off of his best season at South Carolina. The Gamecocks went 9-4 in 2024, posting a 5-3 record in the SEC. Beamer heads into Year 5 in Columbia with a big opportunity to build on the positive momentum his team gained after a strong finish to last season.
7. Eliah Drinkwitz – Missouri Tigers
Eliah Drinkwitz enters Year 6 as Missouri’s head coach after back-to-back double-digit win seasons. The Tigers went 10-3 overall and 5-3 in conference play in 2024 and Drinkwitz has his team on stable ground in the SEC. The 2025 season is a big one in Columbia, as the program tries to prove it has staying power.
6. Josh Heupel – Tennessee Volunteers
Josh Heupel has done an outstanding job in Knoxville, as he heads into Year 5 at Tennessee after going 10-3 overall and 6-2 in SEC play in 2024. The Volunteers made the College Football Playoff last year, and Heupel has every opportunity to build on that success with another strong season in 2025.
5. Lane Kiffin – Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin heads into Year 6 as the head coach of the Rebels after guiding Ole Miss to a 10-3 overall mark and a 5-3 conference record last season. Mississippi has fallen short of the CFP in Kiffin’s tenure, but there’s reason to believe that 2025 could be a breakthrough year in Oxford.
Kalen DeBoer guided Alabama to a 9-4 overall record and a 5-3 conference record in his first season as the head coach of the Crimson Tide. The problem is, that’s not the standard in Tuscaloosa. DeBoer heads into Year 2 needing to take the program back to the playoff.
3. Brian Kelly – LSU Tigers
Brian Kelly is entering a pivotal season as the head coach of the Tigers. A big-time transfer portal class coming to Baton Rouge has LSU hoping to improve on last year’s 9-4 overall record and 5-3 SEC record. Kelly hasn’t quite lived up to expectations yet, so Year 4 will be full of pressure for Louisiana State.
2. Steve Sarkisian – Texas Longhorns
Steve Sarkisian has turned the Longhorns around since arriving in Austin. Texas went 13-3 in 2024, including a 7-1 conference record. However Sarkisian’s team lost in the SEC Championship Game and the CFP semifinals last season. Year 5 will be about seeing if the program is good enough to win it all in 2025.
Kirby Smart is one of just three active head coaches with a national championship. Georgia went 11-3 last year, posted a 6-2 league record, and won the SEC Championship Game. Smart and the Bulldogs will look to get back on top in Year 10, as it’s been two seasons since a title was brought back to Athens.
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