I'm not really speaking out of school by saying this is not the kind of season most Gators fans want out of the team. Most of us have some sort of faith that Coach Napier will take us where we want or at least pretty close. But am I not alone in thinking the SEC East right now is really friggin' hard? It just seems that every school is operating at the tops of the capabilities. Georgia/Kirby Smart: Obviously as good as it gets and he is still pretty young and does not seem to have NFL aspirations nor does it seem like he will be having a fake heart attack any time soon. He has every chance to be the best coach in school history and he'll probably have a building there named after him one day. Tennessee/Josh Heupel: Just a homerun of a hire. He's easily their best coach since Fulmer. He's still pretty young and does not have any obvious ties to the school nor the region so there is no guarantee he'll be a long timer but the Vols have the resources to keep him. Kentucky/Mark Stoops: Everyone respects what he has done. He may not ever have a top 5-10 team, but he gets the most out of what he has every year. I don't know the history of Kentucky very well but he is probably already better than Rich Brooks. Is he the best since Bear Bryant? Stoops has been there for a while so it doesn't seem like there are many reasons for him to leave. South Carolina/Shane Beamer: He hasn't been there long but everyone has seemed really impressed with him going back to his first season. He seems to have the Cocks about as good as they are capable of ever being. He doesn't have any obvious ties to the school but he is from the greater region so is probably pretty happy there. Vanderbilt: N/A It's tough out there. There are no Skip Holtz or Derek Dooleys to kick around and no obvious James Franklin types who are one foot out the door looking for the next job.
It's about as good as it could get, but weren't SOS, Urban, and Mark Richt in the East at the same time?
Was Fulmer still at UT with SOS, Urban, and Richt before Lane? If so, three of them won NCs and Richt was at the goal line when time ran out in his quest for one.
Fair point but I guess I was trying to say teams other than UF. If you remove Meyer from that group, it's not that great.
Kiffin obviously had the potential to be a very good coach, but he only went 7-6 his one season at UT.
Well, how do you remove him from that group, He was there, wasn't he? You can't exclude Florida from the list, because their coaches were part of the East. If you're going to exclude Meyer, you need to add in Lou Holtz.
And Phillip Fulmer who was at Tennessee for about 16-17 years, I believe. To me, it's about longevity and/or success at that school. Except for Smart & Stoops, these new guys have not been there long enough at their school to establish themselves. Had Dan Mullen stayed at Florida, he would have been well on his way, too. When Meyer was at Florida(mid 2000s era), there were a total of three National Title winning coaches in the SEC-East along with four Coaches who had won the SEC Conference title (see below). Another National Title winning coach (at Notre Dame), Lou Holtz (2000 SEC Coy), was coaching at South Carolina from the mid 1990s to mid 2000s but did not do much with the gamecocks other than going to a few bowl games. For a very long time, the South Carolina job was considered a dead end job before Holtz & Spurrier helped turned around that perception with their successes there. Steve Spurrier (1990-2001): 7 SEC Titles/8 SEC-E Titles, 1 NC/1NC-RU 7x SEC Coach of Year (UF-1990, 1991, 1994, 1996; USCe-2005, 2010) 2x ACC Coach of Year(Duke-1988, 1989) Phillip Fulmer (1992-2008): 2 SEC Titles/6 SEC-E Titles, 1 NC SEC Coach of Year (UT-1998) Urban Meyer (UF:2005-2010, OSU:2012-2018): 2 SEC Titles/3 SEC-E Titles, 2 NC-UF/3rd NC-OSU; 3 Big Ten Titles/5 BT-Leaders Division Titles.. National Coach of Year (Utah-2003,2004), Coach of the Decade(2009) Mark Richt (2001-2015): 2 SEC Titles/5 SEC-E Titles and 1 ACC divisional Title. SEC Coach of Year (UG-2002, 2005), ACC Coach of Year(2017) Steve Spurrier - Wikipedia Urban Meyer - Wikipedia Phillip Fulmer - Wikipedia Mark Richt - Wikipedia Lou Holtz - Wikipedia
All fair points. I would say: Fulmer: His last great team was 2001. He was just pretty good after that. Richt: I'm generally more respectful of his tenure that most, but he had a lot of his worst seasons during the Meyer era and it wasn't just from Meyer beating him. His 2007 team was quite excellent, though. Spurrier: Yes, he did more at SC than anyone else ever. But I don't know that Shane Beamer is that far behind.
Part of my point was everyone seems to be set up with young coaches who aren't coasting on past success and aren't seemingly looking for the next job, like Kiffin. There's a lot of potential for longevity of good coaches right now.
Prior to Spurrier, I believe Holtz did better there than anyone else had since Joe Morrison in the 80s. As far as Beamer being "that far behind", he's way, way behind right now. Spurrier is the winningest coach they've ever had and won 11 games in a season more than once. So far Beamer is 12-9. I think he's a good coach, though. But, that still remains to be seen. He's only been HC for less than two seasons.
It's hard to know for sure what Beamer can be because his story is still being written, but I would say he is pretty far from being Spurrier level of success at usce. I know Spurrier kind of flamed out towards the end there, but he won 11 games 3 years in a row. I say this with great confidence, beamer will never pull that off. Beamer may raise the floor of what usce has been and be better than Muschamp, but I highly doubt he ever has 1, 11 win season, much less 3. Beamer is closer to Muschamp than he is Spurrier.
Great thread! Thanks! Remember, Spurrier had USCe at 3-straight 11 win seasons. I don't see Beamer anywhere close to that.
Very fair points and wins are wins but it is notable how Spurrier's best seasons lined up with across the board down seasons at UF, UGA, and UT.
I think it way too early in his tenure to say that. While he might never come close to Spurrier, very good chance he's head and shoulders ahead of Muschamp. You must've forgotten what a horrible HC Muschamp was.
You could also say that about Kirby Shart's teams at uga have been better during a decade of futility by UF and Tennessee, and no real challengers in the East during that span as well. His teams are 30-5 against the division teams.
