State of the SEC in 2017.

Contraction imo

Better administrations. The B1G has had much better recent head coaching hires in football than us.

Getting rid of the state of Alabama would help tremendously

If you can't beat 'em.....get rid of 'em!

Saban to retire so the other programs aren't firing good coaches trying to find some godly being that can beat Saban consistently.

The SEC is the richest conference. We have made it this way through hard work since the 1990's. Every single University in this Conference should be able to hire a good coach no matter what the sport.

There is no excuse for losing records in athletics from here on out.

I don't care if it is Tennis or Baseball.

These are jobs that pay over $75,000/year.

The SEC should be way better than this.

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If you can't beat 'em.....get rid of 'em!

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tl;dr - Saban's success really has created problems for everyone else.

Now the longer explanation....

There's really no denying that the ridiculous success of Saban has created problems for the rest of the SEC and escalated the already ridiculous fan expectations that were there (football is religion here and many SEC fans are demanding Saban-like success from coaches and that's just not going to happen). What he's done is special and we won't likely see something like it again for many years but every SEC fanbase is still demanding it happen for them too.

The recruiting juggernaut and playoff system also makes Saban a problem for everyone else. The success Saban has brought to Bama has meant other SEC schools aren't getting the recruits we once did in the same quantities (it's not that the classes are number 1 all the time though that's part of it but that they're packed with 5*s in unprecedent numbers and most of them come from the same regional recruiting pools we're all recruiting in and many of them are stockpiled by Saban as much for strategic keepaway from other schools as for their talent or any need Bama has for them). That means their is far less to go around for everyone else.

Another problem is that we're quite frankly less attractive to quality coaches now that the playoff system has created a much easier path to playing for a championship.

If you're an elite coach you're thinking about your career and piling up wins and recruits of your own. Why compete against Saban in the same recruiting pool when there are grounds you can pull from where you'll have a much better chance of getting the recruits you need and add to it by playing Bama on the field when you can play a much easier schedule and still get your team in the playoffs with less wear and tear. That easier schedule makes it a frick lot easier to pull off a championship even with less depth than Bama. (Not being beat all to hell matters, particularly when you don't have to constantly go deep into your roster to be competitive throughout the season).

The playoff system effectively put an end to strength of schedule mattering. If you're at a P5 school all you need to not get written off for a poor SOS is to play at least 2 other quality teams. That's good enough for the committee which is married to regional diversity for the sake of ratings more than anyone would like to admit and you can have conference and OOC cakewalk without much punishment.

Finally, the other SEC teams while down are still good teams that would run roughshod over many higher ranked schools in other conferences. Our annual beatdown of the B1G despite usually being paired against higher ranked opponents speaks to that.

Saban is a huge part of it but it's really that we've become victims of our own success (all homerism aside this is an absurdly brutal conference even if you take Bama out of the equation) and Alabama's ridiculous recent success and also that the playoff system has made going an easier route the smarter choice. The ACC has benefited the most from this as they can still compete for Southern recruits and their top schools have adopted SEC-style play (hell how many yearly rivalry pairing to do we have with ACC schools?). But there's no Saban there and they have yet to grow stronger schools in their conference past a select few. And I think the ACC will continue to thrive.

Their problems will come when they reach the tipping point of some of their more marginal schools competing closer to FSU and Clemson's level and when coaching talent reaches saturation. Suddenly they'll start having some of the same problems with coaching drain as it becomes tougher to win there and coaches look for the next good route to success. Success will also create unreasonable demands and fan expecations which will lead to good coaches getting fired when patience would've likely paid off (Dabo is a great example of patience with a young coach paying off but he'd have been fired before he ever got there had he been coaching at any of the Big 6 schools).

So yeah, it's not Saban or Alabama's fault that they've been so successful but it many ways it's cost other SEC schools, particularly in the recruiting game which is the lifeblood of CFB.

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There's really no denying that the ridiculous success of Saban has created problems for the rest of the SEC and escalated the already ridiculous fan expectations that were there (football is religion here and many SEC fans are demanding Saban-like success from coaches and that's just not going to happen). What he's done is special and we won't likely see something like it again for many years but every SEC fanbase is still demanding it happen for them too.

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I don't realistically expect Saban-like success for A&M. However:

Sumlin beats LSU and/or Florida in 2012 and they are the national champions. (If you think the 2012 Notre Dame team would get within 3 touchdowns against the 2012 Aggies, Bulldogs, or Gamecocks, then I don't know what to tell you)

Sumlin beats Auburn, LSU, and Missouri in 2013 and they are in the BCS.

Sumlin beats Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU in 2014 and A&M is possibly in the playoff. At the very least in a NY6 bowl.

Sumlin beats Ole Miss, Auburn, and LSU in 2015 and A&M is in the New Years 6.

If, in 2016, Sumlin beats two fricking 7-loss Mississippi schools and an LSU team without their best defensive player, best offensive player, and with an interim coach and THEY, not Washington, are in the playoff

Simply losing to Alabama is not why we're angry. It's the 1-5 record vs. the State of Mississippi since Manziel left and the 0-5 record vs. LSU that has us pissed at him.

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The recruiting juggernaut and playoff system also makes Saban a problem for everyone else. The success Saban has brought to Bama has meant other SEC schools aren't getting the recruits we once did in the same quantities (it's not that the classes are number 1 all the time though that's part of it but that they're packed with 5*s in unprecedent numbers and most of them come from the same regional recruiting pools we're all recruiting in and many of them are stockpiled by Saban as much for strategic keepaway from other schools as for their talent or any need Bama has for them). That means their is far less to go around for everyone else.

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7 of the top 12 recruiting schools (Rivals) in 2015 were SEC teams....10 of the top 22, so.....