Best SEC Football Coach by Decade

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2010s 2. Kirby Smart: UGA

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Ed Orgeron has a better resume from 2016-2019: 1 NC, 1 SECC.
Kirby: 0 NC, 1 SECC
Orgeron was 2-0 head to head vs Kirby
Les Miles also had a similar winning pct, 1 SECC, 1 NC appearance

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Ed Orgeron has a better resume from 2016-2019: 1 NC, 1 SECC.
Kirby: 0 NC, 1 SECC
Orgeron was 2-0 head to head vs Kirby
Les Miles also had a similar winning pct, 1 SECC, 1 NC appearance

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Yeah, but besides one team, I don't think anyone ever felt like Coach O was better coach than Kirby, Les Miles, Gus Malzahn, or even Mark Richt. He put together a great team, but in terms of coaching, there were better coaches in the 2010s than him.

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this is a tricky one.

-Dooley had 83 wins that decade, Dye had 81
-Dye had 4 SEC titles, Dooley had 3
-Dooley had a national title, Dye had zero

It's neck and neck but I think you have to give it to Dooley

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No doubt that Dooley vs Dye is an age old question. But I am giving the nod to Dye because he held the winning head-to-head, coached more seasons in the 1980s, and everyone knows Auburn actually got screwed out of the 1983 title.

Now, if Dooley had closed out that 1983 Sugar Bowl, then this wouldn't even be an argument.

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2010s 1. Nick Saban: Alabama 2. Kirby Smart: UGA

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What did Kirby do in the 2010s to land him #2?

1 SEC title in 2018. What else? Most of his success has come in the current decade. He only coached 4 years in the 2010s

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but in terms of coaching, there were better coaches in the 2010s than him.

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I agree with your opinion and I won’t argue because it’s dumb to argue over who is #2.
But the FACTS say that Ed O had a better decade than Kirby.

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they both coached the same number of seasons with 9

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Ah, good catch, I thought Dooley only was 8. My mistake.

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well that's certainly not accurate

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The 1st- and 2nd-place teams both lost their bowl games. Auburn was 3; they should've become number 1. The fact that Miami jumped four spots over them is insane when Auburn also won. especially given that Miami lost to a Florida team that Auburn beat.

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-Dooley had a national title, Dye had zero

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that is incorrect. Auburn won the national championship in 1983

I had a bit of a brain fart earlier, so do accept my apolgoies. Seriously.

It didn't really register in my brain that "decade of the 2010s" for these coaches essentially is only comprised of a few years each so we're only talking about a very narrow sample size. Obviously 2019 is the best of the bunch, however Kirby wins every other year either very slightly or very bigly.

So I guess it all boils down to whether you give the nod to overall consistency and very high level winning over a sustained period of time, or the chizik model of spectacularly bright burning storybook highs accompanied by mediocrity. I think having a discussion start, end, and solely be focused on national titles is stupid becuase there are so many more ways to determine how good of a season/decade you had. If that's your mindset you probably also think Doug Johnson is a better QB than DAn Marino I assume, which is laughable.

2017: Ed had 4 losses half of which were to unranked teams. Kirby won the SEC and went to OT in the national title
2018: Kirby won the division and played for the SEC. Both teams had same number of losses, played in a major bowl game, and finished in the top 7. Kirby had one more win
2019: Ed in a runaway, although Kirby won his division (as did Ed obviously) and played in a major bowl game, so it's not like kirby was a dud this year. LSU's was jsut much better

Ed had 40 wins (I'll give him credit for the interim wins) while Kirby had 44. Kirby won his division 3 times compared to Ed's once. Kirby had three top-7 finishes, Ed had two.

I don't think listing Ed is as ridiculous as originally thought, but I also don't think it's a slam dunk just on teh back of 1 season etiher. Especiaillly when we're talking about a 10 year period here. Hell is there nobody else between 2010-2019 that would be in contention?

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-The two biggest "what ifs" are if Dietzel had stayed at LSU through the 1960s or if Doug Dickey had stayed at Tennessee through the 1970s, things could've looked very different.

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I would think if not for global wars, how dominate Neyland at Tennessee would have been?


Neyland holds the record for most wins in Tennessee Volunteers history with 173 wins in 216 games, six undefeated seasons, nine undefeated regular seasons, seven conference championships, and four national championships. At UT, he reeled off undefeated streaks of 33, 28, 23, 19, and 14 games.