re: SEC Coaches that Have never had losing Seasons

Not a single one of those coaches ever built a program.


They took over a solid program being mismanaged, but let's not act like any of them could take over State or Arkansas and build a program from nothing.



Not even Kirby has had to build without a foundation already provided for him.



ETA: Just went back over the list, and it's seriously a list of coaches who have never built a program. Every single one has made their reputation by taking over a program that they inherited from a predecessor who moved on. And the predecessor is the one who built the program.

Sumrall: took over a good Tulane program from Willie Fritz and was only there for 2 years before jumping to Florida. Florida isn't a "Take the reins" job like Tulane was. Fritz built that program over 6 years from nothing. Sumrall didn't build Tulane, he took over an already established program for 2 seasons. We don't even know if he can sustain a program, much less build one.


Golesh: has 2 years of head coaching experience. Not necessarily a terrible thing, Orgeron had 3 years of head coaching experience when LSU hired him, but he was coaching another Coach's players. Can he recruit? Maybe he can build, but can he sustain as well?

Heupel: took over a UCF team from Scott Frost, who inherited a program built by George O'Leary. Frost had two good years with a program built by someone else and left for Nebraska, giving Heupel the program. So Heupel inherited a program built by another coach and was successful enough with it to get the Tennessee job, a program that requires some building.

He's not really building the program in Tennessee, better comparison would be a House flipping show on TLC. Some decent additions and repairs, but leaving the foundation in disrepair.

And need I remind you of how Scott Frost did at Nebraska? Again: never built a program, but got the job because he succeeded with a program he inherited.

Which brings us to Kirby Smart: has he been successful? Of course. Pre NIL, he was on the fast track to be the next Saban. The only thing holding him back for so long was having to face Saban in order to win a NC. (Amazing how he gets a pass on the Saban obstacle but Les Miles gets denounced for the same thing. Yet Miles shared a division with Saban. Also humourous how Georgia fans ragged on LSU fans for 2011, then cried about how unfair 2017 was because they had to play Bama when Bama didn't even win their own division and Georgia had to play an extra game to earn the right to get in the playoffs while Bama sat at home).

The thing about Kirby is this: he didn't build Georgia. He inherited a strong football program in a weak division with the only real challenger in the division being Florida, the most dysfunctional program of the 2010s.

His only real obstacle every year was the West team he was going to face in Atlanta at the end of the year. Usually Bama, but even if it was LSU or Auburn that one time, he just had to get past that one game. (Kind of like Ohio State. Who Georgia fans love to join the rest of us and complain about that when it comes to Ohio State).

He finally broke through and defeated Saban for the only time in the game that mattered most (for the record: Ed Orgeron is undefeated against Kirby Smart) and then got to play the worst NC team ever the next year.

Then NIL happened. Kirby can't continue to use the Saban method of stockpiling all the best talent. And he hasn't won a playoff game since that TCU NC.

So...he's never built a program, and he's facing a crisis with adjusting to the modern game.

He may be the next Les Miles. Take a good foundation and elevate and sustain it, only to fall because of a failure to adjust to the changes of the game.