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**Geaux Tigers** · 02-08-2010, 03:15 PM

There was a thread two or so seasons ago where I said the state of coaching in the SEC was the least among the "BCS" conferences. The SEC was down as a whole with the exception of Florida. I went through and detailed each coach and said the SEC would never be a viable basketball conference if these were the types of coaches it was going to put out on the court. I am very happy to say that the tide of poor SEC coaching has changed dramatically in the conference. I think we now may have the 3rd best overall coaches out of the major conferences. The coaching in the SEC during the past 10 years has been disgraceful for the enormously wealthy programs and passionate fanbases. Because of this the Southeast region has lost A LOT of great recruits to the ACC, Big 12, and Pac 10. USC and Baylor have sucessfully raided my homestate of Louisiana for about 6 years now!

I can't seem to find that thread but I will keep looking because there were a lot of predictions made and I would like to compare. We now have a lot of passionate young coaches in the SEC that in my opinion stand on the cusp of what Billy Donovan was a decade or so ago when he looked like a great future coach. We also have a good mix of guys who have already gotten the job done in the past.

Here is a quick report on each of the coaches in the SEC:

Alabama - Anthony Grant - Grant was one of the most coveted young coaches before he arrived at Alabama. Each time a larger schools coaching job was vacated Grants name came up. He was my second choice after Scott Drew of Baylor to coach my Tigers after Brady was fired. I think Grant is going to be a far superior upgrade to Mark Gottfried at Alabama. Gottfried was serviceable at his job, and kept Alabama in contention for the SEC year in and year out. I think Grant however will put Alabama on a more national stage. I think he will be able to really relate to recruits and retain the talent in Alabama as well as make a few more forrays intot he national recruiting scene that Gottfried never really could do. All in all I say this is a big upgrade.

Arkansas - John Pelphrey - It was no secret on this board that I never liked Stan Heath. I don't think he was a very smart X's and O's guy at all. I saw his team lose more games they should have won and I think the blame was on him. Pelphrey has proven to be an actual basketball coach that knows the game and can get the most out of his talent. The mid-90s saw Arkansas as one of the top programs in the nation so it's already been done before. Pelphrey has his team at the top of the SEC West which is a shock to most SEC followers. Pelphrey has shown that he is an upgrade in recruiting over Stan Heath and has nabbed some top guys from out of the state. Rotnei Clark and Marshawn Powell are guys that I'm not sure would have gone to Arkansas if not for what Pelphrey is doing there.

Auburn - Jeff Lebo - He's in his 5th year coaching the Auburn Tigers and his record is 92-87. In my opinion he may be the only coach fired in this offseason in the SEC. I really thought he would be better than this as a branch on the Dean Smith coaching tree but I just don't think basketball players want to go to Auburn. They really need to find a charismatic guy who can make Auburn "cool" so to speak. I don't think Lebo is their guy. Lebo will coach again and he will be a better coach than this but this is not a good match...and I'm wondering if Auburn can turn it around. They need Charles Barkley and Chuck Person to find the fountain of youth. 2010 commit Shawn Kemp out of Hargrave Military Academy could save Lebo's job for a while if he is even around to coach the guy. Kemp is the highest rated recruit Lebo has ever had at Auburn.

Florida - Billy Donovan - Billy D is the elder statesman of the SEC which is odd because he still seems so young in comparison to some of the other coaches of his caliber. He has 2 rings and one more championship game appearence. He is the unquestioned best coach in the SEC and is a fantastic recruiter in a hotbed of talent in Florida. Calipari is nipping on his heels up Donovan still has the rings. With that said Billy D has been down bad ever since those back to back championships. I don't think his job will ever really be in question but he's got to get himself out of the NIT and fast. Donovan still is a great coach and 98% of the coaches that would step in his shoes would be worse.

Georgia - Mark Fox - Fox, like Anthony Grant, is in his first year coaching the Dawgs. I think he is a MAJOR upgrade over Dennis Felton. Fox is a protege of Trent Johnson from LSU and did a great job keeping the Nevada program relevant after Johnson left for Stanford. I think he is a coach on the rise and all he has to do is retain the basketball talent in his state and keep Georgia Tech away. Georgia is a great state for basketball recruiting especially the Atlanta Metro area. Fox's 2010 recruiting class sluggish to say the least but I am impressed with what he is getting out of the guys he has now. He won't be in Athens long unless he can get some of that talent in the area, but if he does Georgia will be a force to be reckoned with.

Kentucky - John Calipari - Tubby Smith was a good coach. In fact I think Tubby Smith was a great coach, but John Calipari is proving to be a superstar. The only way you justify letting Tubby walk is getting a Calipari...however they had to go through Billy Gillespie first. I'm not sure Billy G got a fair shake but after what Cal is doing...who cares?! Calipari will be coaching at UK for as long as he wants unless he gets a shakedown from some shady recruiting practices, which seem to follow him wherever he goes. If he remains clean (or if he is infact actually clean) he can be the best in the SEC. Kentucky is finally back to a standard that the fans find acceptable thanks to Calipari.

Trent Johnson - LSU - His seat is the hottest of all the SEC coaches aside from Lebo. The startling this is it's only his second season. Most rumors of heat on the seat are coming from idiots...trust me. These are people who log into Rivals.com and Scout.com and see the stars by the players names and then make a judgement on the coach based on that. Johnson is changing the entire culture of basketball at LSU. LSU used to actually be a basketball school. They have a proud tradition of, Maravich, Pettit, Shaq, Chris Johnson, and Rudy Macklin. Dale Brown was a fantastic coach. The ones who are fanning the flames under Johnson see that Brady "recruited" Brandon Bass, Glenn Davis, Tyrus Thomas, Stromile Swift, Tasmin Mitchell, Anthony Randolph. Aside from Randolph every one of those players were coming to LSU whether Brady was the coach or I was. Louisiana was churning out 5 stars in basketball like they do in football which isn't always the case! Johnson is bringing in a nationally ranked top 20 class next season and I expect the basketball to be like last year when...he won the SEC Coach of the Year. I hate LSU "basketball" fans...:curse:

More to come...

**Geaux Tigers** · 02-08-2010, 03:38 PM

Ole Miss - Andy Kennedy - I think AK is legit, but I don't know if Ole Miss will ever be better than average with a few shining seasons thrown in. The reason is because Rick Stansbury at Mississippi State is doing a great job splitting talent in Mississippi down the middle. Also Oxford is really close to Memphis and they snag a lot of recruits as well. Kennedy does get the most out of his players and has a knack for getting a diamond in the rough here and there. He is going to depend highly on his talent evaluation because of Memphis and MSU being in his backyard, which leaves a greater room for error. All in all he brings the average coaching level in the SEC up a notch. His 2010 recruiting class is really good and can help bump him up a level if they are as good as advertised.

Mississippi State - Rick Stansbury - He's been at MSU for 12 years now and I think he's done a great job considering where is is coaching. I often wonder if a larger school will come knocking at any point in the future and why they really haven't so far. Starkville has got to be tough as nails to recruit too. If Stansbury can get his club to go farther than the 2nd round in the NCAA tournament he may wind up finding himself in a much better job. I think MSU will be happy to keep Stansbury for as long as he wants to be there and that's a rare situation to find yourself in, in this day and age. I really don't know how they can upgrade at this point. If Renardo Sidney was playing...this might have been the season for him to bolt for a better basketball school.

South Carolina - Darrin Horn - I have been more impressed with Horn than any other new coach in the SEC. Calipari is a superstar personality sitting in the Mecca of basketball for the South and he has done exactly what he was supposed to do. Horn on the other hand has made SC relevant in hoops...goofy haircut aside. Devan Downey has been his guardian angel, but Horn has a fantastic recruiting class coming in next year, following up a solid one in 2009. Look for bigger and better things to come for Darrin Horn and SC. He may in fact parlay this into a better job also.

Tennessee - Bruce Pearl - Tennessee hit the nail directly on the head with the hiring of Bruce Pearl a few years ago. I loved it from the start. He changed the entire culture of basketball fanhood in Knoxville. He is extremely charismatic and players and fans alike love his antics. His teams are always ranked nationally. He needs to find himself deeper in the tournament before the school itself becomes the engine for recruiting instead of Pearl himself. If players start to want to go to UT because of UT and not Pearl...he may find himself a casualty of the carousel. I think that would be disastrous for Tennessee and Pearl will just go on and succeed elsewhere. Fans may start to expect something better than the Sweet 16 despite his excellent record of 202-79 at Tennessee...idiots.

Vanderbilt - Kevin Stallings - Stallings has done more with less than any other coach in the SEC and he's now starting to reap the rewards in recruiting. His 2008 class was talented and deep. John Jenkins was a huge get for Stallings. He was one of the first high caliber players that Stallings didn't have to find in Europe or Australia. His 2010 class is more of the same. He needs to win in the SEC though. He has a sub-500 SEC record and with that talent he needs to step it up. I see the tide turning for Stallings in regards to SEC play but I hope he has enough time. He has been on the hotseat before and he needs to string together Tourney wins without having those NIT appearences in between.

**Geaux Tigers** · 02-08-2010, 03:43 PM

All in all the coaching in the SEC has increased dramatically. We may see no turnover next season. Any other departure other than Jeff Lebo would surprise me and seem a bit unwarranted.

Stallings and Stansbury would have to lay giant eggs in the NIT for them to lose their jobs and even then I think those schools know the chances of upgrading over those coaches are slim for their programs.

Billy Donovan may feel some heat, but I don't know if he's got himself into a Gary Williams situation where his past success is going to give him a benefit of the doubt for a long long time. I personally feel it should.

Other than that Trent Johnson will get to coach his next class, but after that...who knows.

Even so the quality has increased ten fold in my opinion and the SEC should retain more and more of it regional recruits and eventually be among the better basketball conferences in the nation.

ATLien · 02-08-2010, 04:44 PM

UGA is not going to fire Mark Fox after the season. The record isn't anything good, but they have beaten a couple of ranked teams. People in Athens love the way he has his players playing after the Dennis Felton situation.

**Geaux Tigers** · 02-08-2010, 04:58 PM

Of course he wont be fired after this season, but if his 2010 class stays like this and he loses Thompkins to the NBA and maybe even Leslie after next season he may be the first of this new class of coaches to be fired in 2011. He's letting a lot of players get away while bringing in only one player in 2010 so far. That wont cut it. With that said he is a good coach that does get the most out of his players. Either way you gotta bring in at least 2-3 of the top 6 players in Georgia each year...

**Geaux Tigers** · 02-08-2010, 05:17 PM

Damn it's worse than I thought for Fox. In 2009 he lost ALL 9 Georgia players in the Rivals.com 150. Even worse the best of those went to Georgia Tech. Now maybe there was some lag time in the firing of Felton and the hiring of Fox so let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Either way you can see that there is a ton of talent in the state of Georgia and if he can retain that he will absolutely succeed.

ATLien · 02-08-2010, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geaux Tigers

Damn it's worse than I thought for Fox. In 2009 he lost ALL 9 Georgia players in the Rivals.com 150. Even worse the best of those went to Georgia Tech. Now maybe there was some lag time in the firing of Felton and the hiring of Fox so let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Either way you can see that there is a ton of talent in the state of Georgia and if he can retain that he will absolutely succeed.

It isn't realistic to expect Fox to out recruit Georgia Tech..especially right off the bat. UGA has been in the SEC cellar for some time, and Georgia Tech is in the NCAA's every other year and has had a # of lottery picks. I say give him time to prove himself that he can coach, and build relationships with the HS coaches (he came from Nevada!) and then we can critique the recruiting efforts. It's too early to tear him down.

(Note: UGA has a freshman that was offered by GT and Michigan, but hasn't been too effective in Year 1. And UGA has a transfer who has to sit out this season who can score and will be a starter next season)

**Geaux Tigers** · 02-08-2010, 05:42 PM

Yeah maybe I am forgetting how much UGA has sucked the past 5 seasons or so. I don't want to come across like I'm hating on the guy. Either way the talent is in the state so once he does make inroads in Georgia he should be fine. He's in a good situation because I think he can eventually outrecruit GT.

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