Ranking where Brent Venables belongs among SEC head coaches

Josh Pate recently released a top-10 ranking of head coaches in the SEC, and while he completely dismissed Oklahoma's Brent Venables at No. 8, it got me thinking, how does Venables actually stack up against other leaders in the deepest conference in college football?

Pate mostly used "relative on-field performance" and "talent acquisition" while noting he had recency bias when creating his rankings. Using similar criteria with an emphasis on success actually in the SEC, and actually accounting for what Venables just accomplished in 2025, here's where he ranks in the top 10 of SEC head coaches.

The easiest decision while making this list is who belongs on top. Kirby Smart will probably be No. 1 until the day he retires. He has two national titles and four SEC championships while also owning the best winning percentage among SEC coaches with no signs of slowing down at Georgia.

This is hard to swallow. In two seasons leading the Longhorns in the SEC, Steve Sarkisian has gotten to the College Football Playoff and just barely missed out last season. He's also 4-1 against Venables in the Red River Rivalry and dominated the last two meetings as SEC members.

If these rankings were based on character and likeability, Lane Kiffin would barely crack the top 16. But the dude can coach football. Kiffin took Ole Miss to heights it had never been and even got the Rebels to the CFP last season, but then bolted for LSU before even coaching his team in a playoff game.

Now with almost limitless resources at LSU, Kiffin has to do a lot more than just get the Tigers to the CFP or else he'll be easy to drop in these rankings, especially if Venables and Mike Elko keep heading in the right direction.

Brent Venables was fighting for his job last year after going 6-7, then led the Sooners to the CFP after going 10-2 thanks to a stellar four-game winning streak at the end that included road wins over Alabama and Tennessee.

There's also a lot more to Venables than just his record as he inherited a decimated program from Lincoln Riley and had to guide the Sooners from the Big 12 into the SEC. If all goes according to plan, there will be a consensus after 2026 that Venables belongs in the top 5 as he again leads one of the best defenses in college football.

In two seasons since coming from Duke, Mike Elko has almost transformed Texas A&M into the type of program its fan base thinks it is. He went 8-5 in 2024 after a horrible finish, but then got the Aggies to the CFP last season. However, especially by SEC standards, the Aggies had an incredibly weak schedule for Elko to navigate so he's still somewhat untested.

Folks have seem to have forgotten about Josh Heupel in the last year. After losing their star quarterback in the spring, the Vols went 8-5 last season, but Heupel had them in the playoff the season before. He's also never had a losing SEC record in five seasons leading Tennessee. Maybe No. 6 is actually too low?

Nick Saban handed Kalen DeBoer the keys to a Ferrari, and although he hasn't crashed it yet, he's swerving. He went 9-4 in Year 1 and missed the CFP after the worst team Venables has ever coached upset the Crimson Tide with a game plan that included 68 passing yards on nine completions. DeBoer then had the Tide in the CFP last season, but it required Bama being the first three-loss team to ever sneak into the playoff.

Those are high expectations, but that Bama logo and Saban legacy has held DeBoer up so far.

It's somewhat of a miracle what Clark Lea has done at Vanderbilt. He actually has the Commodores relevant. However, SEC coaches aren't graded on a curve, and he's yet to get to the CFP and has just one winning SEC record in five seasons.

Eliah Drinkwitz is worthy of being in the top 10 for now, but the new crop of SEC coaches could soon pass him, including the guy right below. In six seasons at Mizzou, Drinkwitz has a 26-24 record in the SEC.

It was an incredibly small sample size of Pete Golding leading the way, but he had to take over Ole Miss overnight when Lane Kiffin left for LSU right before the CFP and still managed to lead the Rebels to a pair playoff wins. That makes him more deserving of the top 10, even if South Carolina's Shane Beamer and Mississippi State's Jeff Lebby have been leading SEC programs longer.

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