Ranking The SEC Football Coaches

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https://deathvalleyvoice.com/2020/02/01/lsu-football-power-ranking-sec-head-coaches/

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Another ranking: 

 

Ranking college football's top 10 coaches for 2019

ByGARRETT STEPIEN 10 hours ago 

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A month and a day ago, the 2019 college football season came to an end late in the New Orleans night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with Ed Orgeron hoisting the College Football Playoff national championship trophy. In his third year as LSU's head coach, a role he earned after originally starting out as the defensive line coach on Les Miles' staff from 2015-16, Orgeron's career journey reached its pinnacle Jan. 13 with LSU's 42-25 win over Clemson to capture the CFB Playoff crown.

After failing as a head coach at Ole Piss from 2005-07 and not getting the USC job following an interim stint with a 6-2 mark in 2013, Orgeron's rise back up headlined 2019's coaching success stories. College Football News publisher Pete Fiutakhighlighted Orgeron's year but also credited nine others for strong seasons at their respective spots.

Tracking the best head coaches in college football, with his previous rankings referenced, Fiutak recently released CFN's final top 10 for 2019. From the 10th to the first, scroll through the following for a look at how he arrived at the final rankings.

10.) MARK STOOPS, KENTUCKY

 

(Photo: Jim Dedmon, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: No. 75.

2018 Ranking: No. 1.

247Sports' Take: Despite the fact that Kentucky lost its top two players on both sides of the ball after it graduated 2019 NFL draft picks in running back Benny Snell and outside linebacker Josh Allen, Mark Stoops kept the Wildcats afloat.

Kentucky went 8-5 overall and 3-5 against SEC play in 2019, doing so after quarterback injuries forced wide receiver and return specialist Lynn Bowden into the starting role for the final six games.

Coming off a career-best 10-3 (5-3 SEC) campaign in 2018, the Wildcats had every reason for 2019 to go haywire, but Stoops delivered with the second-best year he has had since taking over the program at the start of 2013.

9.) RYAN DAY, OHIO STATE

 

(Photo: Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: Not applicable.

2018 Ranking: Not applicable.

247Sports' Take: Following a legend is never easy, but Ryan Day made the pressure-packed succession of former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer(2012-18) look easy.

A two-year offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Meyer with the Buckeyes from 2017-18, Day retooled OSU's defensive staff outside of defensive line coach Larry Johnson by hiring co-coordinators Jeff Hafley and Greg Mattison, who turned the defense into a top-ranked unit. Day also recruited Georgia transfer Justin Fields, a first-year starter, to Ohio State and helped develop him into a 2019 Heisman Trophy finalist.

The Buckeyes (13-1, 9-0) were loaded with talent, but Day led them to a level they had not reached in years, cracking the CFB Playoff semifinal after winning a third straight Big Ten title. OSU also beat archrival Michigan for the eighth straight year, an imperative piece to being head coach in Columbus.

8.) TROY CALHOUN, AIR FORCE

 

(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: 89.

2018: Ranking: 89.

247Sports' Take: For all of the talk around Army's Jeff Monken and Navy's Ken Niumatalolo (more on him later) through the years, Air Force's Troy Calhoun has been building an exceptional program among the three academies.

The Falcons already experienced hints of success under Calhoun, but they soared to new heights in Year 13. After back-to-back 5-7 seasons from 2017-18, Air force went 11-2 overall and 7-1 against Mountain West play in 2019, capped by a 31-21 Cheez-It Bowl win over Washington State.

A former NFL offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach with the Houston Texans in 2006, Calhoun has gradually been working Air Force up brick by brick, and the Falcons finally broke through.

7.) SCOTT SATTERFIELD, LOUISVILLE

 

(Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: 42.

2018 Ranking: 26.

247Sports' Take: Louisville might have missed out on Purdue's Jeff Brohm during last offseason's coaching cycle, but Appalachian State's Scott Satterfieldproved to be a hell of a consolation prize.

Satterfield showed that coaching was an issue during the Cardinals' 2018 season, which ended with a 2-10 (0-8 ACC) record, turning the team around and going 8-5 (5-3 ACC).

Satterfield proved to be the change Louisville needed after the team fell off under former head coach Bobby Petrino, and the Cardinals are pointed upward after ending 2019 by winning three of their last four, including a 38-28 win over Mississippi State — and delivering the final nail in since-fired head coach Joe Moorhead's coffin with the Bulldogs — in the Music City Bowl.

6.) KEN NIUMATALOLO, NAVY

 

(Photo: Tommy Gilligan, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: 57.

2018 Ranking: 108.

247Sports' Take: Great coaches adapt, and that was exactly what Niumatalolo did as Navy bounced back from a career-worst 3-10 season in 2018. The Midshipmen not only flipped that record around in 2019, but went 11-2 (7-1 AAC) for only the second time since Niumatalolo took over going into 2008, matching 2015's previous best. Niumatalolo went back to quarterback Malcolm Perry, who did not disappoint. Navy convincingly took back its rivalry game against Army with a 31-7 win over the Black Knights and put an exclamation mark on the campaign in the form of a 20-17 victory against Kansas State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

5.) DABO SWINNEY, CLEMSON

 

(Photo: Joshua S. Kelly, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: 6.

2018 Ranking: 3.

247Sports' Take: Clemson nearly won 30 straight games before falling short of a historical college football feat in the CFB Playoff national championship loss to LSU, but Dabo Swinney kept a machine churning off of last year's title.

After losing a wave of talent off 2018's defensive line, Swinney kept Clemson in order and away from any hiccups until the national championship — which, as it turns out, could have come against arguably the greatest team in college football history when all is said and done.

Clemson got the annual benefit of beating up on the ACC, but it is where it is because Swinney created its dominance and has made the talented Tigers sustainable for even years where there should be a bit of a dip.

4.) SEAN LEWIS, KENT STATE

 

(Photo: Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: Not applicable.

2018 Ranking: 91.

247Sports' Take: If you are not familiar with Sean Lewis, you better get to know the fast-rising Kent State head coach.

In Year 2 with the Golden Flashes, Lewis led KSU to a remarkable turnaround, going 7-6 overall and 5-3 against MAC play with the program's first ever bowl victory to cap things off. Kent State's 51-41 win over Utah State in the Tropical Smoothie Frisco Bowl completed an incredible leap after 2018, when the Flashes went 2-10 (1-7).

A former Wisconsin kick returner and tight end from 2006-07 with previous experience as a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Bowling Green (2015) and Syracuse (2016-17) under current Orange head coach Dino Babers(2016-present) at each stop, Lewis is one to keep an eye on in 2020 and beyond.

3.) P.J. FLECK, MINNESOTA

 

(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: 90.

2018 Ranking: 47.

247Sports' Take: Minnesota's breakout 2019 season under P.J. Fleck proved to be no fluke. After understandable doubts from getting by a soft non-conference schedule earlier in the year, the Gophers put the Big Ten on notice with their 31-26 win over previously unbeaten Penn State.

They stumbled at Iowa and later let a chance to take the West Division with a loss to Wisconsin, but Minnesota stood its ground when it pulled off a 31-24 victory against Auburn in the Outback Bowl — which came after losing offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to the Nittany Lions.

Fleck had Minnesota believing from Day 1, and the young but ready Gophers delivered with an 11-2 (7-2 Big Ten) result after going 5-7 and 7-6 from 2017-18.

2.) MATT RHULE, BAYLOR

 

(Photo: Derick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: 129.

2018 Ranking: 15.

247Sports' Take: What more is there to say about Matt Rhule's time at Baylor? Rhule inherited a mess of a program, left for dead after a sexual assault scandal while the team was under disgraced former head coach Art Briles, but overhauled the Bears in just three years. He completed his full-circle transformation of Baylor by going 11-3 (7-1 Big 12) and leading the Bears to a New Year's Six game. Rhule parlayed the peak of his three-year run at Baylor into an NFL job with the Carolina Panthers, after reportedly being highly sought after by the New York Giants and others. Evidenced by how he rebuilt his Bears, there was an obvious reason for that.

1.) ED ORGERON, LSU

 

(Photo: Stephen Lew, USA TODAY Sports)

2017 Ranking: 45.

2018: 15.

247Sports' Take: Not long ago, LSU was being mocked for missing out on Tom Herman — who went to Texas — and settling with Orgeron. Three years after LSU gave Orgeron a shot as an interim head coach upon firing Miles early in the 2016 season, the Tigers got the last laugh.

Orgeron was by no means a one-man band, with an elite staff that included Broyles Award-winning passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Joe Brady, but Orgeron retooled his cabinet where he saw fit and has proven to be a top recruiter. Orgeron's vision came full circle in 2019, pulling together one of college football's greatest all-time teams.