Three SEC football teams have new head coaches. Georgia’s Kirby Smart, South Carolina’s Will Muschamp and Missouri’s Barry Odom all take over at schools that had the three longest tenured coaches entering the 2015 season.
Muschamp is the only one with prior head coaching experience at Florida from 2011-14. However, all three enter coming off seasons as defensive coordinators at other SEC schools.
Smart led the nation’s best defense to a national championship during his final season of a nine-year tenure at Alabama. During that span, the Tide won four national titles, four SEC Championships and six division titles, while Smart’s defenses consistently ranked toward the top of both the SEC and FBS rankings.
Muschamp, following a disappointing stint at Florida, joined Gus Malzahn’s staff at Auburn and was one of the nation’s highest paid assistants. At the time, the move made the Tigers a favorite in the SEC with Mushchamp’s defenses having ranked in the top 10 nationally since 2009. But Auburn fell far short of expectations ranking 13th among SEC teams in total defense. Fittingly, only South Carolina ranked lower during a season coached by both Steve Spurrier, who retired midway through the season and interim Shawn Elliott, who was retained as offensive line coach by Muschamp.
Odom was the only coach employed by his current school in 2015. He re-joined Gary Pinkel’s staff at Missouri after spending three seasons as Memphis’ defensive coordinator which followed several years as a graduate assistant, director of recruiting and football operations and safeties coach at Missouri. After Pinkel’s decision to retire due to a diagnosis of non-Hodkins lymphoma, Odom was named his replacement in December.
All three teams enter 2016 facing different scenarios. South Carolina is the worst team in the SEC and now could possibly have the worst coach in the conference. Missouri, who won back-to-back seasons as SEC East Division titles in 2013-14, finds itself back toward the lower tier of the SEC and the middle of the pack in the East, which was only the case in its first season since expansion.
Georgia has plenty of talent, which is why it decided to part ways with its second winningest coach in school history despite an eventual 10-win season. Georgia ranked sixth overall according to 247Sports.com’s talent rankings composite in 2015.
Smart is a big name given his success as a coordinator, but a mystery entering his first season as a head coach. Still, Georgia is capable of being the best team in the SEC East and a national contender should he live up to expectations.
It’s similar to Florida in 2015 during Jim McElwain’s debut season. The defense was already set and there was talent on offense that needed improved coaching. McElwain proved to be the much better option guiding Muschamp’s former prized recruits. Georgia is hoping to find the same success with Smart in his debut facing a wide open SEC East schedule.
The difference is the Bulldogs have a chance to make an impact. Smart will ultimately be the deciding factor in whether Georgia is a mid-level team or a contender. Muschamp’s coaching short-comings aren’t going to make a horrible South Carolina team any worse and definitely won’t make it better. Odom, at Missouri, should remain a mid-level team at best.
Smart has the advantage of entering an ideal situation with a talented team. Georgia should remain a favorite in the East if the first-year coach proves to be a qualified SEC coach. It’s still too early to assume he will be, but he’ll definitely make the quickest impact of the three new coaches.
The post Which SEC coaching change is going to have the quickest impact? appeared first on Today's "U".