SECMD25: Seat is hot for select group of coaches

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops begins his 13th season, most in the SEC among current coaches. His team is coming off a 4-8 record, making the new season vital to his future. (Courtesy Southeastern Conference)

By GRAHAM DUNN

ATLANTA - The question was asked of Mark Stoops, the dean of coaches in the Southeastern Conference, about to begin his 13th season at the University of Kentucky.

“How motivated are you?”

It seems like a legitimate question concerning the Wildcats after coming off a disappointing 4-8 season, the worst in his tenure since Stoops’ first year when with the Cats went 2-10.

“As I talk a lot in the off-season, I love how people grab certain aspects of things that I say. It's no different than I've ever been. Zero change,” he said on Thursday at the final day of SEC Kickoff at the College Football Hall of Fame.

“I think one thing that has been a pleasant change for me is being consumed with certain aspects of this work that we have to do for the years leading up to this. In particular I think all of us have touched on it, I want to move past it. But the fundraising aspect of our job, that's something that consumes us. I want to get back to the coaching. That makes me very happy.”

Stoops has company in the “motivated” department as there are several coaches who need it to find the right chemistry to keep their job.

The “hot seat” moniker has been placed on a few SEC coaches going into the season. Those included on the list are Stoops, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze, Brent Venables of Oklahoma, Sam Pittman of Arkansas and, believe it or not, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer.

A few others, at the moment, moved off the list after a decent season in ’24. Those include Florida’s Billy Napier, South Carolina’s Shane Beamer and Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri.

Napier beat back the idea the he was on the way out with a solid finish to 2024. He was all but gone prior to the season and didn’t exactly fire out of the starting gate with a 41-17 loss to state-rival Miami, Fla. But the Gators finished with a flurry, winning the last four games that included LSU, Ole Miss and its biggest rival, Florida State. They finished with a bowl victory over Tulane.

“There was a critical stretch right in there around Tennessee-Kentucky where all of a sudden we flipped the switch, and there's a confidence and a belief that we could play with anybody,” Napier explained.. “And from that point forward, you know, I think they felt like they were good enough, and it was about just going and executing and playing on game day.”

Two years ago, Eli Drinkwitz was considered a coach on the hot seat but the Tigers put together 11- and 10-win seasons to save his job. (Courtesy Southeastern Conference)

Drinkwitz began the turnaround two years ago when the Tigers reached the Cotton Bowl where they beat Ohio State. The 2024 season didn’t fall into place as expectations rose, but it was good enough at 10-3.

Beamer’s Gamecocks caught fire thanks in part to a freshman quarterback in LaNorris Sellers, who put his team in position for a possible playoff bid with a win at Clemson. The 9-4 season followed a succession of four-straight seasons of five or more losses.

“You look back at last season and there is a lot of momentum going into this season because of what we did last year,” Beamer said. “There is no question about it. And we have a lot of guys coming back.

“But I would say a few things. One, it's realizing that just because it happened last season doesn't mean it just automatically happens this year. I mentioned it upstairs with the electronic media. There are plenty of examples of teams across the country every year in college football that they're getting pumped up all summer long and then go out week one and get smacked in the face and never recover.”

As for those who are looking to stave off any ideas of the unemployment line, the words and statements at this year’s SEC Football Media Days has been varied. Freeze went the uber-positive route, talking about making the playoffs with a team that hasn’t finished .500 since he arrived three years ago.

“I truly believe that in the playoff run we're going to be in this discussion because I love this team,” Freeze explained. “I think we had -- now, we've got to stay healthy and we need the ball to bounce our way a couple times this year instead of against us, I'm sure, but that's our full expectation. We embrace the fact that that is what Auburn should be, in those talks year in, year out. 


“It takes a little time to build it, and we've been doing that. Certainly I wish we would have won more games a few times, but the future is very bright in my eyes. We've been blessed everywhere we've been to win, and I expect nothing less than that at Auburn.”
Venables is all about motivation (like Stoops). Culture, mindset, how we do what we do, how we practice, the passion, the intensity, should be like a game mindset every rep,” he said. “Those are game reps. To get the buy-in is not an easy thing to do, as many coaches will tell you.”

But that would be the key for any coach. DeBoer, who led Bama to a 9-4 record last year, doesn’t need any motivation other than understanding the standard that was set by the former coaches, including the greatest in Nick Saban, whom he is following.

“Yeah, I mean, if you internally ask us, no,” DeBoer said when asked if his team fell short of the Tide’s standards. “We fell short of making the Playoffs. It's as simple as that, right? Giving yourself a chance to go compete for a championship.

“I think there's a lot of things that I'm super proud of that have happened within the program that are part of the progression. Yeah, we want it right now, too. Yeah, we fell short. Our guys, again, I'm proud of them and the way they've responded to us not realizing the goals that we set out to have, getting back to work, focusing on the main thing.”

Despite a “drought” of two seasons without a national championship team, the SEC continues to tout itself as the strongest in the country. But the issues haven’t been a lack of powerful football teams. It’s been more about - dare it be said - parity.

Which means one or two of these hot-seat coaches may not make it to bowl season.

But don’t tell them the odds.

“When you have a down year, you have to stand up here, own it, face it, talk about the things you're doing to address it, then move on,” Stoops said.

“I've stood up here after two 10-win seasons. That has only happened two times in the history of our school. I don't want to talk about that year, I want to talk about this year. There's a fine balance there.”