Ranking the head coaches in the SEC
5. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
Fourth-year head coach Lane Kiffin took Ole Miss to new heights in 2023, winning 11 games and a New Year's Six Bowl. After finishing in the AP Top 10 for the first time since 2015, Kiffin is looking to get the Rebels an SEC Championship this coming season.
Ole Miss hasn't won an SEC Championship since the 1960s and its never won more than the 11 games that Kiffin and the Rebels did in 2023. Kiffin has the talent and depth necessary on both sides of the ball to make a run at an SEC Championship Game appearance and the first College Football Playoff appearance in program history.
4. Brian Kelly, LSU
Few head coaches have matched the consistent success that Brian Kelly has during his time with LSU and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the last eight years. Kelly has won double-digit games in every season he's been a head coach (at Notre Dame and LSU) since 2017.
Kelly has also done well in his first two years in Baton Rouge, winning a combined 20 games and making an appearance in the SEC Championship Game in 2022.
Replacing Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels and two first-round draft picks at wide receiver will be Kelly's biggest challenge in 2024 at LSU.
3. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
The newest SEC head coach among the top five coaches on this list is new Alabama bench boss Kalen DeBoer. After spending the last four years as the head coach of the Fresno State Bulldogs and then at Washington, DeBoer is stepping into the big-time to takeover as the first Alabama head coach after Saban's retirement early this offseason.
This will obviously be no easy task to work in the shadow of arguably the greatest head coach in the history of college football at Alabama.
DeBoer had a ton of success at Washington last season, winning the PAC-12 and making it all the way to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. The question for DeBoer now is whether he can replicate the same high-flying offense and success in the win column in the SEC.