Alabama Football: Saban and other SEC coaches lead Power 5 coach rankings

Alabama football coach, Nick Saban is No. 1. Check out the top 10 and all SEC coaches.

It never gets old seeing any coach rankings having Alabama football coach, Nick Saban at No. 1. Crimson Tide fans know Nick is best among all active head coaches. Many of us think he may have passed Bear Bryant as the No. 1 of all-time.

Recently CBS Sports ranked every Power Five head coach. No surprise, Nick Saban was No. 1 again. As much as Alabama football fans agree with the ranking, it is still impressive for a head coach whose team was blown out in its last championship game.

The authors admit to the ranking being subjective. That does not make it less valid. It does include some surprises. Jim Harbaugh at No. 12 is generous for a guy whose Wolverine teams have struggled in big games. Two or three years ago, who would have thought a Chip Kelly return to the college ranks would have him rated behind a current Oregon Coach.

Recently we wrote about the CNS Coaching Tree helping retool LSU. The Saban tree stood out in the head coach rankings. Five SEC head coaches and former Nick Saban assistants were ranked in the list’s top 45, Power Five coaches.  Other Saban tree head coaches were Mario Cristobal at No. 24, Mel Tucker at No. 55 and Mike Locksley at No. 61.

All the SEC head coaches are listed below.

• No. 1 – Alabama Crimson Tide – Nick Saban
• No. 4 – LSU – Ed Orgeron
• No. 6 – Georgia – Kirby Smart
• No. 7 – TAMU – Jimbo Fisher
• No. 8 – Florida – Dan Mullen
• No. 18 – Auburn – Gus Malzahn
• No. 22 – Kentucky – Mark Stoops
• No. 27 – Mississippi State – Mike Leach
• No. 35 – Ole Miss – Lane Kiffin
• No. 38 – Tennessee – Jeremy Pruitt
• No. 45 – South Carolina – Will Muschamp
• No. 59 – Eli Drinkwitz
• No. 60 – Derek Mason
• No. 65 – Arkansas – Sam Pittman

If anyone needs a reminder, there are 65, Power Five, head coaches.

A recent ranking of SEC Head Coach Hot Seats somewhat matches the CBS rankings, minus the newest SEC coaches, too early in their tenure to be feeling job pressure. It is hard to argue with the top five SEC head coaches in the CBS rankings. Below the five, there is plenty of room for debate.

Joining CNS, Coach O, Kirby, Jimbo and Mullen in the rankings Top 10 are:

• No. 2 – Clemson – Dabo Swinney
• No. 3 – Oklahoma – Lincoln Riley
• No. 5 – Notre Dame – Brian Kelly
• No. 9 – Penn State – James Franklin
• No. 10 – Ohio State – Ryan Day

As we said in the post linked above, ‘after’ is hopefully many more years. Another six-to-eight Crimson Tide seasons should push Saban to at least No. 3 on the CFB, All-Time win list.