Race for 2021 SEC Coach of the Year: Pittman vs. Smart, Kiffin, Stoops
It appears to be a four-man race for the 2021 SEC Coach of the Year award, which will be announced next week along with other conference awards and the All-SEC teams.
Kirby Smart, who led Georgia to an undefeated regular season and No. 1 ranking, has an excellent case to take home the honor, but so do Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and Arkansas’ Sam Pittman.
All four coaches helped their respective teams exceed preseason expectations and the fan bases of each school would likely argue their guy is most deserving.
Here is a quick overview on why each man could be named SEC Coach of the Year…
Georgia's Kirby Smart
The Bulldogs have been the best team in college football this season, period. Smart constructed the best defense we’ve seen in the sport in at least a decade, holding opponents to less than a touchdown (6.9 points) per game.
There’s a good chance Georgia will be the first team since Alabama in 2011 - which had Smart as a defensive coordinator - to have a scoring defense under 10 points. The Bulldogs’ 229.7 yards allowed per game also gives them the best total defense since that Alabama team.
On the other side of the ball, Smart had to navigate injuries to 5-star transfer quarterback JT Daniels and eventually settled on former walk-on Stetson Bennett, who has the second-best passer rating in the country (188.55).
It’s also worth noting that each of the last two SEC Coach of the Year awards went to men who led historically dominant teams - LSU’s Ed Orgeron in 2019 and Alabama’s Nick Saban in 2020. With an undefeated record, 33.8-point average margin of victory and incredible defense, Georgia would seem to fit that mold in 2021 - assuming it doesn’t slip up against Alabama in this weekend’s SEC Championship Game.
That is what you have to do in order to surpass the preseason expectations as high as those for the Bulldogs, who were the overwhelming favorites to win the SEC East and picked by some to win the conference title.
Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin
Coming off a 5-5 season that included shootout losses to Florida and Alabama and an Outback Bowl win over No. 11 Indiana, there was a lot of optimism surrounding Ole Miss entering Year 2 of the Kiffin era.
Led by darkhorse Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Corral, the Rebels were just outside the top 25 in the preseason AP Poll and quickly moved into the top 20 following a season-opening win over Louisville. They’ve been there ever since, reaching No. 8 in the latest AP Poll.
At one point during the season, Corral was considered the Heisman favorite, but that campaign lost some of its luster when Ole Miss was blown out at Alabama and after a disappointing loss to Auburn.
Still, with the help of an improved - but still not great - defense, Kiffin guided the Rebels to their first 10-win regular season in school history and has them positioned for a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl game.
Kentucky's Mark Stoops
Taking the Kentucky job the same year as Arkansas hired Bret Bielema, Tennessee hired Butch Jones and Auburn hired Gus Malzahn, Stoops has steadily built the Wildcats into a good football program.
He finally made it to a bowl in Year 4 and he’s been in the postseason ever since, with this set to be the Wildcats’ sixth straight bowl appearance. Kentucky went 10-3 in 2018, resulting in a No. 12 final ranking and SEC Coach of the Year award for Stoops.
The Wildcats took advantage of a weak SEC East and cross-over game against last-place LSU from the West to go 5-3 and finish second in the division, one spot ahead of where they were picked. They also went 9-3, marking the third time Stoops has won at least eight games - matching Kentucky’s number of 8-win seasons in the 35 seasons prior to his arrival.
The biggest argument against Stoops winning SEC Coach of the Year again in 2021 is the aforementioned schedule. Kentucky didn’t beat a single team with a winning record, but did knock off five 6-6 teams.
Arkansas' Sam Pittman
Just as he did in his first season, Pittman captured the hearts of America by leading the Razorbacks to a hot start - prompting numerous early declarations that he was the SEC Coach of the Year.
Arkansas started the year 4-0 for the first time since 2003 and soared to No. 8 in the AP Poll before a three-game losing streak took it out of the national spotlight. Unlike Year 1, though, the Razorbacks bounced back by winning four of their last five games - with the lone loss a tight 42-35 shootout at Alabama.
Not only is 8-4 Arkansas’ best regular-season record since 2011, but it is dramatically better than what the program experienced right before Pittman’s hire. Between 2017-19, the Razorbacks went just 8-28 overall and 1-25 in SEC play.
Just reaching a bowl game in Year 2 would have been an accomplishment for Pittman, as evidenced by Vegas setting Arkansas’ win total at 5.5, but he blew past that despite having the No. 1 strength of schedule, according to ESPN.
Picked to finish sixth in the West, the Razorbacks actually tied for third - with head-to-head tiebreakers over fellow 4-4 teams Texas A&M and Mississippi State - and are No. 23 in the AP Poll, primed to play in a Florida bowl.
