Preseason SEC hot seat index: Plenty of coaches enter 2025 with varying levels of heat

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ATLANTA — Hugh Freeze normally likes to talk. Not so this week at SEC media days. The Auburn coach gave short answers, uninterested in offering up long, introspective answers on the state of his program.

Freeze acted like a guy who, well, maybe had a tee time.

The background for those who missed it: Freeze posted 11 rounds of golf to the U.S. Golf Association database in June, as AL.com uncovered. This revelation came at a bad time for Freeze, whose recruiting class lost three recruits and fell to 78th in the nation.

Freeze’s golfing became a sore point for some Auburn fans, and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin seemed to needle Freeze on social media. When asked about it this week, Kiffin at first did a version of “who me?” But as Kiffin insisted he was just innocently talking about fishing, he got in his shot:

“(It) had nothing to do with his golf game, which sounds like he’s doing amazing at that. That’s great for him.”

Being a punchline for your peers probably isn’t a great sign for job security. Entering Year 3, Freeze appears squarely on the coaching hot seat — but is far from alone in the SEC.

In the conference where “It Just Means More” often leads to more … buyouts, there were no head coaches fired during or after the 2024 season. That’s not unheard of in the SEC, but it likely means this year will make up for it. The hot seat is clogged.

Less than half of the SEC’s head coaches would seem safe this year, barring some sort of scandal: Kiffin, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, South Carolina’s Shane Beamer and Texas A&M’s Mike Elko. That leaves nine other coaches who, to varying degrees, need to win this year.

Here’s a look at the SEC’s preseason hot seat index:

Hot

Sam Pittman, Arkansas

The inspired — or desperate — decision to bring Bobby Petrino back as offensive coordinator quietly paid off last year: Arkansas improved from last to third in the SEC in offensive yards per play. That helped the Razorbacks go 7-6 and fend off the vultures for another season.

Pittman has winning seasons in three of the past five years, and still looks great compared to the disaster he inherited. Essentially, he has the program back to Bret Bielema territory — Bielema also had three winning seasons in five years, but was never better than 8-5 (Pittman does have a 9-4 in his pocket). But how long before Arkansas decides it needs to get back to, say, how things were under Petrino before his unfortunate motorcycle ride?

Mark Stoops, Kentucky

The dean of SEC coaches is coming off a clunker of a 4-8 season, which might have been an opportune time for Stoops and his bosses to shake hands and move on. The fact he didn’t speaks either to Stoops’ competitive fire to get the program back to a solid level, or apathy in the administration. Or maybe both.

This season doesn’t look too promising, unless new quarterback Zach Calzada — now on his fourth team (and third SEC school) in seven college seasons — is this year’s Diego Pavia. That doesn’t seem likely. But Stoops, whose teams are known for defense and hard-nosed offense, could still get this team back to respectability.

Warm

Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State

Lebby has only had one season, but it was pretty bad: 2-10, and 0-8 in the SEC. This week, Lebby was asked, given how Mississippi State did well in baseball and men’s and women’s basketball, when he would get football back? Lebby replied by pointing out that the school’s softball team also did well.

“It’s our turn to go do our job,” Lebby said.

Or at least not be terrible. That may be tough, given another hard schedule and a roster showing the effect of three coaches in four years. Two seasons may seem an extremely quick hook at Mississippi State, but Lebby is replacing Zach Arnett, who only got one year. Athletic director Zac Selmon did that because he wanted to hire his own guy, and would probably give Lebby more time. So Lebby had better hope Selmon doesn’t leave for, say, the AD job at Oklahoma, where he worked for more than a decade.

Brent Venables, 22-17 in his first three seasons, said he expects Oklahoma to be a Playoff contender “year-in, year-out.” (Jordan Godfree / Imagn Images)

Brent Venables, Oklahoma

Venables has had two losing seasons in three years, and three out of four would mean the end. But he looks primed for improvement, bringing in QB John Mateer and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle from Washington State. Better health at receiver should help too.

“You choose to come to Oklahoma to coach or to play on the biggest stage, in the biggest games, and you accept everything that comes with that,” Venables said Wednesday. “In the new era of college football, we expect to be a program that is year-in, year-out consistently a Playoff contender.”

Getting to that level this year may be enough to get Venables another year. That and a $42 million buyout. If it’s a close call, a complication is the pending retirement of AD Joe Castiglione, who will step down once his replacement is hired. The timing of that, and who it is, could be key. Or Venables could just make the decision easy by winning.

Hugh Freeze, Auburn

Asked about the attention on his golf game, Freeze answered: “It’s something I enjoy doing, but I assure you it does not take away from my time working to take Auburn back to the top of the college football world.”

That’s not out of the realm of possibility this year, especially if QB Jackson Arnold turns things around after a rough season at Oklahoma (which may have had more to do with injuries around him). Freeze has recruited well the previous two years, and brought in good transfers, including receiver Eric Singleton from Georgia Tech.

Still, the first two years have not been great. Auburn went 5-7 last year with four home losses, including California, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. That followed an Auburn debut season when Freeze went 6-7, with a late-season home loss to New Mexico State. And that followed Freeze’s hire being somewhat controversial, given his checkered history. So as much as the golfing thing may seem funny, it also shows the Auburn fan base isn’t in love with Freeze, and he has work to do this year.

Lukewarm

Billy Napier, Florida

The vibes in Gainesville are definitely good, and Napier has turned a corner after winning five of seven to end 2024. After going through the media gantlet on Wednesday, Napier acknowledged it was a nice change from last year.

“A little more narrative about turning around, than how do you turn it around, if that makes sense,” Napier said, adding: “Look, we’re preparing to be dropped in the deep end of the ocean again. That’s the world we live in. The good thing is we have a team that’s prepared, they know what winning football looks like.”

Still, things could go sideways again, especially with a daunting schedule and the health of QB DJ Lagway still a question. And Napier’s buyout is down to $20 million. He may not need a College Football Playoff appearance, but he does need to keep momentum in the right direction.

Brian Kelly, LSU

The natives in Baton Rouge are restless, and the optics of Marcus Freeman doing well at Notre Dame don’t help. Kelly does seem to feel the urgency, putting pressure on himself to end the five-game losing streak in openers.

Still, Kelly has a $55 million buyout. That’s a lot to pay if LSU is “merely” in 9-3 or 8-4 territory. If things get worse than that, look out.

LSU still has a lot of talent, notably with QB Garrett Nussmeier, and the defense could finally be better this year. With Clemson and Florida in the first three weeks of the season, his hot-seat status could shift quickly in either direction.

Cool, but …

Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

DeBoer, like Elko, is only entering his second season, and had a better record than Elko did at Texas A&M. But everything is relative. DeBoer was asked Wednesday if his first season (9-4, no Playoff appearance) met the Alabama standard.

“If you internally ask us, no,” DeBoer said. “We fell short of making the Playoffs. It’s as simple as that, right? Giving yourself a chance to go compete for a championship.”

The good news is DeBoer has back offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, his right-hand man when Washington went to the 2023 national championship game. The bad news is their quarterback isn’t Michael Penix Jr., or even Jalen Milroe. It’s likely to be Ty Simpson, more of an unknown quantity. That said, there’s still plenty of talent, DeBoer has won a lot of football games in his career — including last year — and he’s carrying himself in a good way in Tuscaloosa. He should be fine. He should also try to win more than nine games, just to be sure.

Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

Last year was great: A winning season, beating Alabama. Lea’s voice cracked on Monday as he talked about how far his program had come, using the example of a 2021 game when Vanderbilt was down 35-0 in the first quarter to Georgia before losing 62-0.

“I remember the sun beating down that afternoon and it’s just like you get put in the position of, are you going to coach the team or blame the team?” Lea said. “All of that was beating back my ego, and really, it was a way of me learning that it’s not about me. That ultimately, I’m here in the service of something. And also, without that, I don’t know that I could appreciate these breakthrough moments we’re having now.”

That breakthrough 2024 season almost certainly bought Lea some time to keep building the program the way he wants. That doesn’t mean he can afford to immediately go back to the days of 2-10. Given the return of Pavia, that seems unlikely.

(Top photos: Justin Ford, Wesley Hitt / Getty Images)

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