SEC Basketball: Ranking new head coaches for 2019-20

By Joey Loose | Apr 24, 2019

TULSA, OKLAHOMA - MARCH 24: Head coach Nate Oats of the Buffalo Bulls yells to his team during the first half of the second round game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at BOK Center on March 24, 2019 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – MARCH 17: Bryce Brown #2 of the Auburn Tigers and head coach Bruce Pearl celebrate after the 84-64 win against the Tennessee Volunteers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Four SEC Basketball programs decided to make changes at the top, bringing four new head coaches into the league. Let’s take a look at each of these coaches and attempt to rank these hires.

After a season that saw Auburn make their first Final Four, it’s time to look ahead to next year. Kentucky, LSU, and Tennessee each had marvelous seasons as well, but not everything was bright in SEC Basketball this year. There were four teams who struggled enough to make head coaching changes, whose programs failed to compete at a high enough level in this tough conference.

Alabama replaced Avery Johnson with former Buffalo coach Nate Oats, fresh off winning an NCAA Tournament game for a second straight year at the MAC school. Arkansas landed Nevada coach Eric Musselman, who completely rebuilt success at Nevada in a short time, winning loads of games in the Mountain West. Texas A&M brought Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams back to his Texas roots. Vanderbilt, fresh off a winless run through SEC play, punted Bryce Drew and landed G-League coach Jerry Stackhouse, a former NBA star.

Each of these hires has been both praised and criticized by fans and media alike, but these are the new faces in the SEC. We could spend a long time nitpicking at who else these athletic directors could have hired, but they’ve made their decisions. These programs are in the hands of these men, and each of them is tasked with making their teams competitive at the very top of the league.

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A few years ago, Auburn was a complete mess that Bruce Pearl was tasked with rebuilding, and now they blossomed into the Final Four. Each of these new coaches will be held to a similar standard. They will need to win games and land recruits that foster that culture. Obviously, these four programs currently sit at different positions, with some much closer to competing tomorrow than others.

In our attempts to rank these hires, the inherited state of the program will not be taken into account. The rankings will be based on the acumen of the new head coach and how he fits into both the program and the conference. All four of these head coaches had a predecessor who was highly touted and praised, but none of them could win enough games to keep their jobs. Avery Johnson, Mike Anderson, Billy Kennedy, and Bryce Drew are gone; it’s up to these new faces to rebuild their programs.

Without further ado, let’s dive right into ranking these four new coaches.

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