The Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, and LSU Tigers are no longer the butt of the joke in the SEC. Saturday Down South's Derek Peterson believes all three programs finally have head coaches who aren't outside their depth anymore.
Peterson sees the Alabama Crimson Tide, with Kalen DeBoer at the helm, as the SEC school with a current ill-fitting head coach, and also mentioned the Texas A&M Aggies' $77 million Jimbo Fisher mistake, and LSU's $54 million Brian Kelly mistake in that conversation.
"The SEC has been hurt by some of its biggest brands whiffing on coaches. Florida, Auburn, and, yes, LSU, were all being managed by coaches who were outside their depth until recently. A proclivity for solving the coach problem with the largest wad of cash has been a bugaboo within the league, and that can’t be overlooked either," Peterson wrote.
"Texas A&M threw a bag at Jimbo Fisher, then LSU did the same with Brian Kelly, then Alabama did the same with Kalen DeBoer. Fit was or still is questionable for all 3."
The Bayou Bengals are entering what should be a more certain period of sustained success under Lane Kiffin, who is far more popular with players than Kelly. Meanwhile, Jon Sumrall is heading to Gainesville with more urgency and a much stronger coaching staff than Billy Napier ever had at Florida.
Then, of course, there's the gridiron revolution happening at AU in 2026.
Auburn finally escapes Cult of Personality trend
Alex Golesh on the Plains is the most radical departure any program is making in transitioning from the old era to a new one this offseason. As a quiet, true family man, Golesh brings no personal drama from any previous stops and a practically non-existent threat of getting into trouble for the duration of his tenure in Lee County, Alabama.
Golesh isn't planning on throwing a massive NIL check at several blue-chips while essentially having a class system that treats players in different tax brackets differently. Bryan Harsin had a far more heinous way of differentiating how he treated players in his locker room.
Golesh is doing things much, much differently. With really no direction to go from up after Harsin and Hugh Freeze's failed tenures, that has to mean something.