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It’s fun to look back and see where the SEC’s field leaders were 10 years ago.
Thirteen of the conference’s 14 head coaches held on-field assistant coaching positions in 2006. The only two who didn’t were Hugh Freeze, who was Ole Miss’ recruiting coordinator, and Barry Odom, who was Missouri’s director of football operations.
Seeing how far former high school coaches Freeze and Gus Malzahn have come has been interesting.
Here’s where every current head coach was 10 years ago:
Bret Bielema (Arkansas): Entering his first year as Wisconsin’s head coach
Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss): Entering his first year as Ole Miss’ recruiting coordinator/assistant coach
Butch Jones (Tennessee): Entering his second year as West Virginia’s wide receivers coach
Gus Malzahn (Auburn): Entering his only year as Arkansas’ offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach
Derek Mason (Vanderbilt): Entering his second year as Ohio’s wide receivers coach
Jim McElwain (Florida): Entering his only year as the Oakland Raiders’ quarterbacks coach
Les Miles (LSU): Entering his second year as LSU’s head coach
Dan Mullen (Mississippi State): Entering his second year as Florida’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Barry Odom (Missouri): Entering his first year as Missouri’s director of football operations
Kirby Smart (Georgia): Entering his only season in the NFL as the Miami Dolphins’ safeties coach under Nick Saban
Nick Saban (Alabama): Entering his second year as the Miami Dolphins’ head coach
Will Muschamp (South Carolina): Entering his first year as Auburn’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach
Mark Stoops (Kentucky): Entering his third year as Arizona’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach
Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M): Entering his first year as Oklahoma’s co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach
The SEC’s head coaches entering the 2006 season (a decade ago):
• Alabama: Mike Shula/Joe Kines
• Arkansas: Houston Nutt
• Auburn: Tommy Tuberville
• Florida: Urban Meyer
• Georgia: Mark Richt
• Kentucky: Rich Brooks
• LSU: Les Miles
• Mississippi State: Sylvester Croom
• Missouri: Gary Pinkel
• Ole Miss: Ed Orgeron
• South Carolina: Steve Spurrier
• Tennessee: Phillip Fulmer
• Texas A&M: Dennis Franchione
• Vanderbilt: Bobby Johnson
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
