SEC all-sport coach rankings: Where Dawn Staley, Kirby Smart, Kim Mulkey land
In the Southeastern Conference, it often seems that all the attention — and all the television revenue — flows toward football. But the Longhorns’ new league excels in athletics regardless of the sport.
The 16-team SEC, which now includes Texas and Oklahoma, won 11 national titles in the 25 men’s and women’s sports in which it competed during the 2023-24 school year. Nine more of its teams finished as national runners-up in that span.
In comparison, a revamped Atlantic Coast Conference that now includes athletic powerhouse Stanford won six national title last school year.
Who are the best coaches regardless of the sport in the expanded SEC? The American-Statesman ranks the top 10.
MORE: Have questions as the Texas Longhorns football team enters the SEC? We have answers.
10. Roland Thornqvist, Florida women’s tennis
Ever since he starred as a player at North Carolina in the 1990s, the 54-year-old Swede has made a major imprint on college tennis. He took over the Florida women’s program in 2002 and has never missed an NCAA Tournament. The Gators have won four national titles and finished second twice behind Thornqvist, achievements surpassed this century only by a dynastic Stanford program.
9. Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt baseball
The highest-paid baseball coach in the NCAA has done plenty to earn his keep, especially in the country’s most grueling baseball conference. The 63-year-old led Vanderbilt to its first national championship in any men’s sport in 2014 and has turned the Commodores into a perennial contender with a 921-443-2 record and two national titles in his 21 years.
8. John Calipari, Arkansas men’s basketball
Like him or loathe him, Calipari has been one of the most influential and successful coaches of his generation. A three-time Naismith Award national coach of the year winner and the 2012 national champion at Kentucky, Calipari left that school in the offseason after 15 years and six regular-season SEC titles to take over at Arkansas. He ranks 14th on the all-time wins list for NCAA Division I coaches with 790, and the 65-year-old isn’t done yet.
7. Mike Holloway, Florida track and field
Since taking over the men’s program in 2001 and the combined men’s and women’s programs in 2007, the 65-year-old Holloway has turned Florida into one of the world’s epicenters for sprinters and jumpers. He has won 13 NCAA championships with the Gators, including a sweep of the team titles in the 2022 outdoor season. His pupils have the hardware, too; during his time at Florida, the Gators have 59 individual NCAA championships on the men’s side and 31 on the women’s side.
6. Bob Bowman, Texas swimming
The recent Olympic gold-medal performances from France’s Léon Marchand and Hungary’s Hubert Kós testify to the teaching of the 59-year-old Bowman, who also helped turn Michael Phelps into the world’s greatest swimmer two decades ago. Bowman, one of the newest coaches in the SEC after arriving from Arizona State in the offseason, turned a static Sun Devil program into a national champion and looks primed to carry on Texas’ swimming tradition after the retirement of Eddie Reese.
5. Kirby Smart, Georgia football
The most successful head coach to sprout from the Nick Saban coaching tree at Alabama, the 48-year-old has the Bulldogs atop the college football world. The former defensive coordinator for the Tide has compiled a 94-16 record in eight years at Georgia with two national championships and a runner-up spot. Equally impressive, Smart hasn’t lost an SEC game since 2020 and enters this season with the nation’s No. 1 team.
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4. Jerritt Elliott, Texas volleyball
The native Californian has taken a venerable Texas program to new heights during his 24-year tenure, including three national titles and a record of 589-114. The 56-year-old is just the eighth Division I women's volleyball head coach to win three championships, and his .835 winning percentage ranks as the sixth-best all-time among Division I coaches. A team that has won the past two national titles is expected to do plenty to boost those numbers.
3. Kim Mulkey, LSU women’s basketball
A longtime Longhorn nemesis during her successful tenure at Baylor, the polarizing Mulkey hasn’t tempered her fiery persona since taking over the Tigers in 2021. The 62-year-old is the first coach in NCAA basketball history to win national championships as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach, and her .860 winning percentage ranks second all-time among FBS coaches behind Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma. Her four national titles include a 2023 crown with LSU.
2. Dawn Staley, South Carolina women’s basketball
A Naismith Award winner as both the nation’s top collegiate player and coach. A multitime WNBA All-Star. An Olympic gold medalist as a coach and a player. Staley, 54, has seemingly done everything in basketball and remains at the top of the game. Now about to start her 17th season at South Carolina, Staley has gone 167-9 with two national championships over the past five years and three titles in all. Her record includes a 38-0 mark last season, the first perfect women's basketball season in nine years.
1. Patty Gasso, Oklahoma softball
No coach reigns atop a sport like Gasso, the 62-year-old Californian who has turned Oklahoma into the nation’s preeminent program. In 29 years at OU, she has a record of 1,395-344-2 to go with eight national titles and 14 appearances at the Women’s College World Series. No FBS coach has ever won more softball titles, and no team has ever won four consecutive championships, which the Sooners have done over the past four seasons.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: SEC top-10 coach rankings include John Calipari, Longhorns
