Poll Best 1st year SEC coach so far

Best SEC greenhorn so far

  • Bryan Harsin, Auburn

    Votes: 4 19.0%

  • Shane Beamer, South Carolina

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Clark Lea, Vanderbilt

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Josh Heupel, Tennessee

    Votes: 14 66.7%

  • Southern Style potato salad

    Votes: 3 14.3%
  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
CoalTrain

CoalTrain

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Best so far IYO
 
Go ahead and rank em 1-5 while ya at it

Mine:

1. Heupel - UT was supposed to be a train wreck from day 1 and they are still NOT a great team by any means but he does have the Vols in striking distance of a bowl game which would be a big W on the season should it come to pass. Grade-B+

2. Harsin - Auburn imo is a little better than was expected ( by me anyway) still showing some growing pains but overall... noy bad iyam. Grade- B-

3. Beamer - He has some wins vs G5 teams but their offense is terrible and the team seems to be getting worse as the season goes on. He looked like a man trying to hold a fart after eating 3 bowls of beans for most of the Tennessee game then tried the rah rah stuff after they scored to pull within 38 or so in the 2nd half vs UT... it looked very assistant coachlike and imo its looking like he prob should have began his HC career at a lower level. Grade D+

4. Clark Lea- What a mess Vandy is and this guy has done nothing to give anyone in Nashville hope for the future (like Vandy has one) Vandy is like a smelly garbage bag, it needs thrown out... of the SEC. Grade- F
 
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It's Heupel.

It's the biggest improvement from the team's last season of any of the teams anyways. He also did a good job hitting up the transfer portal to help offset all the talent that transferred out. I thought Tennessee would be a 3-9, 4-8 team, they're outpacing that. They have a brutal 4 game stretch coming up that could sink their season. Ole Miss, @Alabama, @Kentucky and Georgia, but they finish with a cupcake and Vandy, so they should at least go bowling, and after a disastrous 3-7 season last year and losing pretty much every good player on the roster to the transfer portal, that would be a pretty big accomplishment considering preseason expectations.

I don't think Harsin has gotten Auburn anywhere Gus couldn't have gotten them to this year and Bo Nix still looks mediocre. I only see one sure win left on Auburn's schedule, so even making a bowl game isn't a guarantee.

Beamer and Lea took on major rebuilding jobs, they need 4 years minimum to properly evaluate them. The cupboards were bare.
 
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Let's wait a few weeks to vote. I am tempted to vote Heupel.

Beamer has impressed me a little. I agree that South Carolina is a major rebuilding job.

Hard to give any credit to Lea. Sure Vandy is a major rebuild as well but still they shouldn't have lost to ETSU 23-3.
 
Heupel looked like he was a bust the first two weeks but once he found a QB he started rolling but then again he hasn’t beaten anyone he shouldn’t have. He gets the nod right now but Harsin’s two loses we’re to teams he was supposed to lose to and he beat LSU in BR when the spread wasn’t in his favor.

TN is probably going to lose the next 4 games so wins against Mizzou and SC might not look as good afterwards. Auburn is going to have their hands full the next 4 weeks also.

Basically we don’t have a clue right now.
 
Wild Turkey said:
Heupel looked like he was a bust the first two weeks but once he found a QB he started rolling but then again he hasn’t beaten anyone he shouldn’t have. He gets the nod right now but Harsin’s two loses we’re to teams he was supposed to lose to and he beat LSU in BR when the spread wasn’t in his favor.

TN is probably going to lose the next 4 games so wins against Mizzou and SC might not look as good afterwards. Auburn is going to have their hands full the next 4 weeks also.

Basically we don’t have a clue right now.
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Actually, Missouri was favored against Tennessee.
 
I can see Harsin. It is hard to tell until you at least give the coach 2 years or so into their regime.

As stated, only the Vandy coach has really had an embarrassing loss (ETSU). Usually you judge new coaches by the embarrassing losses and upsets more than general performance.
 
Not Harsin. Losing to PSUx was a terrible embarrassment to the SEC. The game was like watching turtles beat up on rabbits.
 
JuiceTheGator said:
Not Harsin. Losing to PSUx was a terrible embarrassment to the SEC. The game was like watching turtles beat up on rabbits.
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I would say losing to Pitt at home was more embarrassing than Auburn losing @ Penn State. Still, Pitt got some home cooking from the refs (granted the calls in question would have helped create a tie and not won the game for TN).

I can see the argument for Harsin being #1 on the list. However, Harsin did inherit a lot more talent and far better situation than the other three.
 
Volbound1700 said:
I would say losing to Pitt at home was more embarrassing than Auburn losing @ Penn State. Still, Pitt got some home cooking from the refs (granted the calls in question would have helped create a tie and not won the game for TN).

I can see the argument for Harsin being #1 on the list. However, Harsin did inherit a lot more talent and far better situation than the other three.
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First, like I said the next 4 games will tell us what we need to know.

As for talent it’s debatable if Auburn had more to inherit past Tank and linebackers: the receiver group was decimated, the o-line is a patchwork quilt and we don’t have a play at next level defensive tackle.

I’m fine where Auburn is right now. It’s not pretty on the field but Harsin is correcting a lot of issues and making better decisions than Malzahn ever did. For me it will come down to recruiting because he needs to close really strong in the top 15 this first year (last year does not count). We will have to hit the portal for O-Line and D-Line.
 
Wild Turkey said:
First, like I said the next 4 games will tell us what we need to know.

As for talent it’s debatable if Auburn had more to inherit past Tank and linebackers: the receiver group was decimated, the o-line is a patchwork quilt and we don’t have a play at next level defensive tackle.

I’m fine where Auburn is right now. It’s not pretty on the field but Harsin is correcting a lot of issues and making better decisions than Malzahn ever did. For me it will come down to recruiting because he needs to close really strong in the top 15 this first year (last year does not count). We will have to hit the portal for O-Line and D-Line.
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So, tell me what school lost the most players to transfer in the entire country once again? There is no argument to stand on that Harsin inherited a worse situation than Heupel.
 
NOT BEAMER
 
I voted Heupel, but so far they've lost to all the good teams they have played and won against the crappy teams they have played. The surprising thing is that their offense looks really good. The next 4 weeks will tell ... if they can win one of Ole Miss or Kentucky, they will have a winning season. Not many people saw that coming.

I'll be real interested to see how they play against Bama who actually has a defense. I expect big numbers against OM, then they play the 3 best Ds in the SEC.
 
WhosYourDawggy said:
I voted Heupel, but so far they've lost to all the good teams they have played and won against the crappy teams they have played. The surprising thing is that their offense looks really good. The next 4 weeks will tell ... if they can win one of Ole Miss or Kentucky, they will have a winning season. Not many people saw that coming.

I'll be real interested to see how they play against Bama who actually has a defense. I expect big numbers against OM, then they play the 3 best Ds in the SEC.
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Are we sure Bama has a defense? Because they didn’t look like they had one a couple days ago.
 
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