There won't be any more opportunities to giggle at former Mississippi coach Ed Orgeron and his gruff Southern accent. If you want to see what I'm talking about, just search for his Hummer ad on YouTube.
But that just makes ranking this new batch of NFL failures, err, Southeastern Conference coaches, even more interesting.
12. Bobby Johnson - Vanderbilt
At least he's the most tenured Commodores coach in a long time. That's a nice way of saying you're not completely awful. There's a reason Vandy students study more than they watch football.
11. Rich Brooks - Kentucky
He should be higher on this list. But after a late-season collapse in 2007, Brooks is on the end of this list - again. All signs pointed to the Wildcats being a serious SEC sleeper last year, and then they went down. So does Brooks' ranking.
10. Bobby Petrino -Arkansas
Fifty bucks to anyone who goes to a Razorback practice or press conference with a Michael Vick jersey on. The departed Atlanta Falcons coach makes Nick Saban look like a nice guy - that's about as easy as bringing down Tim Tebow. Petrino, however, did a remarkable job at Louisville.
9. Houston Nutt - Mississippi
It's a step down from Arkansas, but Nutt is a legitimate name and a good recruiter. He should make the Rebels better, but he's not a miracle worker.
8. Sylvester Croom - Mississippi State
Finally. The feel-good story of the SEC last season. If Croom turns the Bulldogs around completely, you have to put him in the same conversation as the elite coaches around the nation. However, it's just one season. Put a few more together, and he moves up.
7. Steve Spurrier - South Carolina
It's a slow and steady decline. When he took the Gamecocks' job, people thought he'd have them contending in two, maybe three years. Considering freshmen entering college now were born in the '90s, they won't remember that 1996 national championship.
6. Nick Saban - Alabama
Only hardcore Alabama fans would worship this guy. He owes Petrino a man hug and pat on the back for not making him the jerk of the conference anymore. Records don't lie, though, and Saban has produced in a major way on the college level.
5. Mark Richt - Georgia
This is the year for Richt, and he'd better produce. If he doesn't, he'll start to have major doubters. Georgia's been on the brink of becoming a national powerhouse for a while; it's time to make that jump.
4. Phillip Fulmer - Tennessee
His job was on the line last year, and Fulmer came through. After getting humiliated in Gainesville, Fulmer's team came back to make an SEC Championship game with a team that wasn't as talented as UF or Georgia.
3. Les Miles - LSU.
When you just won a national championship, it's hard to ignore you.
2. Urban Meyer - UF
Sorry, Urb, you're only No. 2. Perhaps the best recruiter in the nation, but this is a year where he has to prove it on the field. He has yet to have a really dominant UF team. The Gators proved they were the best in 2006, but they wouldn't have played for the title in most years.
1. Tommy Tuberville - Auburn
No national championship, you say? In my book, going 13-0 in 2004 is enough to say you were at least half of a national champion. Meyer hasn't done that yet. And Tuberville makes the most out of his talent more than any other coach in the country. He's won on the road, and Auburn has no business being among the nation's elite, but thanks to Tuberville, they are.
