What if the decisive ingredient in a college football team’s success was the athletic prowess of the head coach back in his playing days?
If that were the case, I’d forecast a 2026 national championship game between Colorado and Bowling Green. “Prime Time” himself, Deion Sanders, vs. 1995 Heisman winner Eddie George.
But of all the factors that compute in a team’s drive to win, the coach’s old highlight reel isn’t one of them.
Still, it’s interesting to explore which coaches were ballers and which weren’t.
I surveyed the SEC coaches several years ago. Since there’s been both expansion and heavy turnover, it’s worth revisiting.
Can any current SEC coach match the chops of Tennessee’s Josh Heupel? No, but one comes close.
Among the SEC fraternity, we
have four ex-college quarterbacks. And three defensive backs. A couple of linebackers. A record-setting receiver. A seldom-seen fullback. And a long snapper.
The other four didn’t play college football.
Career-ending injuries are part of the story. So are junior colleges. And baseball.
I’d still give Heupel the nod. His journey from junior college to the big time is epic. He was 20-5 as the starter in two years at Oklahoma, passing for 7,456 yards and 55 touchdowns. National title, Heisman runner-up, All-America, Walter Camp Award.
It’s Texas coach Steve Sarkisian who gives Heupel a run for his money.
A multi-sport high school jock, Sark was a walk-on baseball player at Southern Cal. Then he played shortstop at a junior college, where a coach recommended he give quarterbacking another shot.
He did and landed at BYU where, in two years, he broke school career passing records. BYU went 14-1 in 1996, with Sark leading the nation in passing efficiency and winning the Sammy Baugh Award.
Our third quarterback is Kentucky’s Will Stein, a prep star who walked on at hometown Louisville. An injury – while playing Kentucky in Lexington – and the arrival of Teddy Bridgewater relegated Stein to backup duty.
Then there’s Lane Kiffin. His QB stats at Fresno State are so insignificant they are lost to history. He wanted to quit his senior year, but dad Monte wouldn’t allow it. So Lane transitioned to student receivers coach.
A target Heupel and Sarkisian would have liked is Kalen DeBoer of Alabama. At the University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota), DeBoer was a record-setting receiver for the 1996 NAIA national champs.
As a senior, DeBoer also hit .520 for the USF baseball team.
Georgia’s Kirby Smart was an All-SEC defensive back for the Bulldogs in the 1990s. Pete Golding of Ole Miss and Mike Elko of Texas A&M were also solid DBs, Golding at Delta State and Elko at Penn in the Ivy League.
Oklahoma’s Brent Venables was a juco All-American linebacker who finished his career as a star for Bill Snyder at Kansas State.
Jon Sumrall, the new Florida coach, was a stud linebacker at Kentucky. A spinal issue canceled his senior year.
Shane Beamer is trying to hold on to his job at South Carolina. In college at Virginia Tech, he was the holder for kicks on his dad Frank’s teams.
I figured Clark Lea of Vanderbilt for a linebacker. No, he was a walk-on fullback for the ‘Dores. But only after playing baseball at two prior schools.
Jeff Lebby of Mississippi State and Ryan Silverfield of Arkansas were both prep stars. But injuries nixed a college career.
Auburn’s Alex Golesh played high school ball in Ohio after moving as a child from Russia. But not at Ohio State. He transitioned straight to an entry-level coaching slot.
Finally, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz didn’t play football at Arkansas Tech. But he was student body president.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a sports column for Shopper News.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel wasn’t the only baller among SEC head coaches | Opinion
