Fansided

25 greatest SEC Football coaches of all time

By John Buhler

Dec 31, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban reacts in the third quarter against the Michigan State Spartans in the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban reacts in the third quarter against the Michigan State Spartans in the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 26, 2015; Lexington, KY, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel during the game against the Kentucky Wildcats in the first half at Commonwealth Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 26, 2015; Lexington, KY, USA; Missouri Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel during the game against the Kentucky Wildcats in the first half at Commonwealth Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports /

24. Gary Pinkel

One day very soon, Gary Pinkel will be in the College Football Hall of Fame as the winningest head coach of two Division I programs: The Toledo Rockets and the Missouri Tigers. While Pinkel did the bulk of his winning in the MAC and the Big 12, he did help usher in a new era of Missouri football when the joined the SEC in 2012.

Pinkel may have only coached four years in the SEC before retiring after the 2015 NCAA season, but he did make a quick impact his first few years in the new conference. After going a dismal 5-7 (2-6) in Missouri’s first year in the SEC in 2012, his Tigers shocked the conference by going 12-2 (7-1) en route to winning the SEC East in 2013.

While Missouri would later be steamrolled by Gus Malzahn’s Auburn Tigers in the 2013 SEC Championship, it wasn’t a one-year wonder for Missouri in the SEC. The very next season Missouri did it again by winning the SEC East for the second straight year. Missouri went 11-3 (7-1), but lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2014 SEC Championship in Atlanta.

Overall, Pinkel may have only gone 33-13 (17-15) in his four years as the Tigers coach in SEC play, but his elite coaching helped prove that Missouri belonged in its new conference and wasn’t just a throwaway team to equal out the addition of the Texas A&M Aggies. It will be very hard for Missouri to replace Pinkel’s impact to the program in the long run. Barry Odom’s first year at the helm in Columbia didn’t go so hot.

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