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 17, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; A general view of Tiger Stadium during the second quarter of the game between the LSU Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; A general view of Tiger Stadium during the second quarter of the game between the LSU Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

19. Paul Dietzel

Before Nick Saban and Les Miles arrived on the Baton Rouge campus in the 2000s, you better believe that the LSU Tigers won a national championship. The man calling the shots for the Bayou Bengals in the 1950s was none other than head football coach Paul Dietzel.

Dietzel’s tenure in Baton Rouge wasn’t a long one, only from 1955 to 1961, but it was an impactful one. LSU won its first national title in 1958. Dietzel would lead the Tigers to two SEC Championships and LSU’s only Heisman Trophy winner to date played under Dietzel in halfback Billy Cannon.

After the 1961 season, Dietzel did something that would be unthinkable today: resign from the LSU job to go be the head coach of the Army Black Knight. Dietzel would coach at West Point for four years before spending his final nine years as the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Frankly, Dietzel should have never left Baton Rouge. He didn’t do as hot in West Point or Columbia. In seven years at LSU, the Tigers went 46-24-3 (26-16-2), won two conference titles, went 2-1 in bowl games and won a national title. Had he stayed with LSU, who knows how the history of SEC football would look today?

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