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Ranking every SEC football coach ahead of SEC Media Days: Where does Butch Jones stand?

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 15: Head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide shakes hands with head coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers after their 49-10 win at Neyland Stadium on October 15, 2016 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 15: Head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide shakes hands with head coach Butch Jones of the Tennessee Volunteers after their 49-10 win at Neyland Stadium on October 15, 2016 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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TUSCALOOSA, AL – NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Dan Mullen of the Mississippi State Bulldogs looks on during the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium on November 12, 2016 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
TUSCALOOSA, AL – NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Dan Mullen of the Mississippi State Bulldogs looks on during the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium on November 12, 2016 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Dan Mullen has the second-longest tenure already of any current coach in the SEC. During that time, he has won no conference championships and suffered two losing seasons.

However, he’s made seven straight bowl games, scored two Top 25 finishes, enjoyed three seasons of nine wins or more, and took the Mississippi State Bulldogs to a No. 1 ranking in 2014.

Yeah, when you consider the caliber of a program that Mississippi State is, Mullen has worked magic in Starkville with his 61-42 record.

Mississippi State is the secondary program trying to recruit the state of Mississippi, which has very good football but is simply not populated enough for a proper amount of talent to distribute out to the Bulldogs and the Rebels. And the surrounding states all have fences around them.

So that means he’s coaching at a huge disadvantage from the start, and on top of that, he’s in the SEC West, which has been the toughest division in football ever since he arrived in Starkville.

Taking all that into account, yes, he’s the second best coach in the SEC to get this program to seven straight bowl games.

Sure, he had no business going to a bowl game last year with a 5-7 record.

But even that was remarkable considering the amount of talent he had to replace, most notably Dak Prescott at quarterback.

And he got them to a bowl despite a 2-5 start. So he just needed time to get his young team to gel. This year will only help his case further.

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