As I wrote for the Friday paper, there wasn’t a lot of sizzle to these SEC Media Days. The coaches really were the show because of the lack of name players. How’d the coaches do? Well, it’s time to rank the 14 SEC coaches based on their presentations in the main media room at Media Days.
1. Steve Spurrier: The ball coach cracked us up a few times. The stuff about the Alamo was classic Spurrier. “I always thought Davy Crockett was the hero of the Alamo, he and those 33 Tennessee guys that came in there and got killed, and so forth.”
2. Kevin Sumlin: The Texas A&M coach was smooth and relaxed. You can tell that this is a guy who is comfortable in his job now. I think there were some media boys who wanted to go play for him.
3. Les Miles: The Hat was great once he quit talking about his family vacations.
4. Nick Saban: Sometimes he gave long-winded answers and he still uses air quotes when they are not needed. But his zinger at the end was priceless.
5. Derek Mason: He was an interesting guy to listen to even though his bowtie was crooked.
6. Will Muschamp: The Florida coach answered the tough questions about the hot seat.
7. Gus Malzahn: I thought he was interesting but he kind of drones on.
8. Mark Richt: Didn’t say much except he doesn’t want his son to take drugs. I told you this was an event filled with breaking news.
9. Mark Stoops: Endeared himself to the media when he said we deserved a medal for being here for four days.
10. Dan Mullen: The former UF assistant was fine. Nothing special.
11. Hugh Freeze: I’m still not sure if he lost a bet to Spurrier or if he knows what a buzz cut really is.
12. Bret Bielema: He talks really fast, somewhere between the words per minute of Muschamp and Ron Zook.
13. Gary Pinkel: Really dry.
14. Butch Jones: A friend of mine put it best. He said he felt the whole time like Jones was trying to sell him Amway products.
