Discussing the importance of preseason polls ahead of the 2024 football season
American-Statesman reporters discuss the importance of preseason polls, expectations for No. 4 Texas and the top teams on their personal ballots.
In the Southeastern Conference, it often seems as if all the attention—and all the television revenue—goes to football, but the Longhorns’ new league excels in other sports as well.
The 16-team SEC, which now includes Texas and Oklahoma, won 11 national titles in the 25 men’s and women’s sports it competed in during the 2023-24 school year, with nine more of its teams finishing second nationally during that span.
In comparison, the newly formed Atlantic Coast Conference, which now includes sports legend Stanford, won six national titles last school year.
Who are the best coaches in the expanded SEC, regardless of sport? The American-Statesman presents the top 10.
MORE: Do you have questions about the Texas Longhorns football team’s entry into the SEC? We have answers.
10. Roland Thornqvist, women’s tennis in Florida
The 54-year-old Swede has left his mark on college tennis since he excelled as a player at North Carolina in the 1990s. He took over Florida’s women’s program in 2002 and has never missed an NCAA tournament. The Gators have won four national titles and finished runner-up to Thornqvist twice, achievements surpassed only by a dynastic Stanford program this century.
9. Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt Baseball
The NCAA’s highest-paid baseball coach has done a lot to make a living, especially in the toughest baseball league in the country. The 63-year-old led Vanderbilt to its first national championship in a men’s sport in 2014 and made the Commodores a perennial contender with a 921-443-2 record and two national titles in his 21 years.
8. John Calipari, Arkansas men’s basketball team
Like him or not, Calipari was one of the most influential and successful coaches of his generation. He won the Naismith Award as national coach of the year three times and won the national championship at Kentucky in 2012. This offseason, Calipari left the school after 15 years and six SEC regular season titles to take over at Arkansas. With 790 wins, he ranks 14th on the all-time NCAA Division I coaches’ win list, and the 65-year-old is far from done.
7. Mike Holloway, Athletics in Florida
Since taking over the men’s program in 2001 and the combined men’s and women’s programs in 2007, Holloway, 65, has turned Florida into one of the world’s epicenters for sprinters and jumpers. He has won 13 NCAA championships with the Gators, including a sweep of the team titles in the 2022 outdoor season. His students also have the hardware; during his time at Florida, the Gators have won 59 individual NCAA championships on the men’s side and 31 on the women’s side.
6. Bob Bowman, Swimming in Texas
Recent gold medal wins by France’s Léon Marchand and Hungary’s Hubert Kós are testament to the teaching credentials of the 59-year-old Bowman, who also helped turn Michael Phelps into the world’s best swimmer two decades ago. Bowman, one of the newest coaches in the SEC after arriving from Arizona State in the offseason, turned a static Sun Devil program into a national champion and appears poised to carry on the Texas swimming tradition after Eddie Reese’s retirement.
5. Kirby Smart, Georgia football
The 48-year-old is the most successful head coach from Nick Saban’s coaching family at Alabama and has taken the Bulldogs to the top of the college football world. The former Tide defensive coordinator has amassed a 94-16 record in eight years at Georgia, with two national championships and a runner-up finish. Equally impressive, Smart hasn’t lost an SEC game since 2020 and enters this season with the nation’s No. 1 team.
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4. Jerritt Elliott, Texas volleyball
The California native has led a venerable Texas program to new heights during his 24-year tenure, including three national titles and a 589-114 record. The 56-year-old is just the eighth Division I women’s volleyball head coach to win three championships, and his .835 winning percentage is sixth-best all-time among Division I coaches. A team that has won the last two national titles is expected to do plenty to boost those numbers.
3. Kim Mulkey, LSU women’s basketball
Mulkey, a longtime nemesis of the Longhorns during her successful tenure at Baylor, has not tempered her fiery personality since taking over the Tigers in 2021. The 62-year-old is the first coach in NCAA basketball history to win national championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach, and her .860 winning percentage ranks second among all-time FBS coaches behind Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma. Her four national titles include a 2023 crown with LSU.
2. Dawn Staley, South Carolina women’s basketball team
Winner of the Naismith Award as the nation’s best college player and coach. Multiple-time WNBA All-Star. Olympic gold medalist as a coach and player. Staley, 54, has seemingly accomplished everything in basketball and remains at the top of the game. Now about to begin her 17th season at South Carolina, Staley has a 167-9 record, two national championships in the last five years and three titles overall. Her record includes a 38-0 record last season, the first perfect women’s basketball season in nine years.
1. Patty Gasso, softball player from Oklahoma
No coach has mastered a sport like Gasso, the 62-year-old California native who has built Oklahoma into the nation’s preeminent program. In 29 years at OU, she has compiled a 1,395-344-2 record, to go along with eight national titles and 14 appearances in the Women’s College World Series. No FBS coach has ever won more softball titles, and no team has ever won four consecutive championships, which the Sooners have accomplished over the past four seasons.
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