Seats warming up for a few SEC coaches


John L. Smith looked clueless last Saturday. (Beth Hall-US PRESSWIRE)

Which SEC coach is really in trouble? Kentucky’s Joker Phillips, Tennessee’s Derek Dooley, Auburn’s Gene Chizik and Arkansas’ John L. Smith have been mentioned over the past few days as SEC coaches on the hot seat.

Smith is gone for sure.

The Hogs have nearly disintegrated in the span of a week after losses to Louisiana-Monroe and Alabama. An unfortunate injury to quarterback Tyler Wilson in the ULM game has sent the team in a tailspin, but Smith has accentuated the fall. Smith was a disaster on Saturday in two interviews with CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson. He was immature and inarticulate in his responses. For whatever reason, Smith had Wilson padded up, dressed in his uniform taking snaps in pregame warm-ups knowing full well that he was not going to play. To make matters worse, Smith allowed Wilson to call out his teammates in a postgame press conference. Imagine an experienced head coach doing the same. Wilson showed have been encouraged to speak his mind in the locker room instead of in front of the media. Hog fans are already speculating on a new coach.

Phillips is likely gone also. He has a losing record in two-plus years. He has already lost to hated rival Louisville to start the season. One of the final nails in his coaching coffin was an inexcusable loss to Western Kentucky in overtime last Saturday. It is doubtful that Phillips will be given extra time to turn the program around similar to what his predecessor Rich Brooks was given.

Dooley and Chizik are different stories. I believe the school administration will give both coaches more time.

Chizik still has some equity left after winning a national title two seasons ago with Cam Newton. Still, fans and media have realized that outside of the once- in- a- generation accomplishments of Newton that Chizik has had mediocre results at best. Many observers believe that Auburn will be much improved next season with the talent returning. Chizik also made coordinator changes last season brining in Scot Loeffler and Brian VanGorder. Regardless of the change, Auburn coaches have done a poor job of developing their players. The defense especially struggles with basic fundamentals including tackling and simply lining up correctly. The guess here is that Chizik will reluctantly be given another year.

It would not be worth the risk for Tennessee officials to fire Dooley unless the Vols end up with a losing record. The guess here is that the Vols will win at least seven to eight games this season. No, Tennessee was not ready for the ESPN bright lights against Florida, but firing Dooley would be a mistake leading to even more instability at Tennessee. Dooley is still trying to recover from Phil Fulmer overstaying his welcome and the poor recruiting and quick exit of Lane KIffin, who remains the most vilified coach in Tennessee history. Firing Dooley would mean the Vols would have four coaches in a short period of time. Starting over again would not help Tennessee.

It is only September. Who knows how the coaching situations in the SEC will change a month?