If you take a look at the coaches around the SEC, a very select few were hired without any other previous SEC coaching experience.
Among coaches carrying that distinction are Vanderbilt's Derek Mason, who is heading into his fifth season carrying an overall record of 18-31, and Kentucky's Mark Stoops, who is has an overall record of 26-36 heading into his sixth year.
Twelve of the other fourteen SEC head coaches had previous stops in the SEC before landing their head coaching job in the league, and when Will Muschamp was asked about advice he had for SEC head coaching newcomer Jeremy Pruitt (a coach obviously with a history in the SEC with Nick Saban at Alabama), he noted to The State that Pruitt doesn't need any advice.
Why? Because, according to Muschamp, he's able to check off one of the most important things for a new coach to be successful in the SEC - experience in the league. Muschamp, who has extensive experience in the league at Florida (as head coach), as well as defensive coordinator stop at Auburn and LSU, shared that recruiting in the SEC is unlike anything in any other conference - a notion that I'm sure that more of a few coaches are going to take issue with.
Here's some excerpts via Muschamp shared from that article.
“As much as anything, what’s different in our league is the recruiting element. It’s 24/7, 365 and you have to be involved or it will get away from you. That’s what a lot of coaches who come in our league don’t always understand is that side of it.”
“The recruiting element of it, controlling your roster, making sure the depth or your roster is where it needs to be, that’s the hard thing about being a coach in our league because it’s so competitive. It’s not just what happens on Saturday afternoon. It’s what all leads to Saturday afternoon to me that is the biggest learning curve.”
So what does that mean for the two SEC head coaching hires of this off season that bring with them no previous experience in the league in Chad Morris at Arkansas and Joe Moorhead at Mississippi State?
Only time will tell for sure, but Muschamp is clearly drinking the #ItJustMeansMore Kool-Aid the SEC has been peddling the past few years.
Would be interesting to hear James Franklin and Urban Meyer weigh in on this with their experience as head coaches in the SEC and Big Ten.