With John Calipari making the not-so-subtle move of leaving Kentucky for Arkansas this week, here is one ranking of the Southeastern Conference's current top five basketball coaches:
1. NATE OATS
While Alabama was winning six national championships under Nick Saban in the 12 football seasons from 2009-20, the Crimson Tide were making just two trips to the NCAA tournament during that stretch. Enter Nate Oats, who had been the prize catch of the 2019 hiring cycle after leading Buffalo to a 32-4 record.
Oats has guided Alabama to three Sweet 16 appearances, two SEC regular-season championships and two SEC tournament titles in the past four seasons, with this stretch of success obviously highlighted by the recent run to the program's first Final Four. The Final Four team was led in scoring by Ohio transfer Mark Sears, North Dakota State transfer Grant Nelson and Hofstra transfer Aaron Estrada, proving that Oats can capably navigate the portal, and he signed three of the nation's top-50 prep prospects in this most recent class.
Viewed as polarizing by many following his handling of last year's incident that resulted in a capital murder charge for former Crimson Tide player Darius Miles, Oats doesn't turn 50 until October and is employed at a school with ample NIL opportunities, so the immediate future of this program appears quite bright.
2. RICK BARNES
Tennessee has been the model of consistency under Rick Barnes, which is reflected by the fact the Volunteers are the only SEC or ACC program to compete in each of the past six NCAA tournaments. Barnes turns 70 in July but will be a young 70, continuing to command as much attention and respect from his players as ever.
Tennessee won the league tournament title in 2022 and earned its first outright regular-season championship this past season in 16 years. A master builder in today's changing landscape, Barnes still just has the one Final Four appearance with Texas in 2003, but he is making it tougher to mock any March mediocrity with a 5-2 record in the past two NCAA tournaments. Also, what's not to like about a rising senior class of Zakai Zeigler, Jonas Aidoo, Jahmai Mashack and Jordan Gainey?
3. BRUCE PEARL
Auburn was a candidate for the SEC's worst job when Bruce Pearl arrived a decade ago, and now many consider the Tigers to have the most imposing home atmosphere in the sport. A program that didn't make any NCAA tournament appearances in the 14-year stretch from 2004-17 has now won two SEC regular-season titles and two SEC tournament titles in the past seven seasons to go along with the 2019 run to the Final Four, which might have been a national championship had NBA first-round pick Chuma Okeke not torn his ACL late in the Sweet 16 hammering of North Carolina.
The 64-year-old Pearl has made it work with five-star signees such as Okeke, Isaac Okoro and Jabari Smith, as well as with mid-major gems such as Johni Broome and Denver Jones, but the biggest testament to his success is improving the likes of Bryce Brown, Horace Spencer, Jaylin Williams and Dylan Cardwell in their seemingly decade-long careers.
4. JOHN CALIPARI
The first six seasons for John Calipari at Kentucky consisted of four Final Four appearances and the 2012 national championship. His last four seasons with the Wildcats contained no SEC titles, a 1-4 record in the league tournament and an 1-3 record in the NCAA tourney.
Calipari downplayed the SEC tournament from day one in Lexington, and that wasn't a concern when Kentucky went on deep NCAA runs, but it became one when Wildcats fans annually spent tons of money in Nashville only to watch their team go one-and-done.
The bigger issue was the abysmal recent showing in NCAA tournament contests that included losses to 15th-seeded Saint Peter's in 2022 and 14th-seeded Oakland last month.Calipari said after the stunning setback to Oakland that he would have to re-evaluate whether building freshman-heavy rosters is still the way to go, but that re-evaluation will now take place in Fayetteville.
5. TODD GOLDEN
This was such a close call between Florida's Todd Golden and South Carolina's Lamont Paris, who have each taken two separate programs to the NCAA tournament in the past three years. Paris, who won 27 games with UTC in the 2021-22 season, was absolutely deserving of the league coach of the year honor, but Golden's Gators were playing better at the end of the season and may have gone on a decent NCAA run had it not been for the season-ending injury to 7-foot-1 Micah Handlogten early in the SEC tournament title game loss to Auburn.
Florida's top four scorers — Walter Clayton Jr. (Iona), Zyon Pullin (UC Riverside), Tyrese Samuel (Seton Hall) and Will Richard (Belmont) — were obtained through the portal, proving that the 38-year-old Golden already knows how to build through today's guidelines. The Gators expect to return as many or more prominent pieces for 2024-25 than any other conference team.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.