Ranking the SEC’s Basketball Head Coaches

Mar 19, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA;Mississippi Rebels head coach Andy Kennedy reaches against the Xavier Musketeers in the second half of a game in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Jacksonville Veteran Memorial Arena. Xavier defeated Mississippi 76-57. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

12. Johnny Jones, LSU

In his third year in Baton Rouge, Jones made the NCAA Tournament with the Tigers where they fell to N.C. State in the first round. He has had some moderate success in his coaching career, taking North Texas to the NCAA Tournament twice in his 11 years there.

LSU is an underrated basketball program. It’s a place where people can win because the talent pool is fairly large. We’ll see if Jones can do more, but right now he just looks about average.

11. Andy Kennedy, Ole Miss

Perhaps an example of the slowest progression of a NCAA Tournament program is AK at Ole Miss.  During his first six years in Oxford he went to five NITs, and won 20 games in each of those seasons. Finally in 2013 he made the NCAA Tournament after winning the SEC Tournament. In 2015 he made it back as an at-large.

There’s no doubt Kennedy is a good coach, but it’s hard to imagine Ole Miss becoming much more than a perennial bubble team under his leadership.

10. Frank Martin, South Carolina

When Martin was hired at USC he was a lot higher on this list due to his accomplishments at Kansas State, but his tenure in Columbia has been less than mediocre.

He made the NCAA Tournament in four of five years at KSU, including one trip to the Elite 8, and won at least 21 games in each season. But at South Carolina he has struggled badly with two 14-win seasons and his best year was 2015 at 17-16. In SEC play he hasn’t won more than six games in a single season.