The multi-day event of SEC Media Days is now a week in the rearview mirror, and the college football season has unofficially begun with the event. The Crimson Tide introduced a new head coach at the event for the first time since 2007, and they weren't the only program with a new head coach. Texas A&M and Mississippi State featured first-time head coaches, and two new coaches entered the fray with Steve Sarkisian at Texas and Brent Venables at Oklahoma, who are now in the SEC.

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This is likely the last time all these coaches are at the event together, with the vicious cycle of the college coaching career licking its chops to claim new victims next offseason. Multiple coaches in the SEC are feeling a warm seat heading into the season, while for others, it seems like a foregone conclusion they won't be back. Who's likely to survive another season in the SEC and return for SEC Media Days in 2025?

Ice Cold

Kirby Smart - Georgia

Smart is the only coach actively in the SEC with an SEC Championship as a head coach and one of three coaches in college football with a national championship win. If not for Saban and Alabama last season, Smart would likely be coming off a three-peat in national championships. Amassing a 94-16 record during his time at Georgia, Smart has likely the coldest seat in college football and is expected to be in Athens for a long time.

Steve Sarkisian - Texas

There's no way to slice it, Texas is back. The Longhorns won the Big 12 in their final season at the conference and returned the star quarterback from last year's College Football Playoff team, which was a play away from competing for a national championship. The Longhorns are many people's pick to win the SEC their first year in the conference, especially with the additions of Isaiah Bond, Amari Niblack, and Silas Bolden in the transfer portal. Sark and the Texas offense feature the Heisman frontrunner, and if the defense can be good enough, the Longhorns will be deep in postseason play once again.

Lane Kiffin - Ole Miss

The concern about Kiffin isn't whether he would be fired, but rather, if he will stay at Ole Miss beyond next season. He's taken the Rebels to new heights, winning 10 games in back-to-back seasons, including the first 10-win season in program history. Kiffin is the king of the transfer portal and has amassed a team with playoff hopes and national championship implications. If he can start to win the big game - he'll have plenty of chances this season - some bigger programs with potential openings could soon start knocking on his door.

Chilly - Little Doubt About Their Job in 2024

Eliah Drinkwitz - Missouri

Missouri is poised to have one of their best season since joining the SEC and could make the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. The Tigers are coming off of an 11-win season that saw them earn an NY6 Bowl win over Ohio State in the Cotton However, this time last year, Drinkwitz was on a pretty warm seat at Missouri. However, before 2023, Drinkwitz's claim to fame at Missouri was two 6-7 seasons and no bowl wins. The 2023 SEC Coach of the Year was considered on the hot seat a season ago but could put to bed any hot seat talk with a good season in 2024.

Kalen DeBoer - Alabama

The first-year head coach who is taking over a College Football Playoff roster doesn't have an ice-cold seat? That's the standard at Alabama. Nick Saban's replacement has a good chance to return the Crimson Tide to the CFP, especially thanks to an expanded playoff field, but questions on defense could hold the Crimson Tide back. While DeBoer is expected to keep Alabama in the fold early in his tenure if he doesn't, 2025 could be a make-or-break season for him. Is that unfair? Probably, but at Alabama, you don't get the luxury of an extended rebuild. DeBoer has a 12-2 record against top-25 teams in his career as a head coach, and that'll be put to the test with the 2024 Crimson Tide schedule.

Josh Heupel - Tennessee

Heupel (27-12 overall) has yet to have a losing record at Tennessee. If he can consistently beat Alabama, then the seat would likely be ice-cold. Heupel holds a 1-2 record versus the Crimson Tide and has a chance to pull to .500 with the Third Saturday in October taking place in Knoxville, Tennessee. Heupel has a talented offense and a potential top-10 draft pick on defense in 2024 and hopes to send Tennessee to their first College Football Playoff. If Tennessee disappoints this season, Heupel could start to hear some rumblings from unhappy fans despite not having a losing record with the Volunteers.

Jeff Lebby - Mississippi State

Lebby led one of the most high-powered offenses in 2023 with the Sooners after transitioning to Oklahoma from Ole Miss in 2022. Despite Lebby's offensive prowess, Mississippi State is likely going to struggle in 2024. Introducing a new starting quarterback after Will Rogers transferred to Washington, Mississippi State was not done any favors with their SEC schedule. As a first-year head coach, Lebby will have some leeway in 2024 but will need to show signs of life on both sides of the ball to pick up good momentum going into 2025.

Mike Elko - Texas A&M

After a disappointingly short Jimbo Fisher tenure in College Station, Texas A&M ventured into the ACC for its next head coach, pulling Elko from Duke where he had amassed a 16-9 overall record, including two bowl wins. Elko was previously the defensive coordinator for the Aggies from 2018-2021 before making a pit stop with the Blue Devils. Texas A&M has an established quarterback in Conner Weigman who showed promise before a season-ending injury early in the 2023 campaign. First-year head coaches have *some* wiggle room in the SEC, but with Elko winning 16 games at a school that some would argue does not care bout football, Aggie Nation will look for some strong wins early in the Elko Era.

Mark Stoops - Kentucky

The longest-active coach in the SEC is entering his 12th year in Lexington and has quietly flown under the radar in the SEC. Why hasn't he earned more recognition? because of the resurgence of the Georgia Bulldogs as a powerhouse program in the SEC and the mainstay that is Alabama. Stoops has a 73-64 record at Kentucky and has led the Wildcats to eight straight bowl-game appearances with four wins in that span. The Wildcats are not a stellar football program, but they don't have to be (right now). Stoops almost was the head coach at Texas A&M last offseason, but stayed in Lexington at the last minute. If Stoops can continue putting together a seven or eight-win season, with the occasional 10 or 11-win season, Kentucky will let Stoops ride off into the sunset whenever he is ready to.

Need to Win Consistently, or the Seat Gets Hot

Brian Kelly - LSU

Kelly played for an SEC championship just two seasons ago and had the best offense in college football last season. Despite these accomplishments, a Citrus Bowl win and Reliaquest Bowl win are all the Tigers have in terms of postseason accomplishments under Kelly. LSU has fired national champion-winning head coaches for disappointing play after a championship season, with the Tigers viewed as one of the top contenders in college football every season. A 20-7 record over two seasons is impressive, no doubt, but at LSU, that record has to translate to conference championships and playoff wins. LSU has none of that under Brian Kelly, and with the Tigers' defense likely to struggle in 2024 similarly to 2023, the Tigers could begin to get impatient. Kelly likely remains the head coach of LSU beyond 2024, but the conversation could get dicey should LSU not live up to its standard in 2024.

Brent Venables - Oklahoma

Venables holds a 16-10 during his time in Norman. The Sooners were 6-7 in his first season before exploding to a 10-3 record in year two. The Sooners are introducing a first-year quarterback in their first season in the SEC with a tough schedule. Venables signed an extension this offseason so he likely is not going anywhere anytime soon, but if he doesn't boost his overall record this season, the talks could happen early in 2025 about Venables's tenure in Norman.

Hugh Freeze - Auburn

Can Auburn afford another contract buyout? Unless the sky falls in Auburn this season, Freeze will remain for 2025. Freeze is doing well with the in-state recruiting and has two strong options at receiver, but the fate of the Tigers is seemingly tied to Payton Thorne in 2024. The downside for Auburn is that the two biggest games on their schedule, Georgia and Alabama, both host the Tigers in 2024.  If Freeze goes 0-4 against the two biggest rivals in his first two years (even if he goes 1-1 against LSU), 2025 might be a make-or-break year for Auburn.

It Was Fun While it Lasted

Shane Beamer - South Carolina

There's always one coach who is a surprise fire at the end of the season, and Beamer is loved by the University of South Carolina, but his team might be one of the bottom in the SEC. Beamer does have a winning record, barely, at South Carolina at 20-18, but road trips to Lexington, Kentucky, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Norman, Oklahoma, and Clemson, South Carolina are tough matchups on the road in the SEC and as a rivalry game. South Carolina also hosts Ole Miss and Missouri, who both have playoff expectations, and Texas A&M, who is as stout defensively as any team in the country, especially with a defensive-minded head coach. If Will Muschamp got four years at South Carolina, Shane Beamer will likely get four years at South Carolina, but if the Gamecocks implode in 2024, they could move on from Beamer.

Clark Lea - Vanderbilt

Lea holds a 9-27 record as the head coach of the Commodores. Is Vanderbilt a football powerhouse? No, but remaining competitive is something Vanderbilt can pride itself on. The Commodores have not been under Lea, despite being one of the fewest penalized teams in the SEC. A good defensive mind in college football will potentially look elsewhere in 2025.

Billy Napier - Florida

Florida has one of the toughest ending schedules in the country - playing Georgia, at Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and at Florida State to end their final month of the season. The rest of the schedule is tough as well, with Miami, Texas A&M, and a trip to Knoxville against Tennessee on the docket. Florida brought in the No. 13 overall recruiting class according to composite, highlighted by five-star quarterback DJ Lagway, but Napier's 11-14 record, and likely losing record in 2024, might be too much for Florida to be patient with any longer. Can Napier turn it around in Gainesville? It would take a miracle to see Napier at Media Days in 2025.

Sam Pittman - Arkansas

Pittman had a good start to his Arkansas career, with talented players like Treylon Burks and KJ Jefferson keeping pace with Jameson Williams and Bryce Young in a shootout in Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2022. Rocket Sanders was one of the top running backs in the SEC before a disappointing 2023 campaign. But now, Burks is trying to survive in the NFL, Sanders is now a member of the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Jefferson is a UCF Knight. Dan Enos was a flash-in-the-pan hire for the Razorbacks, and Pittman may have hired his replacement in former Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino as the new Razorback offensive coordinator. Pittman is one of the most liked coaches in the SEC from players to media, but a good personality won't do much when you have a 23-25 record at a Power Five program.

Wyatt Fulton is the TIde 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.