You shouldn’t always take coaches seriously during what former Florida football coach Steve Spurrier called “the talking season.”
Sometimes, coaches on the “hot seat” will speak glowingly about an upcoming season. After all, they know the media will devote much of its preseason coverage to outlining their program’s flaws.
I also have heard coaches with national championship talent bemoan the absence of an inexperienced long snapper in a preseason media gathering, as if that shortcoming might sabotage their season.
Most of the coaches at SEC media days in Atlanta have greater concerns than an inexperienced long snapper. In fact, half the coaches scheduled for July 16-17 could be making their final appearance on the conference’s preseason stage.
So, get your goodbyes ready for Oklahoma’s Brent Venables, Florida’s Billy Napier, Arkansas’ Sam Pittman and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops.
The odds are against any of them returning next season.
Never mind that Oklahoma could be the most improved team in the league. Venables is a long shot to extend his head-coaching career past four seasons with the Sooners. He enters this season with two losing records in three years and a schedule that could provoke a panic attack in even a future hall of fame coach.
When SEC commissioner Greg Sankey began formulating the “interim” SEC schedule for 2025 and 2026, I could imagine his saying “Let’s see if we can get that Venables guy fired.” The Sooners’ first-year SEC schedule was brutal, and this one is no different.
You could say the same for Napier’s Gators. Like Venables, he already has compiled two losing seasons in three years. Like Venables, the past two Florida schedules weren’t designed to assure coaching longevity.
Never mind that Florida rallied in the second half of last season to finish with eight wins or that DJ Lagway could be one of the best quarterbacks in the country. The Gators must play consecutive games against LSU, Miami, Texas and Texas A&M with only the Texas game at home. And that’s just in the first half of the season.
Pittman’s 30-31 record at Arkansas after five seasons speaks for itself. The Razorbacks’ schedule might not be as foreboding as Florida’s or Oklahoma’s, but it obviously wasn’t devised to save a coach’s job. Arkansas must play SEC road games against Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Texas. And who thought this would be a good season to schedule Notre Dame as a nonconference opponent?
The schedule often worked to Kentucky’s advantage during Stoops’ time with the Wildcats. That helps explain how he has lasted 12 years, which – given the program’s football history – borders on the miraculous.
But this schedule, like last season’s, is stacked against him continuing as the dean of SEC coaches. After going 4-8 (1-7) in the SEC last season, the Wildcats will open the 2025 season by playing Ole Miss, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Auburn and Florida in their first eight games.
By the end of that stretch, Kentucky could be shopping for Stoops’ successor.
So, you shouldn’t be surprised if Stoops tells us how much better his Wildcats will be when he takes his turn at media days.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.