Counting down the 10 winningest football coaches in SEC history

The list of all-time winningest coaches in college football history is well-known, but what about only those who coached in the SEC?

Below are the top 10 winningest coaches in SEC history, listed in reverse order. (NOTE: Win totals are those compiled only at SEC schools, while those schools were members of the SEC. For example, Robert Neyland won 173 games at Tennessee, but 61 of those in the Southern Conference).

Here's the list:

Terry Friedman/Times-Picayune

10. Charlie McClendon, LSU (137)

“Cholly Mac” coached at LSU from 1962-79, compiling a record of 137-59-7. His teams won exactly nine games five straight years from 1969-73, including an SEC title in 1970. Like many coaches of his era, his tenure was finally undone by an inability to consistently beat Alabama. After serving for many years as head of the American Football Coaches Association, McClendon died in 2001 at age 76.

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AL.com file

9. Bobby Dodd, Georgia Tech (142)

Dodd actually coached at Georgia Tech from 1945-66, but the Yellow Jackets left the SEC after the 1963 season. Overall, he went 165-64-8 (142-56-7 while Tech was in the SEC), with conference championships in 1951 and 1952, plus a national title in the latter year. He stayed on as athletic director through 1976 after stepping down as head coach. Dodd died at age 76 in 1988, two months after Georgia Tech renamed its stadium in his honor.

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Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

8. Mark Richt, Georgia (145)

Richt coached the Bulldogs from 2001-15, compiling a record of 145-51, with SEC championships in 2002 and 2005 and SEC East titles in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2012. However, his team never played for a national championship and went 5-10 against arch-rival Florida, leading to his firing after the 2015 season. Richt coached at Miami (his alma mater) for three seasons before retiring following the 2018 season.

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Vincent Laforet/Allsport

7. Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee (152)

Fulmer spent 16 years as head coach at his alma mater, where he’d played on the offensive line in the early 1970s. After serving as interim coach while Johnny Majors underwent heart surgery in 1992, Fulmer became the full-time head coach the following year in a move that is still controversial (some say Majors resigned, others say he was forced out). Fulmer’s Volunteers went 152-52 under his watch, including SEC championships in 1997 and 1998, plus a national title in 1998. He also beat Alabama 10 times in 12 years at one stretch. Fulmer was hired as Tennessee’s athletic director in 2017.

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Tennessee athletics

Robert Neyland

Robert Neyland won 173 games and four national championships in 19 seasons at Tennessee, though seven of those seasons pre-dated the formation of the SEC in 1933. Thus, he's credited with only 112 wins as an SEC football coach.

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Associated Press

6. Ralph “Shug” Jordan, Auburn (175)

A star in baseball, football and basketball at Auburn in the early 1930s, Jordan took over as head coach at his alma mater in 1951 and stayed on the job for 25 years. He went 175-83-7, including a national championship in 1957 and a top 5 finish the following year. Jordan also served as head basketball coach at Auburn from 1933-42 and from 1945-46 and at Georgia from 1946-50, winning another 136 games (he also served with distinction in the U.S. Army during World War II). Auburn’s Cliff Hare Stadium was re-named Jordan-Hare Stadium in his honor in 1973. Jordan died at age 69 in 1980 after a battle with leukemia.

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Associated Press

Shug Jordan, Bear Bryant

Auburn's Ralph "Shug" Jordan, left, and Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant met 18 times as head coaches prior to Jordan's retirement in 1975. Bryant had the upper hand 13 times.

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AL.com file

5. Johnny Vaught, Ole Miss (190)

A TCU graduate and a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Vaught took over as head coach at Ole Miss in 1947. His Rebels went 185-55-12 over the next 24 seasons, including SEC championships in 1947, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1963, plus national titles in 1959, 1960 and 1962. Vaught stepped down as head coach after the 1970 season following a heart attack, only to return for eight games (posting a 5-3 record) in 1973 after successor Billy Kinard was fired. Vaught stepped down again after the season, but stayed on as athletic director through 1978. He lived to the age of 96, dying in 2006.

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Ben Flanagan / AL.com

4. Nick Saban, LSU/Alabama (194)

The only active SEC coach on the list, Saban has totaled 194 of his 237 career victories during stops in the league at LSU (2000-04) and Alabama (2007-present). Saban went 48-16 in five seasons at LSU, including SEC championships in 2001 and 2003, and a national title in 2003. He’s 146-21 in 12 seasons at Alabama, with six SEC championships (2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018) and five national titles (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017). The 66-year-old Saban is under contract through 2026, so it’s likely he’ll climb to at least the No. 2 spot on this list before he’s done. (NOTE: Five of Saban’s Alabama victories were vacated by the NCAA due to the 2007 textbook scandal, but we’re counting them here).

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G.M. Andrews/Press-Register file

Nick Saban

Nick Saban was head coach at LSU from 2000-04, winning 48 games, two SEC titles and a national championship before leaving for the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

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Allen Steele/Allsport

3. Vince Dooley, Georgia (201)

One of only two SEC coaches to win 200 games at one school, Dooley went 201-77-10 at Georgia from 1964-88. The Auburn graduate won six SEC championships with the Bulldogs (1966, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1982), plus a national title in 1980. His teams in 1981, 1982 and 1983 went a combined 31-4-1, losing to the eventual national champion in each of the first two years. Dooley also served as Georgia’s athletic director from 1979-2004. Still active at age 86, Dooley currently serves as director of the Georgia Historical Society.

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Scott Halleran/Getty Images

2. Steve Spurrier, Florida/South Carolina (208)

One of the rare college football coaches who was also a star player, Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy as Florida’s quarterback in 1966. He returned to his alma mater as head coach in 1990, and immediately set the league on fire with his “Fun N Gun” offense. Spurrier went 122-27-1 at Florida, winning SEC championships in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2001, plus a national title in 1996. After two seasons in the NFL, Spurrier came back to the SEC at South Carolina in 2005, coaching the Gamecocks to an 86-49 record in 11 seasons. He remains the winningest coach at both South Carolina and Florida, and at age 73 is currently head coach of the AAF’s Orlando Apollos.

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Erik Campos/The State/AP

Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier coached 11 seasons at South Carolina, including three straight 11-win seasons from 2011-13.

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Robert Adams/Birmingham News file

1. Paul “Bear” Bryant, Kentucky/Alabama (292)

Like Spurrier, Bryant is the winningest coach at two SEC schools. After one season at Maryland, he took over at Kentucky in 1946. The Wildcats went 60-23-6 in his eight seasons, including the SEC championship in 1950 (that remains Kentucky’s most-recent unshared conference title in football). Bryant then spent four seasons at Texas A&M before being named head coach at Alabama (his alma mater) in 1958. Bryant authored 25 consecutive winning seasons with the Crimson Tide, winning 13 SEC championships (1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981) and six national championships (1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979). His record at Alabama was 232-46-9, and he retired following the 1982 season with 323 victories, then the most in major college football history. Bryant stayed on as athletic director after stepping down as coach, but died at age 69 on Jan. 26, 1983, less than a month after coaching his final game.

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Paul "Bear" Bryant

Paul "Bear" Bryant was head coach at Kentucky from 1946-53, including an SEC championship in 1951. He remains the winningest coach in Wildcats history with 60 victories.

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