OP, funny thing is, I wouldn't take any of them over Jimbo. I know you probably think that is funny but none of them did what they did in the SECW without riding the predecessor's coat tails.
Ed O------rode Les Miles' coat tails, the talent that Les brought in.
Les Miles------didn't have to build from nothing and rode the talent built from Saban.
Coker--------didn't do it in the SEC and definitely rode the coat tails of his predecessor
Chizik--------rode the coat tails with the older vets/talent that Tuberville built and he got the one key piece (Cam Newton) a dynamic QB that nobody was ready for. As I mentioned the talent around him and experience were guys brought in by Tuberville and Newton was the missing piece, played that 1 year, won the Heisman and pushed them over the line to win the Natty.
Jimbo took over a program that was competing in the SECW but was miles behind Bama, Lsu, Auburn and arguably some might say very possibly behind old piss as well. Thanks Summy. Coming to a school that historically it is extremely difficult to recruit at the national level and for sure in the top tier. We have seen just how much effort he and his staff have put into recruiting over the years and we still haven't quite caught up to the talent level and depth of Bama and Lsu. Some might argue now Auburn with the large and very experienced transfer class Freeze brought in since they were still very close to us on a talent basis anyways and now he has talented and experienced players in this big transfer class they brought in. I personally don't think Auburn is there with us right now but are fairly close. I definitely think there is no doubt that Bama and Lsu are ahead of us still when you look at their 3 deep in all positions across the board. We still have some areas we need to catch up to these teams on and I don't think any of those other national champ coaches had to deal with all those factors.
