Cook: A good Christmas wish list for SEC coaches
I know it is rather corny, but with Christmas right around the corner I thought it might take a look at some of the Christmas wishes from some of the coaches around the Southeastern Conference this year.
Urban Meyer at Florida has just one Christmas wish-another national title, which would be his second in three years, something even Steve Spurrier never did with the Gators. Meyer really doesn’t have to live in Spurrier’s shadow at Gainesville anyway, but it wouldn’t hurt his feelings to accomplish something the Head Ball Coach never did.
Auburn’s new coach Gene Chizik probably has a lot of recruiting wishes since he’s getting in on the recruiting trail a little late, but his top wish would be that the Auburn fans who are upset with his hiring would look past 5-19 and give him a chance to show what he can do with Auburn talent and Auburn resources. Just a guess here, but I have a feeling that Chizik will do a lot better than 5-19 in his first 24 games with the Tigers.
Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson has a wish that will take a year to fulfill. After breaking the 26-year bowl drought, his Commodores were rewarded with a terrific trip to … Nashville for the Music City Bowl. Show me a Vanderbilt player who hasn’t seen the sights of Nashville by now. Johnson’s wish is for at least one more victory next season so his players might enjoy a trip to somewhere-anywhere-next season beside Nashville. A warm weather trip to a Florida bowl should be about right. Shoot, even Shreveport would be nice, at least it would be something different.
Although he won’t admit it, but it would be fitting for ex-Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer to wish he could remind Tennessee fans of what he did for them for just about all of the 17 years he was the coach. Then maybe somebody could tell him just why they wanted him to move on and why they think Lane Kiffin will do better. Check back in 17 years and compare the records, that is if Kiffin is still around in 2025, which is doubtful.
LSU coach Les Miles would probably like to get a defense for Christmas. His Tigers were supposed to be the big, bad, bullies in the SEC West this season but it didn’t happen. Teams went through the LSU defense like a proverbial hot knife through butter and the Tigers are limping into the Chick-fil-A Bowl with five losses on their resume. I wonder if the fact that Bo Pelini wasn’t coaching the defense this season had anything to do with the collapse. It did, but so did the unsettled quarterback situation and all the pick sixes thrown by Jarrett Lee.
It’s hard to imagine what Alabama coach Nick Saban might wish for since he appears to have just about everything a coach could possibly want. Oh wait, there is one thing Alabama’s Saint Nick is probably asking the other Saint Nick for-another year out of massive left tackle Andre Smith. Saban already was given one nice early Christmas present when nose guard Terrence Cody announced he would be back for one more year with the Crimson Tide.
South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier is probably asking Santa for a Danny Wuerffel for Christmas. With the play of his current signal-callers, Spurrier would probably settle for a Rex Grossman or-dare he hope for it-a quarterback like Spurrier was himself when he was playing for the Gators back in the 1960s.
Georgia coach Mark Richt is also probably wishing a return of two of his star players, Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford. Both have eligibility remaining but the National Football League is coveting both already and most people believe both will go. Georgia was a preseason pick to win the national championship but came up short with Stafford and Moreno. It is hard to imagine where the Bulldogs would be without them.
SEC commissioner Mike Slive probably put on his list a plus-one format that his fellow commissioners would agree to. A plus-one makes too much sense for the commissioners to agree, though, so Slive would probably have just as much luck asking the Tooth Fairy as Santa Claus.
Finally, SEC fans everywhere should be hoping Florida quarterback Tim Tebow comes back for one more year so he can make another run at winning his second Heisman Trophy, something he should have done earlier this month. Actually, I’ll put that on my Christmas list because watching Tebow play is a privilege.
