Seven of the 12 SEC coaches in the 2008 football season are currently qualified for the College Football Hall of Fame. Five are enshrined.

Thirty-six of the hundreds of SEC players in the 2008 football season are currently qualified for the College Football Hall of Fame. Two are enshrined.

The SEC has 107 of its players in the College Football Hall of Fame. Thirteen more are on the Class of 2026 ballot released on Monday, including four who played in the 2008 season.

The SEC has 33 coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame. That’s out of the 170 men who have been head coaches in the conference (not including interim coaches). Not all those 170 have met the standards for consideration for the College Hall of Fame, but two who have are on the Class of 2026 ballot.

In 2008, Tommy Tuberville was in the final of his 10 seasons as Auburn’s coach, which had been preceded by four seasons at Ole Miss. Tuberville is on the Class of 2026 ballot, so he could join Alabama’s Nick Saban, Florida’s Urban Meyer, Georgia’s Mark Richt, South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier and Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer as Hall of Fame coaches who guided SEC teams in 2008.

But even if Tuberville earns enshrinement, 2008 won’t become the SEC’s high-water mark for Hall of Fame coaches. In 1946 and 1947, the league had 12 teams and eight Hall of Fame coaches. Eight SEC seasons have included seven Hall of Fame coaches, most recently in 1973, when the conference had 10 teams.

The most College Football Hall of Fame players to appear in one SEC season are 10 in 1970.

The other former SEC coach on the Class of 2026 ballot is Dennis Franchione, who coached Alabama against Tuberville and Auburn in the 2001 and 2002 Iron Bowls.

Franchione and Tuberville reflect the two types of coaches on the SEC’s College Football Hall of Fame roster – those who are in the Hall of Fame because of what they did in the SEC and those whose SEC stop amounts to a footnote on their enshrinement credentials.

Of the current 33 SEC coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame, 23 belong to the former group and 10 belong to the latter category. Without his record at Auburn, Tuberville wouldn’t qualify for Hall of Fame consideration. Franchione’s time with the Crimson Tide represents only two of his 30 seasons as a college head coach.

The two SEC players from the 2008 season who are in the College Football Hall of Fame are Tennessee safety Eric Berry and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. They also played in the 2009 season, making them the most recent of the SEC’s College Football Hall of Fame players to appear on the field, even though 54 players who played in the SEC since then are eligible for consideration.

The SEC had a Hall of Fame coach on the sideline as recently as the 2023 season – Saban, a Class of 2025 inductee. Since Berry and Tebow played, Saban is among five Hall of Fame members who have coached in the SEC.

The SEC played its first season in 1933. The College Football Hall of Fame members who have coached SEC teams since then include (with all career stops, years coached and year of enshrinement):

ALABAMA

Frank Thomas, Chattanooga, Alabama, 1925-1946 (at Alabama 1931-46). Elected 1951

Paul “Bear” Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama, 1945-1982 (at Alabama 1958-82). Elected 1986

Gene Stallings, Texas A&M, Alabama, 1965-1971, 1990-1996 (at Alabama 1990-96). Elected 2010

Nick Saban, Toledo, Michigan State, LSU, Alabama, 1990, 1995-2004, 2007-2023 (at Alabama 2007-2023). Elected 2025

ARKANSAS

Danny Ford, Clemson, Arkansas, 1978-1989, 1993-1997 (at Arkansas 1993-1997). Elected 2017.

AUBURN

Shug Jordan, Auburn, 1951-1975. Elected 1982

Pat Dye, East Carolina, Wyoming, Auburn, 1974-1992 (at Auburn 1981-1992). Elected 2005

FLORIDA

Ray Graves, Florida, 1960-1969. Elected 1990

Doug Dickey, Tennessee, Florida, 1964-1978 (at Florida 1970-1978). Elected 2003

Steve Spurrier, Duke, Florida, South Carolina, 1987-2001, 2005-2015 (at Florida 1990-2001). Elected 2017

Urban Meyer, Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, Ohio State, 2001-2010, 2012-2018 (at Florida 2005-2010). Elected 2025

GEORGIA

Wally Butts, Georgia, 1939-1960. Elected 1997

Vince Dooley, Georgia, 1964-1988. Elected 1994

Jim Donnan, Marshall, Georgia, 1990-2000 (at Georgia 1996-2000). Elected 2009

Mark Richt, Georgia, Miami (Fla.), 2001-2018 (at Georgia 2001-2015). Elected 2023

GEORGIA TECH

Bill Alexander, Georgia Tech, 1920-1944. Elected 1951

Bobby Dodd, Georgia Tech, 1945-1966. Elected 1993

KENTUCKY

Paul “Bear” Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama, 1945-1982 (at Kentucky 1946-1953). Elected 1986

Jerry Claiborne, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Kentucky 1961-1989 (at Kentucky 1982-1989). Elected 1999

LSU

Biff Jones, Army, LSU, Oklahoma, Nebraska, 1926-1941 (at LSU 1932-1934). Elected 1954

Bernie Moore, Mercer, LSU, 1925-1947 (at LSU 1935-1947). Elected 1954

Charlie McClendon, LSU, 1962-1979. Elected 1986

Nick Saban, Toledo, Michigan State, LSU, Alabama, 1990, 1995-2004, 2007-2023 (at LSU 2000-2004). Elected 2025

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Allyn McKeen, Memphis State, Mississippi State, 1937-1948 (at Mississippi State 1939-1948). Elected 1991

Darrell Royal, Mississippi State, Washington, Texas, 1954-1976 (at Mississippi State 1954-1955). Elected 1983

MISSOURI

Gary Pinkel, Toledo, Missouri, 1991-2015 (at Missouri 2001-2015). Elected in 2020

OLE MISS

Johnny Vaught, Ole Miss, 1947-1970, 1973. Elected 1979

SOUTH CAROLINA

Lou Holtz, William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, South Carolina, 1969-2004 (at South Carolina 1999-2004). Elected 2008

Steve Spurrier, Duke, Florida, South Carolina, 1987-2001, 2005-2015 (at South Carolina 2005-2015). Elected 2017

TENNESSEE

Robert Neyland, coach, 1926-34, 1936-40, 1946-52. Elected 1956

Bowden Wyatt, Wyoming, Arkansas, Tennessee, 1947-1962 (at Tennessee 1955-1962). Elected 1997

Doug Dickey, Tennessee, Florida, 1964-1978 (at Tennessee 1970-1976). Elected 2003

Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee, 1992-2008. Elected 2012.

VANDERBILT

Dan McGugin, Vanderbilt, 1904-1917, 1919-1934. Elected 1951

Ray Morrison, Southern Methodist, Vanderbilt, Temple, Austin, 1915-1951 (at Vanderbilt 1935-1939). Elected 1954

Red Sanders, Vanderbilt, UCLA, 1940-1957 (at Vanderbilt 1940-42, 1946-48). Elected 1996

Bill Edwards, Western Reserve, Vanderbilt, Wittenberg, 1935-1968 (at Vanderbilt 1949-1952). Elected 1986

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE SEC, GO TO OUR SEC PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.