It is an offseason of change for the SEC, which saw nearly half of its teams hire new coaches and which adopted a new scheduling format for the 2026 campaign and beyond. The six first-year coaches — Lane Kiffin, Pete Golding, Jon Sumrall, Will Stein, Alex Golesh and Ryan Silverfield — face the challenge of playing nine conference games in their debut season at their respective programs. After years of operating with an eight-game slate, the SEC joins the rest of the Power Four in tasking its members with an additional contest.
For Kiffin, Sumrall and Golesh, that means more conference road games than home dates in Year 1. But their schedules are not, by default, the toughest for the first-year coaches. In fact, the inverse is true as they face more manageable opponents than their counterparts.
Measuring schedule strength in the early days of the offseason is, of course, never an exact science. Teams will surprise for better or worse as the campaign progresses. But on paper, it is easy to see which squads have more manageable roads to immediate success than others.
Here are the schedules for the SEC’s first-year coaches, ranked from toughest to easiest.
1. Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas
2026 schedule: North Alabama, at Utah, Georgia, Tulsa, at Texas A&M, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt, Missouri, at Auburn, South Carolina, at Texas, LSU
Even with five home conference games, the going will be tough for Silverfield as he attempts to pull Arkansas out of the SEC’s basement. The Razorbacks went winless in conference play in Sam Pittman’s final year and will be hard-pressed to improve upon that dreadful mark with six of their nine league opponents landing in the way-too-early top 25 rankings. A road trip to Utah is also one of the trickiest spots for any SEC team in nonconference action. It will take a handful of upsets for Arkansas to go bowling in Year 1 under Silverfield.
2. Will Stein, Kentucky
2026 schedule: Youngstown State, Alabama, at Texas A&M, South Alabama, at South Carolina, LSU, at Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, at Tennessee, Florida, at Missouri, Louisville
Stein will have his “welcome to the SEC” moment early in his Kentucky tenure when he faces Alabama and Texas A&M in consecutive weeks to open the conference slate. That is the first of a few tough back-to-backs for the Wildcats, who will also see another pair of College Football Playoff contenders in LSU and Oklahoma in a two-game span a month later. Any one of Stein’s conference opponents could reasonably be ranked when he faces them, and concluding the regular season with a rivalry clash with Louisville is also always a tricky way to close the year. Perhaps Kentucky’s top-10 transfer class will make it more competitive than last year when it finished below .500, but improving upon that mark with this kind of slate is a big ask.
3. Pete Golding, Ole Miss
2026 schedule: Louisville (neutral), Charlotte, LSU, at Florida, at Vanderbilt, Missouri, at Texas, Auburn, Georgia, at Oklahoma, Wofford, Mississippi State
By the end of September, we should have a good idea whether or not Golding can keep the Ole Miss train rolling toward another CFP berth. The season-opening matchup with Louisville might be the highest-profile contest of Week 1, and the date with LSU and trip to The Swamp in consecutive weeks later in the month are early opportunities to pad the Rebels’ résumé. Everyone ought to have eyes on that battle with the Tigers as Lane Kiffin makes his return to Oxford in a game littered with juicy storylines. Adding to this schedule’s difficulty is that Ole Miss must also face the SEC’s two best national championship contenders in Texas and Georgia.
4. Jon Sumrall, Florida
2026 schedule: Florida Atlantic, Campbell, at Auburn, Ole Miss, at Missouri, South Carolina, at Texas, Georgia (neutral), Oklahoma, at Kentucky, Vanderbilt, at Florida State
The three-game stretch of Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma is as difficult as it gets. At least Florida has a bye week between the final two games in that run. Sumrall faces his largest challenges in the middle of the schedule and has some nice runway at the beginning and end, which could allow him to both start and finish strong as he works to get Florida back into conference championship contention. Pushing for a league title is probably not in the cards in 2026, but if everything clicks, this schedule gives the Gators a shot to place themselves on or near the CFP bubble.
5. Alex Golesh, Auburn
2026 schedule: Baylor (neutral), Southern Miss, Florida, Vanderbilt, at Tennessee, at Georgia, LSU, at Ole Miss, Arkansas, at Mississippi State, Samford, at Alabama
Golesh brought 13 South Florida players with him to Auburn. Week 1 against Baylor will tell whether those former Bulls are ready for Power Four football. If they are, then the rest of the schedule sets up well for the Tigers to get back to bowl eligibility for the first time since 2023. Most of their swing games (Florida, Vanderbilt, LSU and Arkansas) are at home, and if they defend Jordan-Hare Stadium in those spots, everything will fall into place to create an exciting debut season for Golesh. Anything greater than six wins would be Auburn’s best campaign of the 2020s.
6. Lane Kiffin, LSU
2026 schedule: Clemson, Louisiana Tech, at Ole Miss, Texas A&M, McNeese, at Kentucky, Mississippi State, at Auburn, Alabama, Texas, at Tennessee, at Arkansas
No Georgia. No Oklahoma. Texas A&M, Alabama and Texas at home. That has to be music to Kiffin’s ears as he seeks a CFP berth in his first year at LSU. Only four of the Tigers’ opponents finished the 2025 season inside the AP Top 25, and if those are the only high-quality teams this squad faces in 2026, a trip to the playoff should be within reach. That Kiffin secured the No. 1 transfer portal class (by a sizable margin, no less) could make the Tigers competitive if not better than the few playoff-caliber opponents on their slate. This is a win-now setup for a program that expects nothing less.
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