Best SEC Sports College

Every SEC fan wants to know whether his or her favorite school is the best SEC sports college. SEC Sports Fan is uniquely well positioned to provide that sort of comparison information. Certainly, the official SEC Sports site can't say which school they think is "best." We can, and do.

We review and summarize all 12 sports the Southeastern Conference competes in at the NCAA level.

We have a list at the bottom of this page of every SEC team that's won a national championship, ever. There have been 187 (through the 2010 - 2011 school year).

But, wow, how to pick the Best SEC Sports College. Not an easy task. Of course Auburn won the BCS College Football National Championship last year (2010 - 2011 season). But, Alabama won it the year before; Florida the year before that; LSU the year before that; the Gators again the year before that.

Then there's South Carolina winning the College World Series in 2011 and 2010; LSU in 2009; Georgia runner-up there in 2008. Georgia has also done some great things in several other sports (gymnastics, tennis, golf). Then there's Tennessee in Women's Basketball, Arkansas in Track and Field, etc, etc, etc....

It all really comes down to how you weight each sport. Because we weigh football the highest, Florida (barely) comes out on top. Not that Florida is only good at football. By no means. They have the best SEC soccer, volleyball and softball teams currently; as well as a very strong men's basketball program. So, the University of Florida Gators currently are the best all-around SEC Sports College. In fact, Florida is probably the best all-around sports college in America! And that's unlikely to change this year (i.e. Tim Tebow, another Heisman??).

Anyway, please post your thoughts about which SEC school is the best sports school by using the form at the bottom of this page.

Thanks to utsports.com for photo 3 above. Thanks to ukathletics.com for photos 4 and 5 above. Thanks to BJ Millican for picture # 1 and Shockingbird for picture # 2. All rights are reserved for these photos.

Each of the 12 sports pages on this site compares and ranks the program of each SEC school in that particular sport. The Florida Gators, for instance, are ranked #1 in four sports -- Football, Softball, Soccer and Volleyball. This is the most of any SEC school and largely explains why Florida is ranked as the top sports school in the SEC.

In conducting the study, we simply prepared a spreadsheet giving a school 12 points for every first place ranking, 11 points for a second place ranking, etc, all the way to 1 point for a twelfth place ranking (there are 12 schools in the SEC).

Of course this site is dedicated to the SEC sports fan. Therefore, in order to make the analysis meaningful, we valued the sports differently based on fan interest. In other words, it would not be fair to award a school the same number of points for being #1 in football as for being #1 in golf (for instance). That's silly. Football is obviously much more important than golf in determining which school is the overall best SEC sports college.

So, we awarded a multiplier to each sport, depending on its relative significance in the sports world, particularly to SEC sports fans.

After much debate, we decided that football should receive a multiplier of 4, basketball -- 3, baseball -- 2, track and field -- 1.5, swimming and diving -- 1.5, and the rest of the sports (tennis, golf, gymnastics, softball, soccer, and volleyball) each received a multiplier of 1.

So, to find the score for a particular school in a particular sport, we simply multiplied the rank points by the multiplier. For instance, since the Florida Gators are ranked as the #1 football school, its score for football is 48 (12 x 4).

Then we added up the total points earned in all sports for each school and obtained an overall score that represents a comprehensive and objective opinion of which school is the overall best SEC sports college.

So, what you've been waiting for...
The schools and their point totals (as of Fall 2009) are ranked as follows:

1. Florida Gators (182) (Best in Nation)
2. LSU Tigers (170.5)
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (161)
4. Georgia Bulldogs (147.5)
5. Tennessee Volunteers (141)
6. Arkansas Razorbacks (128)
7. Kentucky Wildcats (121.5)
8. South Carolina Gamecocks (not adjusted for 2010 CWS Championship, so will move up -- (101)
9. Ole Miss Rebels (89.5)
10. Auburn Tigers (87.5)
11. Vanderbilt Commodores (70.5)
12. Mississippi State Bulldogs (30)
    

If you want to see the actual spreadsheet and lots more info, get your copy of the 2007 SEC Sports Fan Brag Book by signing up for the SEC Sports Fan Newsletter.

Obviously the sports world is always changing and the above scores are subject to change. But, they are accurate as of January 2007 and because they represent a comprehensive view, they are unlikely to change very much or very suddenly.

Now that you know which SEC University has the best sports program -- you'll want to read Which College Sports Conference is the Best?. You probably already know the answer. Still, check it out.

SEC ALL TIME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

MEN

BASEBALL (9)

BASKETBALL (10)

BOXING (1)

CROSS COUNTRY (8)

FOOTBALL (20)

GOLF (10)

SWIMMING & DIVING (11)

TENNIS (7)

INDOOR TRACK & FIELD (16)

OUTOOR TRACK & FIELD (18)

MEN'S TOTAL - 110

SINCE 2000 - 38

SEC ALL TIME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

WOMEN

BASKETBALL (8)

BOWLING (1)

CROSS COUNTRY (1)

GOLF (3)

GYMNASTICS (15)

SOCCER (1)

SWIMMING & DIVING (15)

TENNIS (6)

INDOOR TRACK & FIELD (14)

OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD (16)

CO-ED RIFLE (16)

WOMEN'S TOTAL -77
SINCE 2000 - 33

OVERALL TOTAL (Men's and Women's National Championships) - 187
SINCE 2000-71

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