Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban needs a raise.Not from his bosses, although he’s worth more than his salary of $6.9 million annually.Saban needs a raise from the other 13 schools in the Southeastern Conference, because the Alabama Crimson Tide are the only thing keeping the SEC atop the college football conference hierarchy these days.That is what happens when you replace two hall of fame coaches and a perennial winner with two unknowns and a guy who tanked during his first stint leading a major program.In a span of two months, the SEC East lost Missouri’s Gary Pinkel, Georgia’s Mark Richt and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier, who combined for 564 wins in their respective careers.Their replacements? Two first-time head coaches in Barry Odom and Kirby Smart, and Will Muschamp, who ran the Florida program into the ground four years ago before being fired.In Mizzou’s defense, the Tigers were doomed from the start.With major programs like USC, Miami, Virginia Tech and Georgia looking for head coaches, Mizzou was never going to land a big-time candidate.As underwhelming as Odom is, he at least keeps things relatively calm in Columbia. He should be able to keep most of the defensive recruits on board, as well.From where Mizzou started in this process, it could have done worse than Odom.And as good of a defensive coordinator as Smart is, he was a reach for a top five program like Georgia.With its recruiting hotbed and lack of real in-state competition, Georgia could be considered the best job in the SEC.When Saban leaves Alabama, the next coach will have to deal with in-state rival Auburn for recruits, as well as LSU.But Georgia, a state that routinely ranks in the top five in number of five-star recruits, has the pick of the litter.And it just handed its program over to a guy who might be a defensive genius, or just a guy who worked under an all-time great head coach like Saban.When the New England Patriots began their dynasty 15 years ago, assistants like Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis and Josh McDaniels became hot commodities.As head coaches, the trio was underwhelming in McDaniels’ case and embarrassing in Weis’, with Crennel somewhere in the middle.If there is one college coach who runs his program like Bill Belichick, it’s Saban.Smart might be the next Nick Saban.He might be the next Charlie Weis, too, and it was a risk a top-10 program like Georgia shouldn’t have had to make.Like jobs, houses or spouses, you don’t let go of what you have until you know you can do better, and Kirby Smart isn’t better.Then there is South Carolina, who couldn’t persuade Rich Rodriguez to leave Arizona, eventually deciding on a failed head coach like Muschamp.As Urban Meyer at Ohio State, Mark Dantonio at Michigan State and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan continue to do great things in the Big Ten, the SEC East took steps backward this offseason.Nick Saban and Alabama might save the conference again next month in the College Football Playoff.Either way, it’s time to pay that man his money.

Courtesy secsports.com