Vanderbilt making major offensive staff change

The Vanderbilt Commodores football program has decided to part ways with their offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach, David Raih, per Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports. The parting of ways is a mutual agreement between the school and coach, per Feldman.

The move hardly comes as a surprise, as Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea removed David Raih of his offensive playcalling duties earlier this season and Joey Lynch took over.

Raih came to Vanderbilt after spending seven years coaching in the National Football League with the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers.

The Commodores’ offensive numbers weren’t pretty this season: the team only put up 189 passing yards per game, ranking them 104th in the nation. Their rushing stats weren’t any better. The ‘Dores rushed for 123 rushing yards per game in 2021, ranking them 104th in the nation in that as well.

Vanderbilt was upset by East Tennessee State in 2021, the first FCS-over-FBS upset since 2015, and the Commodores lost 23-3. Their offense converted on five of 15 third-down attempts, generating 321 total yards of offense — 236 through the air and 85 on the ground — while losing a fumble and throwing two interceptions.

Raih came to Vanderbilt from the Kliff Kingsbury coaching tree

Raih was hired on Jan. 23, 2021, to serve as first-year head coach Clark Lea’s offensive coordinator, following seven years of coaching experience in the NFL. He came to Vanderbilt directly after two seasons as the Arizona Cardinals wide receivers coach, and in 2020 he led them to an average of 244.8 passing yards per game and 25.6 points per game. He worked under head coach Kliff Kingsbury, Raih’s former co-worker while he served as outside receivers coach at Texas Tech in 2013. 

Raih had previously served as a wide receivers coach (2018), offensive perimeter coach (2017), assistant offensive line coach (2016) and coaching administrator (2014-15) with the Green Bay Packers before his time in Arizona. He previously worked in college football with UCLA, Iowa and Texas Tech.

Lynch, the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, served as the acting offensive coordinator once Raih’s playcalling duties were revoked, as Lea said Lynch would be calling the plays.

Also hired in January as part of Lea’s inaugural staff, the 2021 season was Lynch’s first with a Power Five program; previously, he spent last season at Colorado State, where the Rams played just four games due to COVID-19 and averaged 22.2 points per contest and 199.5 passing yards per contest. Prior to Colorado State, Lynch spent 11 seasons at Ball State in various roles including offensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

On3’s Simon Gibbs also contributed to this report.