From Ron Roberts to Bryan Nardo, the most intriguing defensive coordinator hires from every Power 5 conference
While there were far more marquee moves at offensive coordinator this offseason — from Clemson poaching Garrett Riley from TCU to Alabama swiping Tommy Rees from Notre Dame — there were still plenty of defensive coordinator hires that drew plenty of headlines — from Miami replacing Kevin Steele with Lance Guidry to Pete Golding landing at Ole Miss.
But what about the DC hires that were more under the radar?
Here are the most interesting defensive coordinator changes from every Power 5 conference this offseason.
ACC
Syracuse: Rocky Long
Dino Babers had to replace both coordinators this offseason, losing Robert Anae to NC State and Tony White to Nebraska.
White produced a couple of decent defenses at Syracuse, with the Orange ranking fourth in the ACC in yards per play allowed in 2021 (5.1) and improving to second in 2022 (4.9). Their success rate (No. 111 nationally) was poor in 2022, but they still only allowed 23 points per game.
With White gone, Babers wanted to maintain the Cuse’s 3-3-5 scheme for continuity purposes, so he went out and hired White’s longtime mentor: former San Diego State head coach Rocky Long, one of the godfathers of the stack system.
Long has been the defensive coordinator for the last three years at New Mexico, and while he didn’t have a ton of success at his alma mater, he did turn out a Top 30 pass defense in 2022.
The 73-year-old coach had great results at SDSU, though, and he’s under pressure to do the same at Syracuse since Babers enters the 2023 season on shaky grounds. The Orange lost two key starters in the secondary to transfers — Duce Chestnut to LSU and Ja’Had Carter to Ohio State — but they still return their top 5 tacklers and added likely starters from the portal in Nebraska safety Jaeden Gould and Alabama defensive lineman Braylen Ingraham.
Big Ten
Illinois: Aaron Henry
When Ryan Walters left the Fighting Illini for the head coaching job at Purdue, Bret Bielema opted to stay in-house for his next defensive coordinator, promoting secondary assistant Aaron Henry.
Needless to say, the 34-year-old coach has some major shoes to fill after Walters, a Broyles Award finalist, led Illinois to one of its best defensive seasons in school history.
The Fighting Illini ranked No. 3 nationally in defensive success rate. They were No. 1 in the Big Ten in scoring defense (12.8 points per game), No. 2 in yards per play (4.39), No. 1 in takeaways (31) and No. 1 in pass defense.
Henry’s unit had a lot to do with that success, though. The Illini’s secondary, which featured Devon Witherspoon, who Henry developed from a no-star recruit into an All-American and potential 1st Round draft pick, led the country in passer rating against.
With Sydney Brown (six interceptions) roaming center field, the Illini also had a nation-best 24 interceptions.
Henry is one of the youngest coordinators in the country, but Bielema clearly believes he has the upside and ability to call a defense for the first time. Henry played for Bielema at Wisconsin and started his coaching career as a GA for the Badgers. He’s been an on-field assistant for seven years and has quickly proven his ability to coach up underrated talent and recruit his home state of South Florida.
Big 12
Oklahoma State: Bryan Nardo (Division II Gannon DC)
Mike Gundy has never shied away from dipping down in the coaching ranks and hiring an unknown name as an assistant. He plucked Mike Yurcich, now the OC at Penn State, out of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference back in 2013, and this offseason and went back to Division II to land his new defensive coordinator.
Bryan Nardo replaces Derek Mason in Stillwater, coming to Ok. State from Gannon — also in the PSAC. The 37-year-old assistant led the Golden Knights to their best defensive season in terms of yards per game and per play in 20 years.
The Cowboys regressed badly in Mason’s lone year, going from the top defense in the Big 12 in 2021 to a unit that allowed more than 1.2 yards per play (good for 79th nationally) than the previous season.
They still created plenty of negative plays (No. 2 in the conference in TFLs), but allowed way too many explosive plays (9th in plays allowed over 20 yards).
Gundy decided the fastest way to fix the Pokes’ defense was to mirror how Iowa State, TCU and Kansas State have found success in the Big 12: Running a 3-3-5 stack scheme, so he grabbed a young up-and-comer who has spent nearly 15 years in the system.
Pac-12
Arizona State: Brian Ward
Kenny Dillingham’s first big hire as the Sun Devils’ head coach was poaching Brian Ward away from Pac-12 foe Washington State to coordinate ASU’s defense.
Ward, an Arizona native, has had varying success during his coaching career, doing well at a couple of Group of 5 stops (Western Illinois and Bowling Green) before following Dino Babers to Syracuse and later getting fired after three seasons with the Orange. Ward bounced back at Nevada and then Washington State, where the Cougars were a Top 5 defense in the Pac-12 in scoring, takeaways, third down defense, sacks and turnovers.
Ward will be working with what amounts to a blank slate at ASU, as the Sun Devils brought in 10 transfers alone just on defense this cycle, headlined by safety Xavion Alford from USC and pass rusher Prince Dorbah from Texas.
The Sun Devils’ new DC has made it known that one of his top priorities in 2023 is to improve Arizona State’s run defense, which had a success rate of 48% — good for No. 126th nationally — and allowed 31 rushing scores — third-most in the conference.
After a year working hand-in-hand with WSU head coach Jake Dickert, formerly the team’s DC before the uncomfortable transition from Nick Rolovich, Ward will get to call all the shots at Arizona State, so we’ll see how that plays out this fall.
SEC
Auburn: Ron Roberts
New Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze scooped up a defensive coordinator on the open market this offseason, beating out Arkansas for former Baylor assistant Ron Roberts, who was fired by Dave Aranda in December, Roberts spent three seasons with the Bears, helping deliver fantastic results in 2021 — No. 1 in the Big 12 in takeaways, No. 2 in sacks, and No. 3 in scoring — before his unit regressed to the middle of the Big 12 last fall, leading to his dismissal.
Still, Roberts is a veteran DC with 32 years of coaching experience. Before his time at Baylor, he spent two seasons on Billy Napier’s staff at Louisiana, and the Rajin’ Cajuns’ defense finished the 2019 season with a Top 20 scoring unit (19.7 points per game) and a Top 10 red zone defense (No. 9 nationally).
The Tigers will continue to run a similar 4-2-5 scheme under Roberts, but there will be a much greater emphasis on being aggressive and creating more chaos.
Roberts is a big on havoc rate — i.e. the percentage of plays in with the defense recorded a tackle for loss, sack, forced a fumble, intercepted a pass or broke up a pass — and in his introductory press conference, he listed desire for Auburn to have “20 percent of our plays, we need to work in the havoc rate. If you’re doing that, you’re going to be in the top 20 in the country. That’s our goal coming out of the gate.”
That seems like a rather ambitious goal in Year 1 for the Tigers, especially considering top pass rushers Derrick Hall and Colby Wooden are off to the NFL. Also, Auburn didn’t have a single game with a havoc rate over 16% all season, so yea, 20% seems awfully lofty.