Upgrade or not: Examining 11 notable offensive and defensive coordinator changes in the SEC for 2024
Georgia tailbacks coach Dell McGee was hired by Georgia State over the weekend, officially closing the books on the final head coach opening during a never-ending 2023-24 carousel cycle.
All the movement precipitated lots of coordinator changes across college football, with new head coaches plucking assistants from other programs. While other staffs saw shakeups by firings or domino movement elsewhere
So simple question: Did your team’s staff get better this offseason?
The SEC saw a slew of coordinator movement (many of whom changed teams within the conference), so let’s take a run through the league and examine if the change was actually an upgrade or not for 11 different coordinator situations.
Alabama offensive coordinator — Tommy Rees to Nick Sheridan and JaMarcus Shephard
Upgrade? TBD
Had Kalen DeBoer managed to keep longtime lieutenant Ryan Grubb in Tuscaloosa, this would’ve been a no-brainer upgrade. And it still could be, considering DeBoer will be heavily involved in Alabama’s offense.
Still, Rees made edible chicken salad out of the scraps and leftovers he had to work with last season. He turned Jalen Milroe from a quarterback who was a turnover-machine to start the 2023 season into an intriguing playmaker who led the Tide to thrilling wins over Auburn and Georgia.
What can Sheridan and Shephard do with Milroe, and the rest of Alabama’s offense in 2024? We’ll find out. Sheridan has only called plays twice in his career (Indiana 2020-21) and it didn’t exactly go smoothly (Big Ten-worst 4.25 yards per play in 2021), but he will have DeBoer by his side this time around.
Ultimately, Alabama’s offense could be better in 2024 — but that improvement might be independent of the coordinator hires and more to do with DeBoer’s influence.
Alabama defensive coordinator — Kevin Steele and Travaris Robinson to Kane Wommack and co-DCs Mo Linquist and Colin Hitschler
Upgrade? No
Kane Wommack is a heckuva football coach and someone who won 10 games in Year 1 has the head coach at South Alabama, but he and former Buffalo head coach Mo Linquist are not a better pairing than Steele and Robinson.
At least not yet.
We know this because Kalen DeBoer tried to hire Robinson as Alabama’s primary defensive coordinator, only to see the prized assistant leave for the co-DC role at Georgia.
The Tide had one of the best defenses in the country in 2023, and it will be difficult for Wommack and Linquist to replicate similar results with a unit that’s been ravaged by NFL departures and transfers. The fact the defense is totally changing schemes is another added challenge.
Arkansas offensive coordinator — Dan Enos to Bobby Petrino
Upgrade? Yes
Sam Pittman’s decision to replace Kendal Briles with his former buddy Dan Enos proved disastrous, as the Hogs’ offense lost all its bite in 2023.
The Razorbacks averaged just 4.9 yards per play and quarterback KJ Jefferson became a shell of himself. Injuries were a factor (Tailback Rocket Sanders played in just six games), but it was clear early on that Enos’ second-stint in Fayetteville would be short-lived.
In steps Petrino, who is back in a unique situation where he was once Arkansas’ head coach. His one-year stay at Texas A&M worked out as well as one could imagine, improving the Aggies’ offense across a number of categories in spite of a lieu of challenges. With Pittman’s hot-seat status, there’s pressure on Petrino to immediately revive Arkansas’ offense. Otherwise, it could be another one-and-done season for the veteran coach.
Auburn defensive coordinator — Ron Roberts to D.J. Durkin
Upgrade? TBD
Tigers fans are excited about the addition of Durkin as the team’s new defensive coordinator, but time will tell if Auburn truly upgraded after Roberts departed for the same position at Florida.
While the hire makes total sense for Hugh Freeze, Durkin’s resume is a bit inflated compared to the results delivered. His Texas A&M defenses ranked in the middle of the pack nationally in yards per play both seasons and were largely inconsistent.
Despite a noted talent disadvantage, Auburn was slightly better than Texas A&M against SEC competition in 2023 (23.1 vs. 24.1 points per game). Can Durkin improve on those results in 2024? I’m skeptical.
Georgia co-defensive coordinator — Will Muschamp to Travaris Robinson
Upgrade? TBD
When Will Muschamp decided to step back and take an analyst role, Kirby Smart wasted no time plucking one of Alabama’s top assistants for the same position.
It was a splash hire and provides an example of a coaching change that’s neither an upgrade or a downgrade. It’s a plug-and-replace situation.
Muschamp was excellent in his role at co-DC for Smart, particularly when it came to game-planning and working with a deep safety group. He also was critical on the recruiting trail, helping land 5-star KJ Bolden.
But Robinson is seen as one of the best recruiters in the country, too. And he’s an excellent defensive backs coach. Notably, he won’t be calling plays, where that responsibility remains in the hands of Glenn Schumann, but that could be his future role should Schumann get a head coaching job soon.
Kentucky offensive coordinator — Liam Coen to Bush Hamdan
Upgrade? TBD
Mark Stoops’ decision to bring Coen back to Lexington after a one-year hiatus in the NFL was welcomed with open arms. But while the former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator did jumpstart Kentucky’s listless offense compared to the season prior, the reunion proved cold in the end.
Coen’s offense was still poor on a down-to-down basis (102nd nationally in success rate), and the Wildcats led the SEC in turnovers.
When Coen bolted back to the NFL, Stoops turned to Boise State for Bush Hamdan.
Hamdan had great success guiding the Broncos’ offense in 2023, which was a unit that ranked No. 6 nationally in rushing with star tailback Ashton Jeanty leading the way. Hamdan also has SEC experience as the quarterbacks coach at Missouri in 2021 and 2022.
Hamdan is now Kentucky’s fifth different coordinator in the last five seasons, so it’s anyone’s guess if Stoops got his latest hire right.
LSU offensive coordinator — Mike Denbrock to Joe Sloan
Upgrade? TBD
Denbrock spent the last two seasons overseeing LSU’s electric offense, particularly in 2023 when quarterback Jayden Daniels delivered an all-time season en route to winning the Heisman Trophy.
But the veteran OC, who had worked with Brian Kelly at Notre Dame and LSU, opted to return to South Bend this offseason, leaving Kelly in need of a replacement.
He tabbed the Tigers’ quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan for a promotion, and for as much as Denbrock did for LSU, Sloan provides a potential upgrade.
Potential. Not guaranteed.
Sloan is definitely a better recruiter (hello: No. 1 quarterback Bryce Underwood), and he was largely responsible for working up close with Daniels as his position coach. He doesn’t have extensive play-calling experience, so how he settles into that role remains to be seen.
LSU defensive coordinator — Matt House to Blake Baker
Upgrade? Yes
Has any assistant had a better come-up the last two seasons than Blake Baker? He wasn’t retained by Brian Kelly on LSU’s staff in 2022, only to go to Missouri and totally fix the Tigers’ defense (Top 25 scoring defense, yards per play allowed).
The Tulane grad was then rehired by Kelly as the highest-paid coordinator in the country to replace Matt House, whose defense was the worst in the SEC in 2023.
In the words of Larry David, pretty, pretty, pretty good.
If Baker can fix LSU’s defense, the Tigers could win a national title sometime in the next few seasons.
Missouri defensive coordinator— Blake Baker to Corey Batoon
Upgrade? No
Eli Drinkwitz has proven to be among the best coaches in the SEC when it comes to hiring assistants, so better against him seems foolhardy.
At the same time, it would be very difficult for Corey Batoon, who comes from South Alabama, to deliver better results than Baker, who totally recharged the Tigers’ defense.
Batoon spent the last three seasons working for Kane Wommack, too, and while the 55-year-old assistant has DC experience elsewhere, it’s hard to parse out what his fingerprints on the defense was versus Wommack’s.
Oklahoma offensive coordinator— Jeff Lebby to Seth Littrell
Upgrade? No
Jeff Lebby was seen as one of the top offensive coordinators in the country, spearheading prolific attacks at UCF, Ole Miss and Oklahoma before becoming the head coach at Mississippi State this offseason.
The Sooners led the Big 12 in offense last year, averaging 41.7 points per game. They were Top-5 nationally in a bunch of categories. With Lebby off to Starkville, Brent Venables made a quick, strong hire in Seth Littrell, but even with the former North Texas head coach’s track record, it would be a stretch to say Oklahoma upgraded with Lebby’s departure.
Littrell, who hails from the Mike Leach ‘Air Raid’ tree, will coordinate a similarly aggressive pass-happy scheme that’s married to a power running game, but he’ll be working with a first-year starting quarterback (Jackson Arnold) and a completely rebuilt offensive line.
Texas A&M offensive coordinator — Bobby Petrino to Collin Klein
Upgrade? Yes
As noted previously, Petrino did the best he could under difficult circumstances at Texas A&M last season. The marriage with Jimbo Fisher never seemed long-term, and it wasn’t, but the Aggies improved their scoring, yards per play and explosiveness.
Klein guided the Wildcats to the Big 12 Championship playing multiple quarterbacks in 2022, and then the offense actually got better last season despite losing star tailback Deuce Vaughn to the NFL.
Klein could be the coach that finally fully unleashes the talents of Conner Weigman, a former 5-star who has battled injuries and inconsistencies the last two seasons.