Maryland hires Arkansas State asst. Walt Bell as offensive coordinator
Arkansas State assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Walt Bell will be the new offensive coordinator for Terrapins coach D.J. Durkin, according to a source.
This year was Bell's second in his positions for the Red Wolves, who won the Sun Belt championship with a 9–3 record.
One of college football’s brightest young offensive minds, the 31-year-old Bell spent the last five seasons working with up-and-coming Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson. Under Bell’s up-tempo, spread offense this season, the ASU is 10th nationally in scoring offense (41 points per game).
Last season, Arkansas State broke single-season school records for total yardage (6,194), points scored (477) and total plays (1,024). Before that, Bell was North Carolina’s tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator for two seasons.
He was Southern Miss’s wide receivers coach in 2011 after a season as an offensive graduate assistant for the Golden Eagles. He spent 2009 as a quality control coach at Oklahoma State following two years as a graduate assistant at Memphis.
A Dickson, Tenn., native, he also worked at Louisiana-Lafayette in the spring of 2007 after being a wide receiver at Middle Tennessee State from 2003 to ’06.
Durkin became Maryland’s coach earlier this month and had been defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Michigan this past season. The 37-year-old is regarded as one of college football’s best young defensive minds.
He was also previously defensive coordinator and linebackers at Florida from 2013 to ’14, a stint that included him leading the Gators to a 28–20 win over East Carolina as interim coach in the Birmingham Bowl in 2014.
Durkin replaces Randy Edsall, who was fired in October amidst a 2–4 start. He had a 22–33 record, including a 10–23 mark in conference play, in his five seasons with the Terrapins.
Maryland finished with a 3–9 record this season, which included a 1–7 mark in the Big Ten.
