The Black Coaches Who Should Be on Decision-Makers’ Radars This College Football Season
In the words of Maryland coach Mike Locksley, “Coaches are no longer selected; they are elected”—a salient point about the current state of the coaching market. Taking the helm at the college level increasingly has less to do with a coach’s specific acumen as a whistle-around-the-neck ball coach and more to do with the various other responsibilities on a person’s plate: managing players, coaches and staff as the head of a complete organization. But it does continually move the target on what is the best example of a coach and how do you go about gauging whether someone is ready for that role.
Being a coordinator certainly helps, but as coaches like Dabo Swinney and Urban Meyer have shown, you can have championship-level success in this era without coordinator experience. Sam Pittman and Shane Beamer are recent examples of coaches who have been able to turn programs around without it, as well. For Black coaches, though, there are still so few of them at the coordinator ranks that expanding the common avenues to get to the head position can benefit them as long as decision-makers are actually willing to give them a look.
Here is a list of Black head coaches, coordinators and assistants who are on industry sources’ radars moving forward. For the assistants, not all of them may be ready to be head coaches this cycle, but some may soon get their shot at the big time as they develop and become more known in the election process.
Head Coaches
Deion Sanders has helped put Jackson State on the map, prompting some to wonder if he’d make the leap to a Power 5 program.
David E. Klutho/Sports Illustrated
Maurice Linguist, Buffalo: After a decade as a defensive back coach, Linguist had a one-year stop with the Dallas Cowboys before joining Michigan as co-coordinator before the 2021 season. Then Lance Leipold left for Kansas, and Linguist left Ann Arbor to take his first head-coaching job in May. A few Bulls contributors left with Leipold, creating an immediate hole for Linguist to fill. The first step in replacing that talent came on the recruiting trail—Buffalo signed the second-best recruiting class in the MAC in ’22.
Larry Scott, Howard: Practically a lifer in Florida, Scott interviewed recently for FIU as well as USF after Charlie Strong was fired in 2018 and was a finalist for the latter. Scott’s deep ties to the state make him a name to note when a job opens there.
Deion Sanders, Jackson State: Underestimate Sanders at your own risk. He has already been involved in searches at TCU and Colorado State and has obvious success on the recruiting trail (he pulled top recruit Travis Hunter to Jackson). He also continues to turn heads in assembling an impressive coaching staff. Eventually, an FBS job will be his if he desires it.
Willie Simmons, FAMU: After the proud program spent much of the 2010s struggling, Simmons has FAMU humming in his third year in charge—a one-point loss against Sanders’ Jackson State was the only thing standing between the Rattlers and a Celebration Bowl berth. They did earn a playoff berth for the first time since ’01.
Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois: There’s no doubt about Hammock’s dedication to the running game when you consider his playing career (consecutive 2,000-yard seasons as a running back) and where he has been as a coach, including Wisconsin and the Baltimore Ravens. His Huskies are unique to defend:
After a surprise 9–5 season with multiple one-score games, NIU will look to build on that breakthrough season.
Tony Elliott, Virginia: Elliott finally takes over as a head coach at Virginia this season after a long run as offensive coordinator at Clemson. Part of the reason it has taken this long has to do with Elliott’s particular nature about his next opportunity while at Clemson.
Stan Drayton, Temple: After being retained by Steve Sarkisian when he took over at Texas in 2021, Drayton took over Temple for his first head-coaching gig this year. Temple has struggled since Matt Rhule left in ’16 and is in need of a rejuvenation.
Charles Huff, Marshall: Huff enters his second season as Marshall’s head coach. His experience includes being a key recruiter for Penn State, where he helped find and develop Saquon Barkley. His experience as an assistant at Alabama could be big moving forward as the Herd enter a competitive Sun Belt.
Offensive Coordinators
Alex Atkins, Florida State: Atkins takes over as offensive coordinator after two years as offensive line coach. Fellow assistants are quick to praise his comprehensive understanding of the offense, something that is key to the coach’s development as O-line coaches can run the risk of getting pigeonholed to that position throughout their career.
Kasey Dunn, Oklahoma State: Mike Gundy’s longest-tenured assistant offers the Cowboys continuity in his third year as coordinator. Dunn has seen just about everything in his time in Stillwater and would be an intriguing candidate, especially in the Big 12 footprint and/or the West Coast.
Josh Gattis, Miami: After serving as the play-caller for the hard-nosed Michigan offense that helped the Wolverines reach the College Football Playoff last season, Gattis takes over at Miami with quarterback Tyler Van Dyke as a potential pro prospect. Gattis has been a head-coaching candidate for multiple jobs, including Virginia, during the last cycle.
Lance Taylor, Louisville: Taylor is new to a Cardinals staff that has seen its fortunes change after heating up the recruiting trail of late. His background includes coaching running backs in college and a couple of years with wide receivers in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers.
Defensive Coordinators
Will Harris, Georgia Southern: The West Coast lifer heads east to run the Eagles’ defense after a stint coaching multiple future pros at Washington under Chris Peterson and Jimmy Lake.
Doug Belk, Houston: Belk has turned down overtures by Georgia and Alabama (where he served as a graduate assistant at the beginning of his coaching career) to stay at Houston with Dana Holgorsen. His rise has been swift, even though he has yet to run a defense in the SEC.
LeVar Woods, Iowa (special teams coordinator): There are more similarities than the uniforms between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Hawkeyes. A rigid adherence to continuity means the program has seen only two coaches since 1979. Whenever Kirk Ferentz decides to retire, Iowa may do well to look internally as Woods would be a clear continuity hire.
Travis Williams, UCF: A longtime Gus Malzahn assistant, Williams followed Malzahn to Orlando to run a defense for the first time. An off-the-field talent as a musician, he is cited by many for how effective he is at building relationships with players.
Ryan Walters, Illinois: Walters led a surprisingly adept Illinois defense in his first season under coach Bret Bielema. He was formerly a co-DC at Missouri for Gary Pinkel and Eli Drinkwitz and previously interviewed for a head-coaching job at Colorado.
Anthony Poindexter, Penn State: Pointdexter interviewed at alma mater Virginia during the most recent coaching cycle. He spent 10 years coaching on all three units but in the end returned to Penn State for his second year as co-defensive coordinator with former Miami coach Manny Diaz.
Chris Marve, Virginia Tech: Known for linebacker development, Marve is taking over as a DC for the first time at Virginia Tech under Brent Pry.
Jovan Dewitt, FIU: Dewitt recently was in the mix for the FIU head job that Mike MacIntyre landed, and will serve as coordinator. His interesting off-field story includes overcoming throat cancer, turning down a job at NASA and building a recruiting app when he was on staff at UCF.
Tem Lukabu, Boston College: Lukabu has had exposure to multiple kinds of roles within an organization, starting in an off-field position for Greg Schiano at Rutgers in 2006 before serving as an assistant with multiple NFL teams and coordinating under Jeff Haffley at BC.
Positional Coaches
Brian Johnson, Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks: Johnson has experience tutoring QBs as well as coordinator experience under Dan Mullen at Mississippi State and Florida. It will be up to him as to whether he’d return to college for a head job or try to rise up the NFL ranks.
Travaris Robinson, Alabama cornerbacks: Robinson is seen as a triple threat as an X’s and O’s guru, manager of a program and recruiter. He has extensive SEC experience as a player and coach and is spending at least this year under Nick Saban after being a defensive coordinator under Will Muschamp.
Brennan Marion, Texas wide receivers: Marion is quick to connect with players in his receiver room. A previous offensive coordinator at Howard, he developed an offense he branded Go-Go, named after a genre of funk music with roots in Washington, D.C. It was the driving force behind one of the biggest spread upsets in the history of the sport when the Bison upset 45-point favorite UNLV in 2017.
Chris Beatty, Chargers wide receivers: Known for strong communication skills, Beatty has handled administrative duties at Maryland and Virginia.
Robert Gillespie, Alabama running backs: A Mississippi native who has been around the block in the south and is an adept recruiter.
AJ Steward, Oregon State running backs: Steward’s experience covers every offensive skill position, either as a player or coach, and developing running backs at BYU, Arizona and Rice.
Cortez Hankton, LSU passing game coordinator/wide receivers: From the Ivy League to the SEC, Hankton has experience developing WRs, which paid off at his previous stop at Georgia, where the depth of the position was severely tested.
Van Malone, Kansas State AHC/defensive pass game coordinator/cornerbacks: A longtime defensive backs coach and former defensive coordinator at SMU, Malone is a players’ coach and has been taking over more duties beyond the defense since 2020 as an assistant head coach. At 52, he proves that not all rising stars have to be young.
Dell McGee, Georgia running backs/running game coordinator: A foundational piece of Kirby Smart’s coaching staff—and one of the two remaining from Smart’s first staff when he took over in 2016—McGee is a coaching lifer in the state of Georgia and considered one of the best running back coaches in the country. He also had a stint as interim coach at Georgia Southern in ’15 after Willie Fritz left for Tulane.
Jerry Mack, Tennessee running backs: Mack brings extensive experience as an offensive coordinator at Rice and Arkansas Pine Bluff, in addition to his time as coach at North Carolina Central, where he earned a Celebration Bowl berth in his third season in charge and the program’s sixth overall in FCS.
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