2023 Will Be the Year of Scapegoat Coordinators in SEC: All Things CW
The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts each week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...
Take 3
Coaching turnover is nothing new in college football, and is pretty much expected every year in the Southeastern Conference. With so many programs having extremely high expectations, and fans bases not known for their patience, the mental image of a revolving door always being in motion isn't much of a stretch.
That's what makes what's happening this offseason so interesting.
Only SEC one school felt the need to make a head coaching change, Auburn.
Another had to, unfortunately, with Mike Leach passing away, Mississippi State.
The number of head coaching changes at the the Football Bowl Subdivision is down in general, in part due to the large buyouts schools would have to pay to make a change.
For example, had Texas A&M decided to get rid of Jimbo Fisher prior to Jan. 1, the buyout would have been $85,950,000. It won't dip under $40 million until 2028.
Gus Malzahn’s buyout in 2020, which at the time was the largest paid buyout in college football history, was $21.45 million.
That'll pay for a lot of trips to Waffle House.
So where did a lot of SEC schools make their changes this season? At the coordinator level.
Granted, there's numerous reasons why the changes were made, including being hired by NFL teams. However, 10 of the 14 SEC schools will have new offensive coordinators in 2023.
- Alabama: Tommy Rees
- Arkansas: Dan Enos
- Auburn: Philip Montgomery
- Georgia: Mike Bobo
- Kentucky: Liam Coen
- Mississippi State: Kevin Barbay
- Missouri: Kirby Moore
- South Carolina: Dowell Loggains
- Texas A&M: Bobby Petrino
- Tennessee: Joey Halzle
The four exceptions are Florida, LSU, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, and the first three all made a change last year. Consequently, Joey Lynch, who was been the Commodores since 2021, is the dean of the group.
Sort of.
While the turnover as has been surprising, familiarity has been a common theme with their replacements.
Coen had been successful at Kentucky before going to the Los Angeles Rams last year, a move that didn't quite work out. He's back in Lexington.
Enos is back in Arkansas, where he had a lot of success under Bret Bielema from 2015-17.
With Todd Monken going to the Baltimore Ravens this week, Kirby Smart quickly promoted Mike Bobo, who had served as an analyst last season.
With Will Muschamp at defensive coordinator, not only does Smart have two prominent Georgia alumni serving as his generals this season (and maybe for a while), but the offensive and defense will be led by two men who are probably much better as coordinators than as head coaches.
For those who are scoffing at the return of Bobo, don't. The offense wasn't the problem all those years when he worked under Mark Richt including as offensive coordinator from 2007-14. Some of the quarterbacks he squeezed a lot out of included David Greene, DJ Shockley and Aaron Murray, plus he obviously did pretty well with Matthew Stafford. The only question is how well he can run Monken's offense?
Even Nick Saban went the familiar route on the defensive side, bringing Kevin Steele back a third time to be the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator.
Usually when we start looking at the upcoming season, and gauging which teams can challenge for the league title, stability is considered an important trait especially on the offensive side. Everyone covets having a returning coordinator and starting quarterback whenever possible, but almost no one will have that in 2023.
The list might end up being Jayden Daniels at LSU, and AJ Swann at Vanderbilt. Jaxson Dart is back at Ole Miss, but Lane Kiffin has added a pair of transfers to challenge him.
Among the quarterbacks who will be in the NFL draft include Alabama's Bryce Young, Kentucky's Will Levis, Florida's Anthony Richardson, Tennessee's Hendon Hooker and Georgia's Stetson Bennett.
As for what it means in terms of coaching turnover? Everyone's looking for immediate answers, and not everyone's going to find them.
When that happens, we already know where the blame is going to fall.
See Also:
Take 1: With Alabama Basketball No. 1, Nate Oats Should Lean on Nick Saban Even More
Take 2: Alabama Basketball Doesn't Have to Look Far For Motivation
