Mississippi State Expected To Hire Coleman Hutzler As Defensive Coordinator
Mississippi State football is reportedly in the process of finalizing a deal to hire Coleman Hutzler as the school's next defensive coordinator.
Hutzler currently serves the outside linebackers coach and special-teams coordinator at Alabama. He also has ties to the state of Mississippi, where he coached at Ole Miss as special teams coordinator in 2021. New head coach Jeff Lebby was the Rebels' offensive coordinator in 2020-21.
Outside of those two teams, his coaching experience also includes stints at other Southeastern Conference teams including South Carolina and Florida, as well as teams such as New Mexico, Boston College, and Texas.
While with South Carolina, Hutzler was nominated for the Broyles Award, which is awarded to the nation’s top assistant coach, in 2017. During his tenure with the Crimson Tide, he has coached talent such as Will Anderson Jr., Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell.
If hired, Hutzler would likely stay on with the Crimson Tide through the College Football Playoff as Alabama tries to win another national championship. The story was first reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.
In his introductory press conference, Lebby stressed the importance of hiring a defensive coordinator with experience and play calling skills in the SEC.
"I think it's incredibly important to have a guy come in here that has great experience and again, I'll continue to talk about when to hire guys and know what its supposed to look like inside this league," Lebby said. "That's important. I do think this league is different than any others, and I want a guy that has has success and had a lot of different experiences being able to go put it together on that side of the ball."
Hutzler will replace Matt Brock, who was the defensive coordinator for the Bulldogs under previous head coach Zach Arnett and is not expected to be retained by the new coaching staff. During the 2023 season, the Bulldogs ranked 10th in the SEC in scoring defense, allowing 26.6 points per game.
Mississippi State's defense will lose key pieces next season, including linebacker duo Jett Johnson and Nathaniel Watson, who have used up the remainder of their college eligibility. Johnson and Watson led the SEC in tackles (137 and 130 respectively) while Watson led the conference in sacks (10).
