Coaching Changes One Constant For Mason At Vanderbilt

Change is once again in the air for Vanderbilt football as the university announced that both offensive coordinator Gerry Gdowski and defensive coordinator Jason Tarver have been dismissed from those positions with the Commodores.

When the new coordinators assume their positions for the 2020 football season, they will be the fourth offensive and defensive coordinators in the tenure of head coach Derek Mason.

Offensively Karl Dorell was the first for Mason at Vanderbilt. He was followed after one season (2014) and replaced by Andy Ludwig who held the position from 2015-18 before taking the same position at the University of Utah. He was replaced by Gdowski who lasted just one season.

Defensively it was David Kolutski who held the position for Mason in year one (2014). He was replaced by Mason himself in 2015 where the head coach handled the coordinator duties until 2018 when Tarver arrived and held the position for two seasons.

Last season the Commodores offense finished 125th in the nation, averaging just 16.5 points per game. The defense finished 96th in the nation in scoring defense giving up nearly 32 points per game in a 3-9 season that included a mind-boggling home loss to UNLV.

The coordinator is not the only position where there have been multiple coaches at various positions during Mason's six seasons in Nashville. There have been more than fifteen staff changes in that time period.

Not all coaches who have left were fired. Some like Ludwig left for other opportunities. Still, the point remains the same, constant change is not a good thing at any level of football.

While I'm not one to criticize decisions to change assistant coaches if things aren't working, or coaches moving on to other opportunities, having consistency on a coaching staff can not be undervalued.

Look at Alabama during their run of titles, and Clemson currently who had or have had few coaching changes during their dominations of college football.

Changing coaches could be the best thing for the Commodores, but the pressure is now on for Mason to make the right hires for both these positions.

However he goes about filling these openings, this could be the make or break moment in his tenure at Vanderbilt.