The sexy hires in the SEC this season (other than Florida head coach Jim McElwain) are all on defense.
Auburn proved the best suitor for head coach-turned-coordinator Will Muschamp. Texas A&M stole John Chavis, which led LSU to pilfer Kevin Steele. Florida nabbed Geoff Collins, which led Mississippi State to lift Manny Diaz from Louisiana Tech. LSU even hired Ed Orgeron, last seen as a successful interim coach at USC.
But let’s not get carried away. This isn’t Miss Universe vs. County Fair Queen. SEC teams have hired four offensive coordinators as of Wednesday, with a fifth position still open (Arkansas). The offensive hiring will get even juicier if Lane Kiffin leaves Alabama for the NFL.
So which already-finalized offensive hire is the most important in the SEC?
The Candidates: Florida offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, Georgia offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, Kentucky offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson, Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and Texas A&M offensive line coach Dave Christensen.
NOT QUITE
All due respect to the Wildcats and Commodores, but outside of James Franklin’s two best seasons in Nashville, you’re just not that important within the SEC landscape.
Both teams made relatively crucial hires at coordinator.
At 5-7, Kentucky’s overall season was as good as anything the Wildcats have put together since 2010, and represented progress. But the way it happened — a six-game losing streak to close the year, when any one of those games would’ve made UK bowl eligible — must’ve frustrated the daylights out of the program’s most ardent fans.
Dawson comes to Kentucky from West Virginia, where he coached quarterbacks under Dana Holgorsen. (Dawson held the title of offensive coordinator, but Holgorsen called the plays.) Dawson’s roots trace back to the Air Raid, which UK has operated since head coach Mark Stoops arrived in 2013. Will the team continue to pursue a pass-first offense? The team has recruited a number of receivers the last two classes, but for now, the best offensive talent is in the backfield, even with Braylon Heard leaving early for the NFL.
Whether or not Dawson is a good caretaker of the offense could have a strong bearing on Stoops’ future at UK.
Similarly, Derek Mason took a nine-win team and turned it into 3-9 during his first season in Nashville. Due to injuries and ineffectiveness, the ‘Dores played musical chairs at quarterback, and an infertile passing game was a major reason for the decline. (A major talent drain can’t be ignored, either.)
Ludwig became a free agent when Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen decided to bail in favor of Oregon State. But the Badgers’ loss is Vandy’s gain. Ludwig is used to operating a run-first, tight end-heavy offense similar to what Mason grew accustomed to at Stanford. Vanderbilt doesn’t have to return to threatening double-digit wins, but finishing 0-8 every year in the SEC won’t do. So Mason needs Ludwig to turn it around.
Christensen is an underrated hire at A&M. A long-time offensive coordinator for Gary Pinkel at Toledo and then Missouri, Christensen took his shot at a head coaching position at Wyoming, and after five OK years, the Cowboys moved on. Christensen gravitated to Utah, where he had a nice season as coordinator, but the Utes’ assistant coaching staff all bailed as head coach Kyle Wittingham seems to be struggling with behind-the-scenes politics.
The Aggies could use Christensen’s offensive input. A&M’s offensive line is one of the more talented units in the country each year, and didn’t have the most impressive season in 2014.
THE CASE FOR NUSSMEIER
It never became crystal clear, at least publicly. He did accept a nice raise. But when Nussmeier left Alabama in favor of Michigan after the 2013 season, it seemed like Nick Saban may have encouraged him to seek employment elsewhere.
Alabama’s offense wasn’t lousy with Nussmeier, but Saban took the governor off somewhat with new coordinator Lane Kiffin in 2014, and the unit put together a commendable season, putting up some of the best numbers of the Saban era.
All that’s to say that Nussmeier isn’t an all-world coordinator.
But he does have an impressive resume. And sometimes fit is the most important attribute.
With McElwain landing his first big-time job as a head coach, it’ll help him to have two veteran coordinators. Nussmeier’s one-year absence from the SEC didn’t erase his knowledge of the conference’s defenses. Plus, he was McElwain’s replacement at Alabama. The two should produce a fluid collaboration on the offensive playbook and game plan.
McElwain is more than capable of acting as a CEO, and he’ll have to at Florida. But at Colorado State, he stayed pretty involved in the offense. The Rams produced some outstanding offenses the last two years, and with a little recruiting success, UF’s offense should be growing by leaps and bounds. McElwain and Nussmeier together should make for a good team.
THE WINNER
Word out of St. Louis is that Schottenheimer got the same kind of encouragement from Rams coach Jeff Fisher that Nussmeier got from Saban a few years ago: you may want to look for another job.
When the long-time NFL coordinator landed at Georgia, the first reaction by many (including myself) was less than complimentary. But now that there’s some distance, the hire makes sense.
No, it’s not a hire that’s going to win the press conference or make Bulldogs fans drool like Alabama did with Kiffin last year. Schottenheimer runs a conservative, run-oriented offense that favors a safe-and-easy short passing game.
But isn’t that what we’ve seen from Georgia, outside of quarterback Aaron Murray’s peak?
The Bulldogs want to run the ball with Nick Chubb, Keith Marshall and Sony Michel, and the team wants its quarterback to value the football and play with efficiency (just like Hutson Mason last year). If Jeremy Pruitt continues to blossom as a defensive coordinator, Georgia won’t need to resemble TCU or Baylor on offense to win games in the SEC East.
The SEC has trended toward offensive coordinators with NFL experience in recent years (Kiffin, Cam Cameron at LSU). It’s a good recruiting tool. Plus, Bobo was a trusted assistant coach for Mark Richt from 2001-14. Most of the time, it’s seen as a negative if a right-hand man moves on.
Right or wrong, the Bulldogs have developed the perception as a complacent program that has plateaued under Richt. Shaking things up may be just what Georgia needs.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
