New Offensive Coordinators Under The Microscope In 2017

    As coaching staffs undergo facelifts, these new offensive coordinators will be enduring the most scrutiny and pressure in 2017.


    As coaching staffs undergo facelifts, these new offensive coordinators will be enduring the most scrutiny and pressure in 2017.


    Of course, you can’t fire the team, but you can initiate wholesale staff changes in an attempt to change a program’s course. Extreme leadership makeovers happen at the end of every season, and not just with head coaches.

    Somewhat overshadowed by the hoopla surrounding Texas’ firing of Charlie Strong and the addition of Willie Taggart at Oregon are the arrivals of a wave of new offensive coordinators across the country, each with a similar goal of producing more points, improving execution and coaching up inherited talent.

    Each of this offseason’s promoted offensive coordinators is being tasked with accepting a challenging situation and improving upon it. Their predecessors have been dismissed, not retained or left for another job. For the new guy on staff, there’s an enormous opportunity to enhance the resume and make the new boss look real smart. Fail to deliver, though, and there’ll be no areas of shade in these high-profile offensive positions.

    15. Billy Napier, Arizona State

    This is a big promotion for Napier, who spent the past five seasons as an offensive assistant and ace recruiter for Nick Saban at Alabama. The 37-year-old was a part of two national championship teams, but he has no West Coast ties, so there’ll be a learning curve in Tempe. Fortunately, Napier can adapt alongside one of his pupils, former Crimson Tide QB Blake Barnett, who’ll be eligible immediately. While the coach, who’ll also oversee the quarterbacks, inherits terrific skill players, he’ll be graded on the development of the cadre of hurlers joining Barnett in the battle to start.

    14. Beau Baldwin, Cal

    New Bear coach Justin Wilcox made a big splash by luring Baldwin away from the head coaching job at powerhouse Eastern Washington. Baldwin piloted the Eagles for nine seasons, winning the 2010 National Championship and at least 11 games five different times. He’ll perfectly complement Wilcox, who has no head coaching experience and is more interested in getting his hands dirty on the defensive side of the ball. Baldwin’s offenses at EWU were perennially among the most potent in the FCS, highlighted by a balanced version of the spread that works the area between the tackles.

    13. Doug Meacham, Kansas

    Getting Meacham off Gary Patterson’s TCU staff was a flat-out coup for David Beaty in January. The Jayhawks, who return young quarterbacks with potential and last year’s top two receivers, now have a coordinator who can maximize their potential. Meacham is an innovator who had his hand in a souped up Horned Frog offense that helped transform QB Trevone Boykin into a playmaking star. Now, Kansas doesn’t a player the caliber of Boykin on the roster. But Carter Stanley, Tyriek Starks and Washington State transfer Peyton Bender will all benefit from having Meacham in Lawrence.

    12. Larry Scott, Tennessee

    The Vols knew Scott could recruit, particularly in his home state of Florida. This fall, they learn if he can oversee an offense, which UT fans are quick to point out is noticeably absent from his resume. Butch Jones, entering what could be a make-or-break fifth season in Knoxville, promoted from within rather than altering his scheme with someone like former Oregon coach Mark Helfrich. Scott knows the personnel and the system, which are pluses. But he has a busy offseason ahead of backfilling a two-depth looking to replace last year’s quarterback, top backs and leading receiver.

    11. Troy Taylor, Utah

    Kyle Whittingham is rolling the dice that Taylor is ready to handle the most visible assignment of his career. The Utes want to attack more through the air, beginning in 2017. From that perspective, Taylor makes sense since he’s long orchestrated record-setting aerial assaults. However, he’s never been a coordinator, serving last year as Eastern Washington’s quarterbacks coach and playcaller. Most of his career was spent at Folsom (Wash.) High School, where Jake Browning was a pupil. Utah hopes Taylor can be the Pac-12’s version of Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, who transitioned from high school a decade ago.

    10. Matt Lubick and Jeff Nixon, Baylor

    Matt Rhule is taking the two-headed approach to developing an offense that’ll aim to be unpredictable, but will look different than during the Art Briles era. Rhule scored with both hires. Lubick gives the Bears a successful assistant, who’s recruited well from coast to coast and is coming off a four-year stint at Oregon. And Nixon, who played with Rhule at Penn State, brings his ideas from the past decade in the NFL. Since Lubick was in Eugene and Nixon was with Chip Kelly last fall, Baylor probably won’t be as conservative as originally thought when Rhule was hired.

    Oregon offensive coordinator Mario Cristobal (Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

    9. Mario Cristobal, Oregon

    It’s taken five years and counting for Cristobal to land another head coaching job following his head-scratching ouster from Florida International in 2012. But this move to Willie Taggart’s Oregon staff could propel him back onto AD’s short list of candidates before long. Cristobal spent the past four years as Nick Saban’s O-line coach, getting a crash course on what’s needed to be a national champion. He’ll be bringing that knowledge to Eugene, as well as deep Sunshine State recruiting ties that could help open up a new pipeline for the Ducks.

    8. Jedd Fisch, UCLA

    Jim Mora is using his third offensive coordinator in three years, hoping Fisch can succeed where Kennedy Polamalu failed in 2016. The Bruins were impotent a season ago, exacerbated by an injury to QB Josh Rosen. Fisch inherits what ought to be a healthy Rosen, as well as an edict to revamp a ground game that ranked next to last nationally in 2016. He has extensive experience in the NFL and in college, most recently with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, which he’ll need to leverage to help ignite a UCLA program that sunk to 4-8 last year.

    7. Tim Beck, Texas

    Beck’s hiring was met with a smattering of criticism, due in part to some of the struggles of the Ohio State offense this past season. But Beck didn’t call plays in Columbus, Ed Warinner did. And Beck will have the benefit of working alongside Tom Herman, whose fingerprints will be all over the Longhorn offense. While Beck is more steady than spectacular, he’s someone Herman knows and trusts. And his relationships with high school coaches in the region will benefit Texas as it attempts to keep more local stars from leaving the state.

    6. Phil Longo, Ole Miss

    Longo, a name unfamiliar to most college fans, is about to attempt a major step up in weight class. How major? He has never coached above the FCS level, yet he’ll be looking to solve SEC defenses in 2017. To his credit, Longo has perennially treated scoreboards like pinball machines, while not showing a strict adherence to a specific philosophy. He’ll go up-tempo and attack, but in a fashion that’s not afraid to lean on the ground game. Last season at Sam Houston State, Longo’s Bearkats led the nation with 49.5 points per game.

    5. Chip Long, Notre Dame

    Brian Kelly went young when looking for a replacement for Mike Sanford, now the Western Kentucky head coach. Long is just 33, though he’s made positive impressions at every stop of his first decade as a coach. So much so, in fact, that he’ll call plays for Kelly this fall. In Long’s lone season as a coordinator, the 2016 Memphis Tigers averaged almost 39 points per game, despite losing QB Paxton Lynch to the NFL Draft and head coach Justin Fuente to Virginia Tech. Long is also a proven developer of tight ends, a longtime position of strength in South Bend.

    4. Chip Lindsey, Auburn

    More than two years after QB Nick Marshall exhausted his eligibility, Auburn is still searching for offensive balance and execution. In SEC games, the Tigers have ranked no higher than eighth in scoring the past two seasons. Lindsey replaces Rhett Lashlee, who took the same job at Connecticut, and he’s being given total control of the attack from Gus Malzahn. Like Malzahn, Lindsey first built his reputation as a high school coach, and his knack for developing versatile playmaking quarterbacks should mesh nicely with the arrival of former Baylor QB Jarrett Stidham.

    3. Ryan Day and Kevin Wilson, Ohio State

    Urban Meyer was committed to changing the makeup of his offensive staff after the Buckeyes were blanked by Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. Mission accomplished. Day and Wilson have been brought aboard with the explicit task of cranking up more tempo and explosiveness at Ohio State. Day is a Chip Kelly disciple, who has both played for and coached with Kelly. Wilson, though, will have final say on offense. He’s an outstanding playcaller, with ample Big Ten experience as Indiana’s head coach. But this soft landing wasn’t without controversy, since the Hoosiers fired Wilson in December for alleged player mistreatment.

    2. Matt Canada, LSU

    The Tigers absolutely, positively must improve on offense, specifically the passing game, which is why Ed Orgeron’s hiring of Canada was so important to the program’s future. This decade, LSU has ranked higher than No. 10 in SEC passing just once, finishing sixth in 2013. And while the attack will likely still be built around backs, locating balance is a must. Canada became a hot commodity among ADs after just one season at Pittsburgh. The Panthers shockingly averaged 41 points per game, while QB Nathan Peterman emerged as one of the nation’s most efficient passers.

    1. Brian Daboll, Alabama

    Nick Saban is on his third offensive coordinator since December, and Steve Sarkisian’s successor is not a name that’ll be known to college fans. Daboll has spent the majority of his coaching career in the NFL, most recently as an assistant to Bill Belichick with the New England Patriots. However, he was a graduate assistant for Saban for two years at Michigan State, so he’s not unfamiliar with his new boss. This is a huge, high-profile promotion for the 41-year-old Daboll, who has not had success as a coordinator and will need to prove he can make the transition to college, where he must recruit and mentor much younger athletes.

    MORE: New Defensive Coordinators Facing Most Pressure In 2017

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