The offseason coaching carousel has become an annual tradition in college football. While there were several big names that moved around again this year, one of the underlying stories was the number of quality coordinators that changed schools. The head coaches continued to get the majority of the attention. but there were a handful of coordinator hires that really stood out as well. Here is a look at the four best coordinator hires in college football this offseason.
Don Brown, Michigan Wolverines
Defensive Coordinator
Jim Harbaugh exceeded all expectations in his first year at Michigan when he led the Wolverines to a 10-3 record. Everybody knows it will be hard to top that debut and it didn’t help when defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin was plucked away to become Maryland’s new head coach. However, Harbaugh responded by stealing away arguably the best coordinator still available in Brown, who had just led the second-ranked defense in the country at Boston College last season. The Eagles ranked second in rushing defense, fourth in scoring defense and sixth in passing defense last season under Brown. Now he arrives at Michigan where he will have even more talent at his disposal including an outstanding secondary led by safety Jabrill Peppers. The Wolverines aren’t going to catch anyone by surprise next season, which means their coaching staff will have to have their team even better prepared. Brown is the man to do that, but with that hire, the college football expectations are incredibly high for the Wolverines’ defense.
Dave Aranda, LSU Tigers
Defensive Coordinator
Kevin Steele left the Tigers to take the defensive coordinator job at Auburn, but that departure might have actually led to an upgrade at the position for LSU after they managed to land Aranda this college football offseason. Aranda is coming off another tremendous season at Wisconsin and his resume speaks for itself. The Badgers have ranked in the top five in the country in scoring defense, passing defense, rushing defense and total defense over the cumulative period of his three years with the program. Now Aranda will be tasked with turning things around at LSU where the wheels came off by the end of the season. We’ve see Wisconsin coaches make a smooth transition to the SEC before (see: Bret Bielema) and there is no doubt that Aranda has the ability to help transform the Tigers into an elite unit on the defensive side of the football.
Bob Shoop, Tennessee Volunteers
Defensive Coordinator
Tennessee has made significant progress under head coach Butch Jones and it’s pretty telling that he decided to upgrade at the defensive coordinator position despite the fact that the Volunteers’ defense ranked 16th in the country last season. They allowed just 20.0 points per game allowed. Jones made the decision that wasn’t good enough and he managed to hire Shoop away from Penn State to replace John Jancek at the position. Penn State’s defense ranked 15th in the nation a year ago, but they were second in total defense the year before that and Vanderbilt ranked in the top-25 in scoring defense in all three seasons under Shoop before that. Shoop’s track record, experience and ability clearly stood out to Jones, and he deserves a lot of credit for making the move. Now we’ll see if he’s a key piece in the Vols ascent in the SEC.
Chip Lindsey, Arizona State Sun Devils
Offensive Coordinator
Lindsey made the grade as the top offensive coordinator hire in the nation and the only offensive coordinator to make this list after he was hired by Arizona State. The Sun Devils took a hit when Memphis lured away offensive coordinator Mike Norvell as its new head coach, but Todd Graham found an excellent replacement in Lindsey. The former collegiate assistant has a long track record of success at Alabama and Georgia and he helped turn around the offense at Southern Miss. Lindsey will want to run a fast-paced style similar to Norvell and the transition should be a smooth one as he takes over as an excellent replacement at Arizona State.
