Forty names, games, teams and minutiae-making news in college football, where the number of people reacting strongly to the faded yard lines in Ireland is a good indication that people are bored and needed their favorite sport back. First Quarter: Terms of College Football Playoff Engagement. Second Quarter: Quarterback Relationship Status.
Third Quarter: New Coordinators, New Optimism
Assessing the moves made by head coaches in search of A) job security; B) improved unit performance; or C) a suitable replacement for a departed rock star. Naturally, every hire will work out perfectly.
Kitchen Sink Changes (23)
Programs where both coordinators have been swapped out in favor of new ones. The two most interesting:
Oklahoma brought Ben Arbuckle with quarterback John Mateer from Washington State to rescue its flailing offense. And head coach Brent Venables is going to call the defense himself, returning to his happy place. In an attempt to save Mike Norvell after the free fall from 2023 to ’24, Florida State brought in a sitting head coach as OC (Gus Malzahn) and a proven DC (Tony White).
Others: NC State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Texas Tech, Houston, Oklahoma State and Arizona all changed both coordinators while retaining the head coach.
Strategic Change (24)
The biggest single coordinator move of the offseason was Penn State swiping Jim Knowles from Ohio State, for the low, low price of $3 million a year. Knowles’s defense led the nation in fewest points allowed per game (12.9), yards allowed per play (4.19) and yards allowed per game (254.6). James Franklin got a dose of trying to dent Knowles’s defenses, scoring just 13 and 12 points against the Buckeyes the past two seasons.
Obviously, hiring Knowles doesn’t just help Penn State. It, at least theoretically, hurts Ohio State—although we’ll see about that. Bringing in Matt Patricia from the NFL could be a home-run replacement.
Outside the Pipeline Change (25)
After years of priding himself on promoting from within, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney has thought outside the Upstate box with his last two coordinator hires. The first was bringing in Garrett Riley in 2023 from TCU to call the offense. Now he’s imported former Indiana head coach Tom Allen, who last season was at Penn State, to call the defense. Allen’s son, Thomas, has also joined the Clemson staff as a defensive analyst and assistant linebackers coach.
Changes Wrought by Success (26)
Big winners sometimes lose top assistants to the NFL. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was one-and-done in that role at Ohio State before heading to the Las Vegas Raiders. His replacement is longtime Ryan Day assistant Brian Hartline, who will handle game-planning and play-calling duties but could get a lot of input from Day.
At Notre Dame, defensive coordinator Al Golden returns to the NFL and is replaced by Chris Ash, who leaves the NFL. Ash previously was DC at Texas, Ohio State, Arkansas and Wisconsin, with an unfortunate head-coaching tenure at Rutgers worked in the middle.
If a coordinator’s best friend is elite personnel, both Hartline and Ash are in good places.
Changes to Save the Offense (27)
Jason Beck, Utah. Beck arrives as a package deal with quarterback Devon Dampier from New Mexico. Like the head coach of the Utes, Kyle Whittingham, Beck played for archrival BYU. Utah’s national offensive rankings last year: scoring 102nd (23.6 points per game); total offense 115th (329.8 yards per game).
Ryan Grubb, Alabama. Grubb reunites with Kalen DeBoer after the two made beautiful offensive music together (with the help of Michael Penix) in 2022 and ’23. But their roots run deeper than that, going back through Fresno State to NAIA power Sioux Falls 18 years ago. Job one: cut down the Crimson Tide’s 21 lost turnovers last season, their most in quite a while.
Chip Lindsey, Michigan. He’s never previously coached north of Chapel Hill, N.C., but Lindsey has heeded the call to awaken the Wolverines’ slumbering offense and develop top QB recruit Bryce Underwood. Michigan threw for the fewest yards per game of any power-conference team last season (129.1).
Jeff Grimes, Wisconsin. His job is to reconnect with the Badgers’ physical DNA. Grimes should be the man for the job, having coordinated run-heavy offenses at Baylor and Kansas his last two stops.
Bryan Harsin, California. It’s hard to jazz up a Justin Wilcox offense, but the former Auburn and Boise State head coach is the latest guy tasked with trying. The two were on staff together as assistants at Boise State under Chris Petersen, so maybe they can dial up some of that old blue-turf magic.
Tino Sunseri, UCLA. Sunseri was part of the offensive staff at Indiana last year for the Curt Cignetti revival, doing good work with Kurtis Rourke. Now he inherits Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava, which should go a long way toward improving the nation’s No. 126 scoring offense from a year ago.
Changes to Save the Defense (28)
Corey Hetherman, Miami. The Hurricanes let a playoff berth slip away with defensive breakdowns late in the season, costing coordinator Lance Guidry his job. Hetherman, who has been at Minnesota, Rutgers and James Madison, has to improve a unit that allowed 30.8 points in ACC games.
Blake Gideon, Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets’ defense doesn’t really need much saving after a solid 2024 season. But they lost coordinator Tyler Santucci to the NFL during the winter and replaced him with Gideon, who coached safeties at his alma mater, Texas. Many of the Jackets’ top playmakers return.
Ryan Walters, Washington. Huskies coach Jedd Fisch raised a few eyebrows last month by declaring Walters “one of, if not the, best defensive coordinator in the country.” But before his unsuccessful stint as head coach at Purdue, Walters did oversee radical defensive improvement at Illinois under Bret Bielema. The Huskies need to get tougher outside their own stadium, having given up 104 more yards per game on the road than at home last season.
Promoting From Within (29)
Nebraska brought in former West Virginia and Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen as a consultant during the 2024 season, then elevated him to offensive coordinator in December—he should put some Red Bull in the Cornhuskers’ passing game after a full offseason with touted QB Dylan Raiola. John Butler was elevated to defensive coordinator after Tony White left for Florida State.
Kansas State turns over play-calling to co-offensive coordinator Matt Wells after last year’s caller, Conor Riley, departed for the NFL. The Wildcats hit a couple of big plays in Ireland against Iowa State, but struggled to run effectively after losing running back Dylan Edwards on his first play and converted just 6-of-17 third downs into first downs.
Recycling (30)
Alex Grinch, Central Florida. Well, maybe he’s learned something the last few years. Grinch was at Wisconsin last season, where the Badgers surrendered 23.1 points per game, their most since 2008. He was at USC the year before when the Trojans surrendered 34.4 points per game, the most in school history.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Forde-Yard Dash: Assessing New Coordinator Hires and Level of Overhaul Needed.