SEC Coaching Staff Structures

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the Dedicated Defensive Coordinator position – having a guy in charge of the defense who isn’t also asked to be a position coach. Bo Pelini was a DDC in 2007 at LSU; Will Muschamp was a DDC in 2003 at LSU. Those were rather good years for the Tigers, what with the national championships and No. 1 (2003) and No. 3 (2007) defenses.

We no longer have a DDC. In 2008, of course, we had no defensive coordinator – just two guys trying to do that one job plus coach positions. And how we have John Chavis, who disturbingly also has the responsibility of coaching the single most problematic position for LSU this year – linebackers. At linebacker, the Tigers have a stud in Kelvin Sheppard then a bunch of guys with little to no college linebacker experience. And one of the two guys who aren’t redshirt freshmen currently has a broken jaw.

Chavis has a tough job just with the linebacker corps this season. But he also has to devise schemes to counter everything from Ryan Mallet’s arm to Mark Ingram’s legs (plus all the Wildcats and Spreads in between) and teach the defensive as a unit to run them. A tall order that’ll make it a challenge to improve on last year’s No. 26 Total Defense rank.

Thinking about Chavis’ tasks and longing for a DDC made me curious about the structure of coaching staffs across the SEC. If you’re not aware, a team has a head coach and up to nine assistant coaches (and two graduate assistants). Digging into the media guides revealed some interesting pictures of how those nine assistant-coach positions are structured:

- Offensively, coaching staff structures are remarkably consistent. Every school in the SEC except Arkansas has five offensive assistants. All SEC teams have a quarterbacks coach, a running backs coach, a wide receivers coach and an offensive line coach. All but Arkansas have a dedicated tight ends coach (Florida’s tight ends coach also coaches fullbacks), which seems a little strange. With just nine assistant spots, dedicating one to tight ends is a big investment of resources for a position that is somewhere between a receiver an a lineman and typically not a really key role. But six tight end coaches also work on special teams, so in a lot of cases more value is coming from that spot.

- Nobody has a Dedicated Offensive Coordinator, and nine out of 12 schools have an OC who also coaches quarterbacks. And that makes sense – the quarterback executes the offense and you’re coaching just one or two guys. Quarterbacks coach is almost an extension of Offensive Coordinator. Only Tennessee and Florida have OCs who aren’t also the quarterbacks coach. South Carolina has no Offensive Coordinator. Ole Miss is the only school rocking the horrible idea of “Co-Coordinators”.

- Defensive staff structure is all over the place. Ten SEC schools have a single defensive line coach, but Arkansas and Vandy separate that out into defensive tackle and defensive end coaches. Ten schools also have a single linebacker coach, but Arkansas and Georgia break that out into inside and outside linebacker coaches. Seven schools have a single defensive backs coach while five have separate coaches for cornerbacks and safeties.

- Three SEC schools (Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee) have Dedicated Defensive Coordinators. Five defensive coordinators have linebacker position responsibilities, and four coach defensive backfield players. Florida and Mississippi State have guys called “Co-Defensive Coordinator”, but they also have a Defensive Coordinator without the “Co-” part, so it seems like one guy is in charge.

- All teams except Mississippi State have a guy tagged as “Special Teams Coordinator”, but only LSU has a Dedicated Special Teams Coordinator – though we’re told Joe Robinson is also “working with the defensive line” and he’s secondarily called the “Defensive Line Assistant”. Not “Defensive Line Assistant Coach”, just “assistant”.

- Five teams now have a guy tagged as “Passing Game Coordinator” or “Running Game Coordinator”.

What does all this mean? Hell if I know. I assume coaches who have been around a while have a good sense of how to divide the nine jobs. And I assume Les Miles doesn’t know anything about that. He replaced Bo Pelini with Joe Robinson, after all.

I’d try to make the case that defense is more complicated and therefore should be the side with five coaches, but the only SEC team set up like that – Arkansas – had the conference’s worst defense last year. But then again, Arkansas is the only team without a tight ends coach, but their tight end D.J. Williams was second in the SEC in tight-end receiving yards. So go figure.

I do think a Dedicated Defensive Coordinator is a smart move, so I’d start there with my imaginary staff. And an Offensive Coordinator who coaches quarterbacks makes sense, so there’s another. Running backs, wide receivers and offensive line coaches are obvious choices as well and give me five guys.

On defense, I’m not sure I see the general benefit of splitting up any of the jobs (line, linebackers, backfield). Yes, defensive end is a different job than defensive tackle, outside linebacker different than inside linebacker and cornerback different than safety. But they are all units sharing a task, so having one line coach would seem to have advantages over having one guy coaching the middle and one guy coaching the ends. And the need for two coaches for a unit seems situational. This year, for example, it would be great if LSU had another linebackers coach.

So I’d do this: position coaches for defensive backfield, linebackers and defensive line, plus a Defensive Skills coach whose job would be to work on technique across the defense. Maybe one season he focuses on a young linebacker corps, another he changes focus week to week based on issues from the last game. He could also handle special teams, and maybe even talk to the tight ends from time to time.

It would look like this:

Cap’n Ken’s Staff
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator
- Defensive Backs Coach
- Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Line Coach
- Defensive Skills Coach / Special Teams Coordinator

Or something like that.

As for the actual staffs, the team-by-team rundown is:

Alabama
- Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator
- Defensive Backs Coach
- Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Line Coach
It should be noted that before this season, Kirby Smart had position responsibilities (defensive backs) in addition to his DC role. In 2009, Alabama had two linebacker coaches. Saban replaced James Willis (now DC at Texas Tech) with a defensive backs coach; freeing up Smart.

Arkansas
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator / Defensive Backs Coach
- Inside Linebackers Coach
- Outside Linebackers Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Defensive Tackles Coach
- Defensive Line Coach

Auburn
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers Coach
- Cornerbacks Coach
- Safeties Coach
- Defensive Line Coach

Florida
- Offensive Coordinator / Offensive Line Coach
- Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends / Fullbacks Coach
- Defensive Coordinator / Cornerbacks Coach
- Safeties Coach / Co-Defensive Coordinator
- Linebackers Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Defensive Line Coach

Georgia
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach
- Offensive Line Coach / Running Game Coordinator
- Defensive Coordinator / Outside Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Backs Coach
- Inside Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Line Coach / Special Teams Coordinator

Kentucky
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator
- Defensive Backs Coach
- Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Line Coach

LSU
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach / Passing Game Coordinator
- Tight Ends Coach
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Backs Coach
- Defensive Line Coach
- Special Teams Coordinator / Defensive Line Assistant

Ole Miss
- Co-Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Co-Offensive Coordinator / Offensive Line Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers Coach
- Cornerbacks Coach
- Safeties Coach
- Defensive Line Coach

Mississippi State
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach / Passing Game Coordinator
- Tight Ends Coach
- Offensive Line Coach / Running Game Coordinator
- Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers Coach
- Cornerbacks Coach
- Safeties Coach
- Defensive Line Coach / Co-Defensive Coordinator

South Carolina
- Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator / Cornerbacks & Free Safeties Coach
- Spurs & Strong Safeties Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Line Coach

Tennessee
- Offensive Coordinator / Running Backs Coach
- Quarterbacks Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator
- Defensive Backs Coach
- Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Line Coach

Vanderbilt
- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
- Running Backs Coach
- Wide Receivers Coach
- Tight Ends Coach / Special Teams Coordinator
- Offensive Line Coach
- Defensive Coordinator / Defensive Backs Coach
- Linebackers Coach
- Defensive Tackles Coach
- Defensive Ends Coach