College Football’s 5th Quarter: Lawsuits, scandals and new assistants
5. Best and Worst of Assistant Coaching Moves
Best: Alex Grinch to Ohio State
Alex Grinch’s hiring by Urban Meyer was not only a coup because he was poached from Washington State where he was creating a top rated defense, but also because Coach Meyer kept current defensive coordinator Greg Schiano in Columbus as well. Grinch won’t allow the Iowa Hawkeyes to put up 55 on him. Grinch brings new ideas, youth, and excitement to coach in front of his family- he’s a Columbus native.
Best: Mike Elko to Texas A&M
Jimbo Fisher’s run at Florida State fell apart amidst losing Jeremy Pruitt to Alabama and Deondre Francois to injury. Jimbo’s Seminoles couldn’t overcome poor defensive performances that Charles Kelly was saddling them with, without an elite quarterback. The style of offense Fisher plays, which is a pro style time of possession based game, relies on a strong defense. Mike Elko instantly improved Notre Dame’s defense in only a few short months on the job, and now will be tasked to perform the same miracle with the Aggies.
Worst/Overrated: John Chavis to Arkansas
John Chavis worked wonders as the defensive coordinator of the LSU Tigers. However, that was one enormous talent pool of top flight defenders to choose from in Baton Rouge. However, even after putting up the 9th ranked defense in 2014, Chavis left the bayou for College Station, Texas. Chavis started off at Texas A&M with solid defenses; ranked 27th by the S&P+ in 2015, 36th in 2016, but fell to 71st in 2017 and allowed Josh Rosen‘s thirty-four point comeback against UCLA. For Arkansas, this may be a good hire, but there had to be a younger more dynamic option than Chavis for Chad Morris.
Worst/Overrated: Matt Canada to Maryland
Seven schools in nine years. That’s Matt Canada’s resume as of the spring of 2018. I don’t think Canada is a bad offensive coordinator, I just don’t believe he’ll stay at Maryland long enough to have a long-term impact on the program for coach DJ Durkin. Durkin knows the Terps are a stepping stone job, he’s lost his offensive coordinator to a bigger job before, but Canada will leave because that’s what he does and his offense isn’t easy to fit the next coordinator in to.
He did ‘more of the same’ down at LSU and with the second best running back in college football. Up at Pitt, he did produce a solid offense with quarterback Nate Peterman and running back James Conner but those were two NFL caliber talents against the ACC. I don’t feel he will run a bad offense, I just feel he will install his very specific offense and then leave before it’s implemented.