Naturally, head coaching hires dominate the conversation around the coaching carousel every year. Head coaches are, obviously, the figurehead of a program and control nearly every aspect of a team’s future.
But coordinator hirings and firings can often make or break a head coach’s tenure. Coordinators are an integral part of the process; they handle the minutiae of game-planning and play-calling on both sides of the ball so the head coach is free to handle all the other responsibilities that come with directing a program.
Not that head coaches don’t have a say — and there are some, like Oklahoma’s Brent Venables (defense) and Florida’s Billy Napier (offense), that go even further by maintaining direct control of play-calling responsibilities. Still, a great coordinator can make all the difference for a football team.
So, with spring practice in full swing around the nation, it makes sense to look back at some of the most impactful coordinator hires from the 2024-25 coaching carousel and how they could change the landscape of the 2025 season.
Tom Allen, DC, Clemson
In 2024, the Tigers had one of their worst defensive years of the Dabo Swinney era — especially against the run. They finished 101st in the FBS in opponent rush yards per carry (4.71), the most given up by a Clemson defense since 2011. Clemson also ranked 69th nationally in total defense (374.1 yards per game) and 53rd in scoring defense (23.4 points per game). The Tigers also struggled preventing explosives as they allowed 73 plays of 20 yards or more, which ranks 126th in the FBS. All that to say: Coach Dabo Swinney made the necessary change by moving on from Wes Goodwin and replacing him with Tom Allen — a radical move for Swinney, who hired a defensive coordinator from outside the program for the first time since 2012. Allen will have plenty of talent to work with at Clemson and should instill the physicality that fans got used to during Clemson’s College Football Playoff heyday.
Notre Dame lost Al Golden and replaced him with an Al Golden clone. In all seriousness, Ash and Golden followed eerily similar paths to the Fighting Irish. Both are former college head coaches that didn’t quite work out, and both spent several years in the NFL before moving back down to coach at Notre Dame. Prior to his hiring at Notre Dame in 2022, Golden hadn’t served as a collegiate defensive coordinator since 2001. Ash hasn’t held a DC post since 2020 when he led Texas‘ defense for a season. Regardless, the Golden hire certainly worked out for Notre Dame, and coach Marcus Freeman has a knack for identifying effective assistants, so the outlook is positive for Ash.
Jason Beck, OC, Utah
Utah, at its best, is a Big 12 title contender, which means that it would be within shouting distance of the College Football Playoff. But after winning two Pac-12 titles from 2021-22, the Utes are 13-12 in the last two seasons, including a 5-7 showing — their worst in a 12-game season under coach Kyle Whittingham since 2013 — in 2024, their first year in the Big 12. Offensive inconsistency, exacerbated by multiple injuries to longtime starting quarterback Cam Rising, was a huge reason behind the sharp decline. So that makes Beck an important hire. He’ll try to revitalize the Utes after leading one of the Group of Five’s most electric offenses at New Mexico last season. The Lobos led the Mountain West in yards per game (484.3) and yards rushing per game (253.6) while scoring 33.5 points per game. Quarterback Devon Dampier, who followed Beck to Utah, was a first-team All-Mountain West selection after tallying 3,934 total yards and 31 touchdowns.
Ryan Grubb, OC, Alabama
Alabama’s offense wasn’t entirely awful in 2024, but it was inconsistent, and that was enough for coach Kalen DeBoer to go out and lure a longtime collaborator in Grubb, who had a brief stint with the Seattle Seahawks during DeBoer’s first year in Tuscaloosa. The two made magic together at Washington in 2023 where they directed the Huskies to the College Football Playoff National Championship behind an offense that scorched opponents with 462.1 yards and 36 points per game. Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. finished second in Heisman Trophy voting and was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, so Grubb could hold the keys to unlocking a very talented, if overall inexperienced, Alabama quarterback room.
Corey Hetherman, DC, Miami
Miami’s defense let it down last season and wasted a special season from quarterback Cam Ward, who gave the Hurricanes some much-needed stability at the most important position on the field while earning a spot in New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist. Ward’s special play-making ability often saved Miami’s defense amid its 9-0 run to start the year, but the Hurricanes came up short in two of their last three regular season games to get bounced out of the ACC conversation. They also allowed 42 points in a Pop-Tarts Bowl loss to Iowa State, ending a once promising year with a whimper. So, coach Mario Cristobal made a change and bet big on Hetherman, a rising young coach who has just one year of Power Four coordinating experience from his recent stop in Minnesota. The Golden Gophers did finish top-10 nationally in both total defense and scoring defense in their lone year under Hetherman, and he established himself as one of the FCS’ top coordinators while working at James Madison from 2019-21, so there’s evidence Cristobal’s upside swing could pay off. It will have to if Miami wants to take that next step.
Penn State made arguably the biggest splash of the assistant coaching carousel when it poached Knowles from top rival Ohio State shortly after Knowles helped guide the Buckeyes to their first national title in a decade. Knowles has long been regarded as one of the top defensive minds in college football, and despite being around the game for almost 40 years, it’s clear that he hasn’t lost a single step in this new era. Ohio State led the nation in both total defense (254.6 yards per game) and scoring defense (12.9 points per game) last season. Knowles will undoubtedly maintain Penn State’s strong level of defensive play under coach James Franklin as the Nittany Lions look to push for the Big Ten chip in 2025.
Chip Lindsey, OC, Michigan
Lindsey had an up-and-down two years at North Carolina. In 2023, his first year as offensive coordinator with the Tar Heels, he inherited talented quarterback Drake Maye and, as such, engineered the ACC’s top passing offense. Maye led the conference in yards passing (3,608) and ranked second in touchdowns through the air (24), and was selected third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Lindsey and the Tar Heels struggled to identify an adequate successor for Maye. Subsequently, the Tar Heels’ passing production fell off a cliff. North Carolina only produced 224.4 yards passing per game last season — fifth-worst in the ACC — and neither of the two quarterbacks that saw meaningful playing time broke the 3,000-yard mark. Even so, Lindsey does have at least part of Maye’s development on his résumé, and North Carolina’s rushing offense was consistently effective under Lindsey, which means he’ll fit Michigan’s ground-and-pound philosophy well. How he develops Michigan’s quarterbacks, including blue-chip freshman Bryce Underwood, will determine whether the Wolverines return to Big Ten contention.
Malzahn hasn’t been an offensive coordinator since 2011 and UCF‘s offense never quite hit its stride during Malzahn’s tenure, though a lot of that was due to a rough adjustment to the Power Four level from 2023-24. Still, Florida State’s offense was abysmal in its first year without longtime starting quarterback Jordan Travis, and it was a huge reason why the Seminoles plummeted to 2-10 in 2024. Mike Norvell is hoping that he’ll get the Malzahn that developed dynamic playmakers like Cam Newton and Nick Marshall at Auburn, especially as the Seminoles search for an answer at quarterback.
Matt Patricia, DC, Ohio State
Patricia certainly has the bona fides to be a great college assistant. He was, after all, the defensive coordinator for two Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots teams and parlayed that success into a three-year stint as Detroit Lions head coach. So he will, in all likelihood, acclimate quite well to the collegiate level, though it does bring its own unique challenges that Patricia certainly is not used to. He’s never been an on-field assistant in the FBS ranks. The closest he came was from 2001-03 when he was a graduate assistant at Syracuse. How he fits the culture and manages a college roster, especially given the astronomically high standard now set at Ohio State, is important.
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