Billy Napier has hired Sean Spencer as the Gators’ co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach, the school announced on Thursday.
Spencer, who was given the nickname “Coach Chaos” during his time at Penn State, most recently coached the New York Giants’ defensive line over the last two seasons. He accepted the co-defensive coordinator position at Duke just a few days ago but will apparently leave for greener pastures in Gainesville.
He started at safety at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, a Division 2 school, for three years in the 1990s. He started his coaching career at Wesleyan in 1995 as wide receivers and tight ends coach.
Spencer, 51, earned his first major coaching job as Vanderbilt’s defensive line coach from 2011-13.
Under his tutelage, Tim Fugger earned Second Team All-SEC honors in 2011 after posting eight sacks and 11 1/2 tackles-for-loss.
His defensive line, known as the “Wild Dogs,” helped the Commodores rank inside the top-25 in total defense in all three years.
The Hartford, Connecticut, native followed head coach James Franklin to Penn State. He coached there for six years before taking the job with the Giants.
In 2015, the Nittany Lions led the country with 3.54 sacks per game and ranked sixth with 8.2 tackles-for-loss per game. Carl Nassib broke the school record with 15 1/2 sacks and won the Lombardi Award and the Ted Hendricks Award. Defensive tackles Austin Johnson and Anthony Zettel also collected All-Big Ten honors.
Spencer’s unit posted 42 sacks in 2017, which made it the first time the program had recorded 40 or more sacks in three consecutive campaigns since 2005-07.
He added the title of associate head coach prior to the 2018 season and helped Penn State lead the nation with 3.62 sacks per game that year.
Defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos recorded eight sacks and 20 tackles-for-loss and was named First Team All-Big Ten. He later was drafted in the second round. At the other end, Shareef Miller received third team recognition and was drafted in the fourth round.