The biggest football news of last week was Todd Grantham spurning an offer from the Cincinnati Bengals to stay in Gainesville. He re-upped with a fantastically rich contract for a coordinator that runs, if we’re being honest, several years past when he’s likely to have taken some other NFL job that’s better than Cincy’s.
With that matter settled, it means that Dan Mullen only had two spots of turnover on his staff. Defensive line coach Sal Sunseri left to return to Alabama, where his son Vinnie is now a graduate assistant. Certainly no one should begrudge him that opportunity. Corners coach Charlton Warren left to take the DBs coach job at Georgia, which stings a little.
That said, Warren has had six different jobs since 2013. That year was the last of a nine-year coaching run at his alma mater, the Air Force Academy. He moved on to Nebraska for the final year of the Bo Pelini era in 2014. After that staff turned over, he spent 2015-16 working for Larry Fedora’s last two good North Carolina teams. He jumped at an SEC job in 2017 for Butch Jones’s last year at Tennessee before coming to Florida for a year. The one-year stints at Nebraska and Tennessee weren’t his fault, though he did jump aboard a sinking ship in Knoxville, but the quick stays in Chapel Hill and Gainesville were his choices.
In short, Mullen has about as much continuity as could be expected under the circumstances. It’s great that Sunseri gets to work with his son, while Warren has proven to be something of a job hopper. The rest of the 2018 staff is in place for 2019.
This situation is good for a coaching staff. Continuity is good, but only in moderation.
The lack of continuity in coaching can certainly hurt a team. That was the story with Will Muschamp’s staff.
Muschamp went through three offensive coordinators in his four years, each of them serving as quarterbacks coach too. Each OC change coincided with an offensive line coach change as well, and the wide receivers coach position turned over every single year. Two of the WRs coaches were forced out for NCAA violations, in the case of 2012 leaving grad assistant Bush Hamdan to fill in the role. Not surprisingly, play at quarterback, offensive line, and wide receiver left a lot to be desired in the Muschamp era.
One of the primary things that UF was looking for with its next hire was an ability to have continuity on the staff, as the constant shuffling was wreaking havoc on recruiting and development. The school actually found it with Jim McElwan.
McElwain’s 2017 staff included seven assistant coaches who were on his original 2015 staff. Problem solved? Not really when we look at those seven.
OC/QBs coach Doug Nussmeier could never get the offense out of second gear for more than about one or two games a year. DC Randy Shannon’s vanilla defense in 2017 scared no one, and the program is still in a hole from some of his recruiting decisions. Mike Kent’s strength and conditioning program got a special shout out for being subpar in Scott Stricklin’s announcement of McElwain’s firing.
The wide receivers made slow progress outside of Antonio Callaway under Kerry Dixon. Tim Skipper moved in 2017 from running backs coach to linebackers coach, a spot he’d coached in past jobs. For some reasons his fault and some not, he oversaw the worst Florida linebacking unit I can remember. No primary running back managed five yards per carry under his watch either, though poor line play contributed to that. As for TEs/special teams coach Greg Nord, well, plenty of Gator fans wondered what exactly he did other than collect paychecks. Chris Rumph was a bright spot, at least.
The McElwain staff fixed the problem of constant change in the wrong way. It had plenty of continuity because it was full of guys that no one else wanted to hire away.
Mullen’s staff, meanwhile, shows a much better situation. It had coaches who were desirable to other institutions, including the professional level. A couple left, but others who were pursued like Grantham and Ron English stayed.
There is a core of Mullen guys on offense who’ve been with him a long time in Billy Gonzales, John Hevesy, and Greg Knox. Gonzales and Hevesy go back with Mullen to Urban Meyer’s first Bowling Green staff in 2001, while Knox was with Mullen all nine years in Starkville. They’ve produced a number of good offenses together and don’t appear to have any interest in leaving. That’s the good kind of continuity.
QBs coach Brian Johnson played for Mullen at Utah for a year. New DL coach David Turner had two stints at Mississippi State under Mullen. They knew exactly what they’d be in for and said yes.
LBs coach Christian Robinson was a grad assistant at Mississippi State in 2017 and followed the gang to Gainesville. He played for Grantham. He also knew what he’d be in for and said yes.
The core Mullen Mafia will be around for a while, but if things go well, Johnson, Robinson, and new corners coach Torrian Gray will eventually move on to coordinator roles. Florida may have to work to retain them from other suitors in the meantime. Tight ends coach Larry Scott did a year as a coordinator at Tennessee and may also get that call again. English has been a DC and a head coach before and, at only age 50 now, he may be again. Grantham will get calls from the NFL every offseason.
This all is good. Florida having to work to retain assistants both shows that they’re worth pursuing — they’re not staying due to the McElwain method of staff retention, in other words — while also making them motivated to do a good job to fulfill the faith Florida puts in them.
The staff situation under Mullen couldn’t be more healthy. Gator fans happy with how the 2018 season ended on the field should be just as happy with Mullen’s staffing success.