Auburn Hires Steele away from LSU and Tigers Pull DC away from Wisconsin, Both on Shaky Ground
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
The assistant coaching carousel in the SEC has continued to rotate with Auburn pulling defensive coordinator Kevin Steele away from LSU after one season in Baton Rouge helping initiate change on various staffs. The Tigers looking to fill the open vacancy returned the favor in kind snagging Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Aranda on Tuesday. The new opportunity for both defensive coordinators may present a great opportunity but also come with a potential downside that could include looking for another job at the end of the 2016 college football season.
Steele jumped the LSU ship after one season in Baton Rouge returning back to the state of Alabama where he spent one season with the Crimson Tide as the team’s defensive coordinator (2007) and then took a lateral move becoming Bama’s assistant head coach and linebackers coach in 2008. After three seasons as the Clemson Tigers defensive coordinator (2009-11), Steele took a year off before getting back into the college game heading back to the Crimson Tide as the team’s Director of Player Personnel. He spent the 2014 season as Alabama’s linebackers coach before heading to LSU.
Dave Aranda is another California Lutheran product that has turned into a well-respected college coach. Aranda cut his teeth working as a graduate assistant at both California Lutheran and Texas Tech (1999-01) before getting his big break coaching linebackers at Houston. Aranda has worked his way up returning to Cal-Lutheran as a DC (2005-06) holding the same positions at Delta State (2007), Southern Utah (2008), Hawaii (2010-11), Utah State (2012), and Wisconsin (2013-15). Aranda is a 3-4 base defense guy which suits the athletic play of the SEC along with the growing emphasis on defensive ends and linebackers being able to drop back into coverage or rush the passer in the college game.
Other big moves within the SEC assistant coaching ranks in the offseason include Texas A&M losing offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, Arkansas offensive line coach Sam Pittman heading to Georgia, and defensive coordinator Manny Diaz leaving Mississippi State for the same position at Miami.
Will Muschamp leaving Auburn as the team’s defensive coordinator to become the head coach with the Gamecocks could have a big impact on recruiting in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and in Alabama. When Muschamp left Auburn he took linebackers coach and secondary coach Lance Thompson and Travaris Robinson with him meaning more coaches could be flip-flopping from one SEC school to another in the coming days.
The moves for Steele and Aranda are gutsy. One would think Gus Malzahn at Auburn would be a lock for a decade as long as the team posts winning seasons. The same for Les Miles at LSU but the landscape of college football has changed and everyone expects a national championship program or at least a conference championship every other year or somehow the coach or coaches are now inept. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator for Auburn during the 2010 season when the Tigers won the BCS National Championship. He returned after a one-year head coaching stint with Arkansas State to lead Auburn to the National Championship Game for the 2013 season. After 8-wins in 2014 and 7-wins in 2015, Malzahn is now seemingly on the proverbial hot seat.
Les Miles has done nothing but win since going to Baton Rouge in 2005 netting two SEC Championship titles (2007 and 2011) and one BCS National Championship in 2007. In 2011, LSU finished as the nation’s runner-up in the BCS National Championship completing a 13-1 season but fell to Alabama starting a tumbling dice scenario with the LSU faithful and Miles.
Miles posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2012 and 2013 but has dipped a little over the last two with 8-wins in 2014 and 9-wins in 2015. A successful season by all accounts in college football, especially in the SEC West, but not good enough for LSU with the thorn in his side being Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Miles has a record of 112-32 with LSU but a late three-game skid coming against Alabama, Arkansas, and Ole Miss put his job in jeopardy. Miles was retained for at least one more year but if another 8- or 9-win season is had without marked improvement in the passing game, Miles and his staff might be gone before the 2016 SEC Championship Game comes around.
Former Georgia head coach Mark Richt serves as a warning for all college football coaches, their staff, players, and potential recruits. Winning championships is all that some fans, boosters, and alumni care about. Richt posted double-digit win totals in nine of 14 full seasons completed; he coached in Athens for 15 seasons but was not allowed to finish the year being let go before the TaxSlayer Bowl with nine wins under his belt. Richt collected six SEC Eastern Division Titles and two SEC Championships in 2002 and 2005 but the 10-year drought sank him.
LSU and Auburn recruit well every year and are stacked full of talent. The same can be said for Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M with Alabama being among the best of the best in landing top talent. The SEC from top to bottom is not going to get any easier to navigate for a title making all the flip-flopping from one school to another an exercise in futility with assistant coaches looking like the worst paycheck hunters in the U.S. The “what have you done for me lately” fan bases help contribute to the problem leaving everyone, coaches, fans, players, schools, and fan bases alike on shaky ground.
Photo credit: artesianews.com; Kevin Steele press conference at Auburn.