Petrino among more intriguing of SEC’s new offensive coordinators
NASHVILLE — If Southeastern Conference football fans are upset with the play-calling of their favorite teams this season, chances are they will be yelling at somebody new.
The SEC has 10 fresh offensive coordinators, including Tommy Rees at Alabama, Mike Bobo at Georgia and Joey Halzle at Tennessee, who actually helped guide the Volunteers to their Orange Bowl win over Clemson. The most recognizable of the new faces is Texas A&M’s Bobby Petrino, who was hired by Jimbo Fisher following last season’s disappointing 5-7 finish by the Aggies.
“Bobby has done a great job and has fit in very well,” Fisher said Monday as the 2023 SEC Media Days opened at the Grand Hyatt.
When Fisher was asked what kind of offense the Aggies would run, he quickly replied with, “I’m not going to get into schematics. We’ll do everything.”
The last time Petrino was a college assistant was 2002, when he helped Tommy Tuberville’s Auburn Tigers to a 9-4 season that concluded with an Iron Bowl win in Tuscaloosa and a Citrus Bowl topping of Penn State. He left his role as offensive coordinator for the head-coaching vacancy at Louisville and has since had a second stint with the Cardinals as well as coaching ventures with the Atlanta Falcons, Arkansas, Western Kentucky and Missouri State.
“Bobby was hired for a reason,” Fisher said. “He’s a tremendous coach and a tremendous guy and a tremendous football mind. He’ll call a lot of — hopefully he’ll call the game. We’ll have suggestions on things we do, whether it’s offense or defense.
“Every coach is always involved.”
If Fisher winds up yielding the play-calling reins to Petrino, he won’t be alone in the league. Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz has run the offense his first three seasons with the Tigers but has given that role to new offensive coordinator Kirby Moore.
Moore is a former Boise State receiver and the younger brother of former Broncos quarterback Kellen Moore.
“At the end of the season, it was clear to me that we were ineffective on the offensive side of the ball,” Drinkwitz said. “I wasn’t giving us the best advantage that we could have offensively to be successful, so it was my estimation that I needed to embrace my role more as the head coach and do the things that needed to be done there and turn over the play-calling to somebody else.
“I do not plan on calling plays. I plan on being involved on the offensive side of the ball just like I am on special teams and on the defensive side of the ball as the CEO of the organization.”
Moore was Fresno State’s offensive coordinator last season, helping the Bulldogs win the Mountain West Conference title and lead that league in both scoring offense and total offense.
“He’s got a similar offensive vision and philosophy as I do,” Drinkwitz said. “He’s a low-ego, high-output guy who’s got a great understanding of the pass game and play-action. I tell him all the time that if we can just average one more touchdown a game, we’re going to be really happy at the end of the season.”
Remembering Leach
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey opened media days and explained why he wasn’t fully dressed.
“Last year in Atlanta, one of my backstage discussions with Mike Leach focused on the uselessness of neckties,” Sankey said. “It concluded with his rhetorical question of why powdered wigs went away but neckties remain. To honor Mike, I am without a tie today.”
It’s up to Congress
The issue of controlling name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities for student-athletes was expected to be a topic Sankey discussed, and it was.
“In many ways, NIL has been a net positive for young people competing in collegiate athletics,” he said, “but it has also created a series of realities that put the long-term viability of collegiate athletics at risk. We all know there are stories — some told and many untold — of false promises, empty commitments, NIL agreements unfulfilled, inducements offered but not provided, and other behaviors that rightly cause concern.”
Sankey added that the NCAA, conferences and individual states are not the answer for implementing a national standard for NIL guidelines.
“The reality is that only Congress can fully address the problems facing college athletics,” Sankey said. “These are non-partisan issues that deserve a non-partisan solution.”
Changing numbers
Tennessee representatives won’t arrive until Thursday, but the Vols will have a slew of players with new numbers this season.
Both linebacker Aaron Beasley and running back Dylan Sampson are switching from No. 24 to No. 6, while running back Jaylen Wright is going from No. 20 to No. 0. Receiver Ramel Keyton has worn No. 80 the past four years but will now wear No. 9, and defensive lineman Elijah Simmons has switched from No. 51 to No. 10.
Program monitoring
LSU second-year coach Brian Kelly was asked Monday about the recent removal of Pat Fitzgerald as Northwestern’s coach following an investigation into hazing allegations.
“It’s a very difficult situation, because I know Pat, and I have the utmost respect for him as a person, as a family man and as a father,” Kelly said, “but the reality of it is that coaches are the leaders of their programs. When things are not going the way they should be, there’s an accountability, and I don’t think he’s somebody that would walk away from accountability at any time.
“I’m not here to speak for him, but I can tell you in my situation that a head coach is walking around those halls. A head coach is in the locker room. A head coach is eating with his team. A head coach knows his leadership team. You have so many different outlets to touch those players on a day-to-day basis, and that’s how we operate within our program.”
Odds and ends
Former McCallie School running back BJ Harris, who spent two seasons at Missouri and rushed 16 times for 105 yards and a touchdown, has transferred to Central Michigan. … Although Nashville has a domed stadium on the horizon, Sankey said that Atlanta “remains the focus” for the SEC football championship. … Former Tennessee running back Dee Beckwith, who transferred to Kentucky following the 2021 season, is no longer on the Wildcats roster. … Sankey announced that next year’s media days event will be held in Dallas.
