The B1G Picture: Coaching changes

It is simply the nature of the college football beast that an offseason without some sort of change or alteration to a team’s coaching staff –– whether big or small –– is exceedingly rare.

Our ongoing B1G Picture series, a collaboration between all 14 Big Ten team sites in the Rivals.com network, has sorted through a collection of topics in the past two weeks that have generally been geared toward on-field personnel, but today we focus specifically on the coaches across the conference.

We’ve asked the experts and analysts from each site to break down the biggest coaching staff change on their team ahead of the 2021 season, or the most pressing question about the staff as the new slate approaches.

To find out which staff saw the most turnover and which head coach has the hottest seat this season, check out the full story below.

ALSO: The B1G Picture: Unanswered questions

Ryan Day added a couple analysts to his staff this offseason in Todd Fitch and Paul Rhoads, but the biggest change made in response to the lackluster pass defense last season was moving Matt Barnes, previously the special teams coordinator, to secondary coach.

That was the job Kerry Coombs held last season, in conjunction with his title as defensive coordinator, but Day felt Coombs and the Buckeyes would be better served with a different set of eyes having more control of the back end.

Thus far the primary adjustment has been the increased use of the bullet position in the back seven, but whether or not tangible improvements have been made in the secondary still remains to be seen.

– BuckeyeGrove team writer Griffin Strom

The biggest coaching staff change has to be the addition of Charlton Warren as defensive coordinator. Coach Warren brings a military background to the Hoosiers with him, as well as “SEC eyes,” as Allen has called them.

Look for Indiana to play more up tempo on the defensive side of the ball and mirror some of what we see out of SEC teams week after week.

– TheHoosier staff writer Paul Gable

The fact that James Franklin replaced offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca after one season with the abrupt hiring of Mike Yurcich should say everything about the direction the head coach expects for the program and how wildly last season deviated from that path.

Now, at least having the full complement of spring practices to work with, the ball is in Yurcich’s court to bring about the success Franklin was counting upon to see a year ago at this same juncture.

– BlueWhiteIllustrated senior editor Nate Bauer

How will new defensive coordinator Brian Stewart do in his second stint at Maryland?

Stewart previously served as the Terps' defensive coordinator under Randy Edsall from 2012-2014 with mixed results. If he can get the defense playing the way it did under him in 2012 when they were one of the best defenses in the ACC, the Terps could have a real chance to do some damage this season as the offense is loaded with weapons.

– TerrapinSportsReport publisher Scott Greene

No changes on the staff this offseason, as Schiano somehow was able to maintain his entire staff thanks to two big pay raises to OC Sean Gleeson ($885k to $1mil) and DBs coach Fran Brown ($575k to $675k).

The biggest question surrounding the staff would be can DC Robb Smith do enough to justify him staying around long term. There were times last year where the defense looked out of whack, especially during the Illinois game where his unit gave up 100+ rushing yards to the Illini’s backup quarterback.

He had some ups last year but also some downs, should he fail to show progress in 2021, Schiano could be in the market for a new DC in 2022.

– TheKnightReport publisher Richard Schnyderite

The biggest coaching staff change this offseason, of course, was defensive coordinator Don Brown being let go and replaced by Mike Macdonald, who came to Ann Arbor after seven seasons with the Baltimore Ravens (most recently serving as linebackers coach).

As mentioned above, his scheme is much different than Brown's, and a lot of the philosophy revolves around being able to counter what an opposing offense is trying to attack them with. That's a welcomed sentiment, since, while Brown was successful overall, his units struggled against elite offenses (Ohio State, Alabama, etc.).

Macdonald doesn't have as much elite talent to work with as Brown did when he joined the staff in 2016, but there are pieces to work with. Fitting them all together and fielding a solid unit is going to be key.

– TheWolverine staff writer Clayton Sayfie

Michigan State lost Dantonio era holdover Mike Tressel to Cincinnati where he will serve as the defensive coordinator to Luke Fickell. Tressel leaving isn’t a surprise. Fickell is a close friend and Tressel wanted a coordinator position. If Tressel would have stayed in East Lansing, he would have continued on in his role as safeties coach. That’s really not in Tressel’s wheelhouse.

Michigan State has one of the best defensive backs coaches in college football in Harlon Barnett, another Dantonio-era defensive coordinator. Losing Tressel shouldn’t sting too much.

– SpartanMag associate editor Paul Konyndyk

I already mentioned O’Neil, but it’s important to point out that this will be Year 2 for offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian, too.

With so many holes to fill on defense, the Wildcats probably won’t be as dominant as they were a year ago. Bajakian’s unit may have to shoulder more of the load in 2021 – and he has to do it with a new starting quarterback, three new starting wide receivers and a new starter at tight end.

He’s got his work cut out for him.

– WildcatReport publisher/managing editor Louie Vaccher

One of the most important position coaches at Iowa is the offensive line coach.

The offensive line is the engine that drives the Hawkeye offense. When it’s good, then Iowa’s offense is usually very good. Tim Polasek, who coached the position for four years, left after last season to take the offensive coordinator position at Wyoming.

Iowa hired George Barnett away from Tulane and he appears to be a solid hire, but he has a different coaching style than Polasek did.

– HawkeyeReport publisher Tom Kakert

Wisconsin lost assistants who oversaw the quarterbacks, running backs and defensive line this offseason.

Head coach Paul Chryst essentially took over the room of signal callers (as he did as an offensive coordinator at UW previously) and hired a standalone cornerbacks coach for Leonhard’s unit in NFL vet Hank Poteat. Just how Mertz, Chase Wolf and the other quarterbacks develop with Chryst leading them will be a storyline heading into fall camp and the season. Both Mertz and Wolf looked good in the five open practices we saw this spring.

Off the field, something that just sprung up this week is the news of director of player personnel Saeed Khalif leaving Wisconsin for Michigan State, as first reported by our own Jon McNamara. Khalif led an impressive recruiting surge for the football program, especially within the last three years where UW had its highest-rated recruiting cycles in the Rivals.com era. Whoever takes over for him will have huge shoes to fill, and that’s no exaggeration.

– BadgerBlitz senior writer Jake Kocorowski

OC Mike Sanford. After the 2019 season which saw the Gophers end 11-2 and beat Auburn in the Outback Bowl, then-OC Kirk Ciarrocca darted for Penn State for the same position. In 2020, Minnesota’s offensive categories dipped in nearly every category. As a team:

The biggest difference, came in the statistical decline of Tanner Morgan:

Now, these stats aren’t all fair at face value. In 2019, Minnesota had the three headed trio of Rashod Bateman, Tyler Johnson, and Chris Autman-Bell at wide receiver.

The 2020 season had zero spring practice and a shortened fall camp so it makes sense there was a decline. However, the point still remains if Sanford is the right guy for the job and can get the offense back to where we saw it in 2019.

– TheGopherReport staff member Alex Carlson

As mentioned previously in this series, it’s the entire defensive staff.

The new coaches must mesh quickly. There’s lots of experience in line coach Mark Hagen (Texas), Lambert (Marshall), and safeties coach Ron English (Florida). The only younger addition is cornerbacks coach James Adams (Navy). Lambert (Charlotte) and English (Eastern Michigan) have head coaching experience.

This is Hagen’s second stint at Purdue, where he worked from 2000-10 under Joe Tiller and Danny Hope.

– GoldandBlack associate editor Tom Dienhart

The entire full-time 10 stayed intact.

The biggest change though was Nebraska completely blew up their special teams approach. They parted ways with senior analyst Jonathan Rutledge this off-season. He was only at NU for one season. Outside linebackers coach Mike Dawson is now the special teams coordinator, and former LSU, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Utah and Nebraska full-time assistant coach Bill Busch has been brought in as an analyst.

With Dawson and Busch leading the way, I expect the Huskers to have their special teams play much more buttoned up in 2021. This past season it was some of the worst special teams play we saw in modern day school history.

– HuskerOnline publisher Sean Callahan

Obviously, the big story is the departure of Lovie Smith and hiring of former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema. Big Bret only retained one coach from Lovie’s staff, running backs coach Cory Patterson, so everything is new this year in Champaign.

The big question with the new staff is whether they can make a seamless transition to an offensive scheme that features the power running game. They will certainly make the effort, based on what we saw this spring.

Gone is the spread-option offense from the Lovie years. It’s all about ball possession now, and that’s a style we haven’t seen at Illinois in a long, long time. Helping make the transition are three quality running backs in Chase Brown, transfer Chase Hayden, and former top recruit Reggie Love, who all had their moments this spring.

– OrangeandBlueNews publisher Doug Bucshon