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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Ben Arbuckle isn’t the nervous type.
He takes a straightforward approach to football and its outcomes. Either it’s going to work, or it won’t. Call the next play.
But when Washington State opens Pac-12 play on Sept. 23 against Oregon State, Arbuckle will pause to appreciate the opportunity, one he has received much earlier than most. At 27, he’s a playcaller in the Pac-12.
“I’ve never even been at the Power 5 level, whether it be a support staff or position coach,” Arbuckle told ESPN. “So I’m going to sit there, take the moment in real quick, and just work.”
This year’s group of new coordinators includes Arbuckle, the youngest in the Power 5, and other Pac-12 notables like Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein. It includes a Division II call-up in Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo. Bobby Petrino is back yet again, this time alongside Jimbo Fisher in Aggieland. Phil Longo is bringing the Air Raid to Wisconsin, of all places, while Garrett Riley will use similar concepts to reignite Clemson’s offense.
Here’s a closer look at 10 interesting first-year coordinators around college football entering the 2023 season. For this list, I limited selections to coordinators who changed teams and not those promoted from within staffs.
Ben Arbuckle, Washington State
Position: Offensive coordinator
Previous job: Western Kentucky co-offensive coordinator
Call it the Lincoln Riley or Sean McVay Effect, but football coaching is a profession where age matters less and less. Talented young coaches are getting their opportunities earlier, especially if they’re adept at calling offensive plays.
Still, Washington State’s hire of Arbuckle, who spent just a year as an FBS coordinator at Western Kentucky, generated some attention in January.
“Did I think at 27 I’d be the offensive coordinator of a Pac-12 school? No, probably not,” Arbuckle told ESPN. “Not that I think I couldn’t do it, but it’s not common. I worked for some really good people that put trust into me, and the last thing I want to do is let them down. I didn’t necessarily think [getting the job] was possible, but given the opportunity, I wasn’t going to shy away from it.”
Arbuckle’s coaching mentors are, in some ways, his peers, other young coaches who have quickly enhanced their profiles because of the dynamic offenses they operate. He worked alongside Zach Kittley, now Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator, at both Houston Baptist and then Western Kentucky. In 2021, Kittley’s WKU offense led the FBS in passing and first downs, and ranked second in scoring, helping him land the Texas Tech OC job at 30.
Georgia Southern offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis is another young playcaller (34) who molded Arbuckle, as they worked together at WKU in 2021. Ellis has worked closely with WKU coach Tyson Helton, and Arbuckle credits them for blending their offense with Kittley’s ideas to form what has become the nation’s top passing attack the past two seasons. Since 2021, WKU has averaged 392.9 pass yards, 48.1 yards more than any other FBS team.
“Merging the two worlds, that’s how the magic happened,” Arbuckle told ESPN.
Arbuckle’s Air Raid knowledge makes sense for WSU, coached by Mike Leach from 2012 to 2019. Eric Morris, who oversaw the Cougars’ offense in 2022 before landing the head-coaching job at North Texas, also came up in the Air Raid system.
For Arbuckle, his primary goal is to make every offensive player comfortable in understanding their responsibilities in the system, which will help WSU dictate through pace and other tactics.
“I want to push the tempo, I think it’s an advantage to the offense,” Arbuckle said. “I’m big on not adjusting to the defense. I want to make the defense adjust to us, and I think tempo gives us that right. I’m not a big believer in the perfect play. I’m a big believer in having simple, effective schemes that our guys know, and that they’ll go make work.”
Bryan Nardo, Oklahoma State
Position: Defensive coordinator
Previous job: Gannon University defensive coordinator
In 2013, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy looked to a small school in Pennsylvania for offensive coordinator help and stability, hiring Mike Yurcich from Division II Shippensburg University. A decade later, Gundy conducted another coordinator search, this time on defense, that again led him to Pennsylvania, this time to Gannon University in Erie.
Nardo’s career path began at Ohio, his alma mater, before hopscotching college football’s lower divisions: Division II’s Missouri S&T (Science & Technology) and Emporia State, FCS’s Youngstown State and then Gannon, a Division III program.
He’s now entrusted with running an Oklahoma State defense trying to recapture its 2021 form, when the Pokes were a top-10 unit and came a yard away from winning the Big 12.
“When you have a guy like Coach Gundy calling you, I remember talking to people or talking to my wife about it, and the one thing we kept saying was, ‘He’s done this before,'” Nardo told ESPN. “The fact that he’s shown that confidence and belief and shows that you can be a good football coach, regardless of where you come from, regardless of the level, reaffirmed that he’s calling you for a reason.”
Nardo, 37, had done well as a Division II coordinator — his teams went 71-35 during a 10-year span — but so had others. His schematic evolution to the 3-3-5 defense, an increasingly popular scheme both nationally and in the Big 12, truly appealed to Oklahoma State.
Nardo began as a 4-3 practitioner at Emporia State and only shifted away from the alignment after a sizable group of starters graduated. Nardo studied defenses at both Iowa State under Jon Heacock and Virginia under Shap Boyd, which had the flexibility to get a fourth lineman on the field when needed.
“If you’re in a 4-3 and you’re not multiple, it becomes very easy for offenses to spread you out and get the matchups they want,” Nardo said. “That’s what led to the evolution of: How do we go to an odd front? How do we play with more speed? How do we get our players not isolated all the time. The 4-3’s incredibly sound, so we wanted to make sure we always had the ability to go back to it.
“[Virginia] had that same mentality.”
Nardo wanted to be a coordinator soon after becoming a student assistant at Ohio University. Nardo found his niche on defense with longtime defensive coordinator Jimmy Burrow, father of Heisman Trophy winner and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
He remembers Jimmy Burrow often joking that, “It’s not all about blitzing.” Burrow told Nardo what he had learned from Monte Kiffin after playing safety under Kiffin at Nebraska. He also showed Nardo how to manage a staff without letting ego get in the way.
“He was not a dictator; it wasn’t Jimmy’s way or the highway,” Nardo said. “So here, it’s about, how can we build this together? I don’t want people to think, ‘Man, what a great call by Bryan Nardo.’ I want people to say, ‘What a great play by Oklahoma State’s defense.’ I don’t care if it was my idea.”
Nardo does recognize what his success, just like Yurcich’s, could mean for other coaches in college football’s lower divisions.
“I hope it opens people’s eyes to see there’s good football coaches at every level,” Nardo said. “There’s a lot of great football coaches that have never gotten the phone call I’ve gotten and they just haven’t had that opportunity yet. But it doesn’t matter what logo you wear on your chest.”
Phil Longo, Wisconsin
Position: Offensive coordinator
Previous job: North Carolina offensive coordinator
When Luke Fickell landed his first head-coaching job at Cincinnati, he tried to hire Longo and run the Air Raid offense. The problem: Fickell was a bit too late, as Longo had just received an offer to be Ole Miss’ offensive coordinator.
Six years later, Fickell got his man, bringing Longo and the Air Raid to the unlikeliest of destinations: Wisconsin. There won’t be a more interesting and more dramatic scheme change in college football than Longo’s with the Badgers, known for the power run game and methodical tempo. After adding three quarterbacks from the transfer portal, including projected starter Tanner Mordecai from SMU, as well as several notable wide receivers, Wisconsin will be unrecognizable in its formations, personnel groupings and tempo.
“It’s been easy to grasp, offensively, for the guys, in a way that’s like, ‘Holy s—, this is different,'” Fickell told ESPN. “In their eyes, maybe they needed a change. The majority of the transfers and newer guys coming in were offensive. So, by nature, that has created a little bit different buzz.”
Longo, 55, is confident Wisconsin players will adapt to him and the system will translate to a new environment. He had players “clawing at the door” to go over the scheme during winter conditioning, a time when Fickell doesn’t typically want players focused on meetings. He eventually allowed only the quarterbacks in.
“They were fired up about running a new offense, fired up about doing this stuff,” Longo said. “The tight ends saw the kind of productivity we had with Dawson Knox [at Ole Miss] and also with the tight ends at North Carolina. The running backs saw a much lighter box. Of course receivers are always excited about the offense. It’s a quarterback-driven system. So it wasn’t hard to sell the skill guys, and then the O-linemen, they’re not stupid. We’ve got six [defenders] in the box instead of nine or eight, it makes life a little bit easier.”
Although Longo and Fickell haven’t worked together before, their long association could help the transition. Longo holds an annual Air Raid clinic in Florida, open to both offensive and defensive coaches, which Fickell has attended.
“We are going to be different,” Longo said. “I’m not trying to be different, but we are just different than what they do. It’ll be a little bit of a culture shock, but hopefully they’ll enjoy it. If we’re scoring points, I think they’ll enjoy it. If we’re winning games, they’ll enjoy it.”
Will Stein, Oregon
Position: Offensive coordinator
Previous job: UTSA offensive coordinator
After an Auburn career that began with such promise — a come-from-behind win over Justin Herbert and Oregon, of all teams, to open the 2019 season — quarterback Bo Nix needed to reboot his career in late 2021. Nix found a new home at Oregon alongside coordinator Kenny Dillingham, whom he knew from Auburn. Last season, Nix showcased the best of his distinct skill set, setting a team record for completion percentage (71.9), while generating 4,103 total yards of offense and finishing fifth nationally in touchdowns with 44.
Dillingham is off to coach Arizona State, and Stein arrives after a successful run at UTSA with coach Jeff Traylor. He’s the fifth coordinator and quarterback coach Nix has had in as many years.
“I’m just trying to add to what he already knows and just make him feel comfortable with how I’m seeing the game,” Stein told ESPN. “Maybe certain concepts that he didn’t run before, or maybe he did but it was a while ago. [I want to] help enhance his game and really set him free this year to have a big-time year again. He’s made me better. It’s like I’m coaching an NFL guy, a veteran who already knows a ton about the game.”
Stein’s schematic roots begin at Louisville’s Trinity High School, the school that produced Jeff and Brian Brohm, among others. He quarterbacked Trinity to a state title in 2007 before joining Louisville as a walk-on. Stein played in a West Coast-style offense under coordinator Shawn Watson, then served as quality control coach at Louisville under Bobby Petrino in 2014, learning the audibles and mesh routes designed to get the best players touches in open space. During three years at Texas, Stein learned elements of the Baylor offense and also the spread system under Tom Herman. He later coached at Lake Travis High School, near Austin, Texas, the powerhouse where Baker Mayfield and other college quarterbacks played.
“My philosophy is a pro-style system blended with spread principles and getting our best players great matchups,” he said. “Most people want to run some version of inside zone, counter, Y-cross, but how do you get into those sets, those schemes, and get players open?”
Oregon coach Dan Lanning cited Stein’s diverse background, including his time in high school, as a factor that drew him to the 33-year-old. Nix also has seen the benefits when he and Stein discuss offensive concepts.
“He’s been in a lot of systems and he’s learned a lot of football, he’s seen a lot of football and he’s called a lot of football,” Nix told ESPN. “It’s been fun to pick his brain. There’s new concepts all the time and like, ‘Hey, Coach, tell me exactly how you read this. I’ve never really done it before.’ He tells me and sure enough, wow, I really like this.
“He’s easy to play for, fun to play for, and you have confidence playing for a guy like him.”
Ron Roberts, Auburn
Position: Defensive coordinator
Previous job: Baylor defensive coordinator
Baylor’s dismissal of Roberts in December came as a surprise, given his long relationship with coach Dave Aranda and the team’s Big 12 title and No. 5 finish in 2021. What wasn’t surprising: the interest Roberts generated from several major programs, including Arkansas, before heading to Auburn with new coach Hugh Freeze.
Roberts, 55, is a 31-year coaching veteran with California roots but has spent most of his career in the SEC footprint. He led programs at Southeastern Louisiana and Delta State, and spent two seasons as defensive coordinator for Louisiana before taking the Baylor job. Although Roberts hasn’t coached in the SEC, he knows the landscape and the talent level of the nation’s top league.
Roberts runs a 4-2-5 defense that emphasizes flexibility in coverage and aggressiveness up front.
“The mad scientist,” Freeze told ESPN’s Heather Dinich of Roberts. “He truthfully is probably the most knowledgeable coordinator out there that has trained pretty much everybody in this conference right now that’s doing [the system]. That was the value I was looking for.”
He faces immediate challenges with an Auburn defense that allowed 29.5 points per game in 2022 (97th nationally). The Tigers’ strength should be their secondary, where cornerbacks Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James return. Auburn needs more out of a transfer-heavy front that includes Justin Rogers (Kentucky) and Elijah McAllister (Vanderbilt).
“The biggest challenge I have with Ron is, ‘Let’s don’t do everything in Year 1. Let’s just do what we can do,'” Freeze said. “But I love his maturity and his wisdom.”
Bobby Petrino, Texas A&M
Position: Offensive coordinator
Previous job: Missouri State coach (briefly took UNLV offensive coordinator job)
The dynamic between Petrino and coach Jimbo Fisher in Aggieland will be, if nothing else, entertaining for college football fans. Both men have strong personalities. Both have built their coaching reputations largely on their offensive playcalling prowess. Both have been autonomous in their oversight of offenses.
Now they’re working together. After Texas A&M’s offense largely bottomed out in 2022 — the Aggies finished 101st nationally in scoring and 62nd in yards per play — Fisher stepped back from the controls and brought in Petrino to replace Darrell Dickey.
Petrino, 62, has coached in the SEC before. He was 34-17 in four years as head coach at Arkansas before the school fired him for unfairly hiring his mistress and intentionally misleading his boss about everything from their relationship to her presence at the motorcycle accident that ultimately cost him his job. Petrino hasn’t held a coordinator role since 2002 at Auburn, which had unremarkable numbers (29.9 points per game, 387.5 yards per game) but propelled Petrino to his first stint as Louisville’s head coach. He last coached in the FBS in 2018, when his second run as Louisville’s head coach ended. He arrived at Missouri State in 2020 and helped the team to two FCS playoff appearances.
“Bobby’s an experienced guy who’s called plays and done a great job, and he’s got a really good foundation in fundamentals of football, which have great balance, whether it’s running the ball, throwing the ball,” Fisher said this spring. “He’s been able to be very productive.”
Fisher then reiterated that execution and fundamentals always trump schemes, but the focus around Texas A&M will be how the Aggies attack defenses, and how the Fisher-Petrino relationship evolves. At SEC media days this week, Fisher explained Petrino’s playcalling responsibilities.
“Eventually, there’s going to be fireworks,” an SEC coordinator said.
“I still think they’re a ticking time bomb, but if they win early, and they have an easy schedule to start, it kind of sets up well,” an SEC offensive assistant added.
Petrino inherited a quarterback room led by Conner Weigman, who provided a spark late in his freshman season and finished with eight touchdown passes and no interceptions. The Aggies also return versatile threat Ainias Smith and other talents, including wide receiver Evan Stewart.
Fisher’s hefty contract with Texas A&M still could make him unfireable, but the pressure is squarely on for 2023, and the Petrino hire could shape the program’s direction.
Lance Guidry, Miami
Position: Defensive coordinator
Previous job: Marshall defensive coordinator (briefly hired as Tulane’s DC)
Mario Cristobal reshaped his coaching staff after a poor first season back at the U. Guidry replaced Kevin Steele, who returned to Alabama. Guidry had a strong run at Marshall, which ranked sixth nationally in points allowed and eighth in yards allowed last season.
The former McNeese State coach is at a Power 5 program for the first time but, like some other coaches on this list, brings success from other parts of college football. He inherits a Miami defense with some star power, particularly All-America safety Kamren Kinchens and linemen Leonard Taylor and Ahkeem Mesidor, and exciting young players like sophomore linebacker Wesley Bissainthe. Guidry, who coached at Florida Atlantic in 2020, became aware of Kinchens, Taylor and other Miami players when they were standout recruits in the area.
His task is to mold clearly talented components into a better overall defense, especially after Miami surrendered 127 points in its final three losses of 2022. Marshall led the FBS in third-down defense last season, nearly three percentage points better than any other group (23.5% conversions). Miami finished 98th (42%).
“People say that we run a hybrid defense, a 2-4-5, and it’s not,” Guidry said this spring. “It’s two defensive ends that are standing up, they look like outside ‘backers. A lot of times, we stand up so that we can see where the back’s at, in case the back jumps, because we’ve got different assignments. But it’s four down linemen, two backs, and five DBs. We will go 4-3 with three ‘backers when [offenses] go heavy personnel.”
Guidry, 52, isn’t the flashiest addition to Cristobal’s staff, but he could be the most significant, if Miami’s defense starts maximizing its talent.
Tony White, Nebraska
Position: Defensive coordinator
Previous job: Syracuse defensive coordinator
Rocky Long spent almost his entire career in the Mountain West footprint, including 20 years as a head coach at New Mexico and San Diego State. But Long’s coaching influence, especially on defenses, is being felt nationwide, including now with White at Nebraska.
White coached under Long at both New Mexico and San Diego State, learning the 3-3-5 scheme that has become increasingly popular. After landing his first coordinator role at Arizona State in 2019, White spent two seasons with Syracuse, which dramatically improved on defense under his leadership.
“He’s gonna bring some fire and to me defense is about that.” –@CoachMattRhule @HuskerCoachTW x #GBR pic.twitter.com/QwkWVY0xXK
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFBNation) May 11, 2023
“The 3-3-5 and the flexibility it gives, it allows the playcaller to find answers,” White, 44, said shortly after his hiring. “I called this and this didn’t work. Guess what? We’re not calling that again. We’re going to try something else. So it’s a really versatile defense. It kind of matches up with all the things you’re seeing now in college football.”
White’s goal is to give Nebraska’s defense a true identity again, even if it takes some time. The Blackshirts really haven’t been the same since the end of coach Bo Pelini’s tenure. Since 2017, Nebraska ranks 87th nationally in both points allowed (29.2 PPG) and yards allowed (405.3 YPG). Since 2018, Nebraska has had only four defenders selected in the NFL draft, and only one higher than the sixth round.
The Huskers return a nice group at linebacker and in the secondary, including Luke Reimer and Myles Farmer. The key will be how quickly they learn White’s defense and how to thrive in the 3-3-5.
“We can fix the X’s and O’s part,” White said this spring. “But we’ve got to develop the mindset and the attitude. And that is, when everything breaks down, you see a football player at his best. ‘Hey, I might have done A to B wrong, but B to C, I’m going to wreck shop and make some plays.'”
Garrett Riley, Clemson
Position: Offensive coordinator
Previous job: TCU offensive coordinator
Dabo Swinney pulled off the biggest coordinator coup of the cycle when he hired Riley, 33, from TCU just four days after the Horned Frogs played for a national championship. Although Riley’s TCU offense produced just seven points against Georgia, his overall work with the Frogs — culminating with the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach — made him an excellent addition for Clemson.
Since 2021, Clemson is 51st in scoring (29.9 PPG), 96th in yards per play (5.4) and 72nd in total QBR (55.2), despite still going 21-6 with an ACC championship. Riley’s challenge is to develop sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik, restore some edge to the receiving corps and ultimately get closer to the type of production Clemson enjoyed from 2015 to 2020, when the team ranked fourth nationally in scoring (40.4 PPG) and third in yards (501.8 YPG).
He can call upon his experience at TCU, which went from 65th nationally in scoring in 2021 to ninth last year with Riley and coach Sonny Dykes.
“I’ve been through this before in bringing in an offense and transitioning some teams,” Riley told reporters Tuesday. “There’s differences: terminology, how you teach some things, maybe minimizing what you’re doing and honing it in a little bit more. Those are philosophical things and a mentality, but you’ve got to tweak things and make it your own.”
Riley became a coordinator at SMU only in 2020 but has quickly shown his value, especially in his work with quarterbacks (Shane Buechele, Tanner Mordecai, Max Duggan) and wide receivers (Rashee Rice, Reggie Roberson Jr., Quentin Johnston). He has a natural connection with Klubnik — both are Texas natives — but his work with Clemson’s wideouts could be almost as significant. After producing a 1,000-yard receiver each season from 2018 through 2020, no Clemson player has exceeded 604 receiving yards the past two seasons.
“It’s been fun, a lot of fun, and kind of a reset, some procedural things and systematic things,” Swinney said of Riley’s arrival. “But the biggest thing is I just really feel a reinstilled confidence.”
Tommy Rees, Alabama
Position: Offensive coordinator
Previous job: Notre Dame offensive coordinator
Rees, 31, will oversee an offense that lost Bryce Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner and 2023 No. 1 overall NFL draft pick, as well as first-round pick Jahmyr Gibbs and others. He had a mostly solid run working with Notre Dame’s quarterbacks, particularly Ian Book, who set a team record for wins (30) and finished second in career touchdown passes (72). Rees helped recruit Tyler Buchner, ESPN’s No. 41 overall prospect in 2021, who will compete with Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson in camp.
Last spring, Rees described Buchner to ESPN as “a quiet killer” and extremely confident, even though he’s not showy.
“The kid has almost no fear when he steps on the field,” Rees said.
Rees’ ability to maximize Buchner or another quarterback will be dissected. Since 2018, Alabama leads the nation in scoring (44.3 PPG) and total QBR (91.4). Alabama also is trying to avoid going three seasons without a national title for the first time in coach Nick Saban’s tenure.
The pressure is on for Rees, who took heat from coach Brian Kelly while playing quarterback at Notre Dame and then quickly rose up the coaching ranks at his alma mater before leaving for Tuscaloosa.
“He relates well to [players],” Saban told ESPN. “He’s a good presenter. He’s very bright and understands the game conceptually very, very well and has done a really good job of implementing our offense and adding to it things that I think will benefit us in the future.”