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Texas A&M got an early start on the coaching carousel, firing defensive coordinator Mark Snyder on Friday. The move came after another bad defensive performance in their regular season finale on Thursday, a 23-17 loss to LSU in which the Tigers ran for 384 yards. For the second straight season, the Aggies finished dead last in the SEC in total defense.
There’s plenty of young talent already on the roster to go with an excellent recruiting base, so the Aggies should have plenty of candidates interested in the job. Who might those candidates be? Here are some of the coaches who could potentially fill the vacancy in College Station.
Will Muschamp, former Florida head coach
Every big-name school with a defensive coordinator opening, and some that don’t, has been rumored as a landing spot for the Gators’ recently departed head man. Muschamp was well-liked even as he was being dismissed at Florida, and it’s no wonder he’s been a hot name. Muschamp has experience as a defensive coordinator in high-profile jobs at Auburn and Texas and already has recruiting ties in the state thanks to his days in Austin, so he seems to be a natural fit for the Aggies.
The biggest question with Coach Boom is not just how quickly he wants to get back into coaching, but how soon he’ll want another head job. Kevin Sumlin doesn’t figure to be going anywhere, so there will be no “coach-in-waiting” title for Muschamp in Aggieland.
Brent Venables, Clemson defensive coordinator
Over the weekend, Venables made it sound like he wants to stay at Clemson, but few coaches are going to publicly campaign for jobs or talk about leaving their current employer. Still, he would make sense for Sumlin’s staff. The two coached together at Oklahoma in the 2000s, so there’s a prior relationship there. Clemson’s defense was No. 8 in scoring, No. 1 in total defense and No. 1 in tackles for loss. Clemson also faces a variety of offensive styles in the ACC, which would be a benefit in the diverse SEC West.
Dabo Swinney’s status at Clemson could play a role in whether Venables would leave. Swinney’s name has come up for various head coaching openings, while offensive coordinator Chad Morris has already left to take the head coaching job at SMU.
Pat Narduzzi, Michigan State defensive coordinator
Narduzzi, last year’s Broyles Award winner for the nation’s top assistant, has been on Texas A&M’s radar for some time now. The Aggies reportedly chased him in 2011, but Narduzzi opted to stay at Michigan state to help build some of the top defenses in the country. Narduzzi runs an effective scheme that would be a lot easier for Texas A&M’s defenders to grasp than what Snyder ran this season, which saw players wind out of position frequently.
Would Narduzzi leave Michigan State for another coordinator position? His name has already been brought up for Nebraska’s newly available head coaching position, so he could have bigger fish to fry than taking the A&M coordinator position. Narduzzi also already makes more than $900,000 per year, although Texas A&M shouldn’t have any issue opening the checkbook.
Bo Pelini, former Nebraska head coach
If the Aggies are going to go for a big name, and early speculation says that they will, they can try to bring Pelini back to the SEC. Nebraska fired Pelini on Sunday despite winning nine or more games in all eight of his seasons in Lincoln. Pelini is well-liked by players — several Cornhuskers tweeted their support for Pelini on Sunday — so he should be able to step in and start winning recruits immediately. Pelini was the defensive coordinator at LSU from 2005-07, helping put together a nasty defense that led the Tigers to the 2007 national championship. Sumlin and Pelini did overlap at Oklahoma for a year, but it’s unknown at this point if Pelini would be interested in taking an assistant position.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
