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Head coaching hires get most of the attention in college football, and rightly so. They’re the guys making the most money, the ones answering the tough questions and the ones shown the door first when things head south.
Those coaches then go out and find coordinators, and they matter, too. They’re the leaders of a team’s offense or defense, calling the plays and, in many cases, deciding playing time.
As important as those folks are, good position coaches are crucial to a team’s success. These are the coaches who spend the most time with individual players, helping them develop on the field and away from it.
They’re usually some of the best recruiters, too.
With that in mind, here are the SEC’s five most important coaching staff hires for the 2016 season:
Chris Marve, linebackers coach, Vanderbilt
It’s not every day that a coach lands his first assistant coaching job with an SEC school, but that day has come for Marve.
He was a four-time All-SEC linebacker with the Commodores from 2008-2011, and now he’ll get a chance to coach some talented current players, like Zach Cunningham and Nigel Bowden.
Marve has spent the past two seasons at his alma mater as a quality control and defensive graduate assistant.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he told the Tennessean. “To have the opportunity to coach the exact same position that I played at an institution that I love so much, I think that’s invaluable. … The opportunity that this institution has provided for me, in more ways than one, has changed my life.”
He knows a thing or two about playing linebacker in the SEC, and what better coach could the school have representing it out on the recruiting trail?
Lamar Thomas, wide receivers coach, Kentucky
Adding a respected coach to your staff is one thing. Taking him away from a bitter rival in the process is just gravy.
Thomas comes to Lexington from Louisville, and before that, Western Kentucky. He was a standout receiver at the University of Miami, in the late 1980s and early 1990s where he set the school record for receptions (since broken by Reggie Wayne) before playing eight seasons in the NFL.
He’ll be expected to help mold a talented, but inconsistent, group of receivers at Kentucky, but that’s not the only reason Mark Stoops brought him on board.
Thomas is also a talented recruiter, credited with luring quarterback Lamar Jackson and receivers Jaylen Smith and Devante Peete to Louisville.
Herb Hand, offensive line coach, Auburn
Hand was lured away from Penn State to replace J.B. Grimes, who took the same position at Cincinnati.
While the offensive line at Penn State allowed 83 sacks the past two seasons, much of that can be attributed to a lack of depth because of the recruiting sanctions imposed on the program in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. During the 2014 season, Hand had to convert two defensive players into offensive linemen.
It was not his work in State College that makes this a good hire, but his familiarity with Gus Malzahn and his offense. The two worked together as co-offensive coordinators at Tulsa in 2007 and 2008, perfecting the no-huddle, fast-paced offense the Tigers now favor.
Before his State College days, Hand worked under James Franklin at Vanderbilt from 2010-2013. So, he’s a coach with SEC experience, a noted recruiter and already has a working knowledge of the offense. It’s hard to see this not being a good fit.
Sam Pittman, offensive line coach, Georgia
Pittman was hired from Bret Bielema’s staff at Arkansas, where he held the same position.
Pittman, who coached at Arkansas the past three seasons, will be reunited with new Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney. The pair worked together at Tennessee in 2012 and at Arkansas in 2013-2014.
Pittman favors massive linemen, who can still move a little. The NFL likes those guys, too, and he’s had eight linemen drafted since 2013. In addition to his on-field ability, Pittman will be counted on to help Georgia shore up the position in the 2017 recruiting class.
Lance Thompson, assistant head coach, defense, defensive line, South Carolina
He has a title that won’t fit neatly on a business card, but Thompson is still a great get for the Gamecocks.
He follows coach Will Muschamp from Auburn, and also has SEC coaching experience at LSU, Alabama and Tennessee. He’s well-schooled in the sort of defense that Muschamp and coordinator Travaris Robinson want to run, and as an added bonus, he has ties to the state as a graduate of The Citadel.
What makes this hire stand out, however, is Thompson’s knack for recruiting. A former national recruiter of the year, Thompson has a track record of landing high-profile talent. Adding him to a staff that features other recruiting aces like Robinson and Bryan McClendon was a no-brainer for Muschamp.
It’s not like you can ever have too many good players — or coaches to go out and find them.
Randy Capps is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, South Carolina and Georgia.
