Florida gets creative with "GameChanger coordinator" title for new hire
Earlier this week we shared Billy Napier was beefing up his special teams with the addition Chris Couch, who had served as his special teams coordinator at Louisiana.
Today, Florida formally announced the hire of Couch and shared the unique title that they're bestowing upon him.
Instead of labeling him in the typical special teams analyst role, in his off-field role Couch will officially serve as Florida's "GameChanger Coordinator."
That certainly makes for one of the most unique titles in all of college football and illustrates the importance that Napier believes are key in special teams.
But there is also a bigger storyline developing here about how coaches are starting to use their 10 on-field assistants.
The decision to not designate a special teams coordinator among one of the 10 allowed on-field assistant coaches is an emerging trend in college football.
Georgia had veteran special teams coordinator Robbie Discher on board during their national title run in a special teams quality control role, as he largely oversaw special teams and ran special teams meetings. Discher recently left to be one of the 10 on-field coaches at Tulane, where he will coordinate the Green Wave special teams.
Yesterday, Oklahoma made a similar move in hiring Eastern Michigan special teams coordinator Jay Nunez to an off the field role. While he won't be one of the countable 10 assistant coaches, we shared yesterday that Nunez that "will have significant oversight of the special teams from a support staff position."
In Norman, having an extra spot has allowed Brent Venables to have both two defensive line coaches (Miguel Chavis as defensive ends and Todd Bates handing the defensive tackles) and two secondary coaches (Brandon Hall coaching the safeties and Jay Valai working with the nickels and corners).
While it certainly takes some creativity, with the success Georgia had utilizing this strategy it will be interesting to see if this continues to be a hiring trend that will allow coaches some additional flexibility in building their staff.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
