Four days ago we shared that Mitch Stewart was leaving Samford (FCS - AL) to join Rick Stockstill's staff at Middle Tennessee State as their new offensive coordinator.
Stewart replaced Brent Dearmon who left for the same post at Florida Atlantic back in January.
Rick Stockstill and MTSU recently formally announced the appointment of Stewart, and the longtime MTSU head coach also announced some additional changes and appointments to his staff after studying modern staff structures in the NFL and college football.
For example, Stewart will not coach a position, and will serve solely in the offensive coordinator role.
Former Blue Raider running back Shane Tucker (who spent last season as the running backs coach at Florida A&M) has been announced as the new receivers coach, and Brent Stockstill has moved from receivers to quarterbacks and added the role of pass game coordinator.
Mike Polly will coach the offensive line and Rick Mallory will coach the tight ends and H-backs while Jeff Beckles will remain in his role as running backs coach.
In the school's release, Stockstill shared that he was "intrigued with how some were positioning their staffs and I thought this would be beneficial to our program and our players."
At the NFL level, each offensive coordinators oversees the entire offensive picture, with position coaches handling their positions, oftentimes with an assistant under them as an extra set of eyes and hands for at least a few spots, most popular being assistant offensive line coaches.
With the limit of 10 on-field coaches, it's a practice that hasn't been as widely utilized at the college level, but the veteran Stockstill has found a way to make it work for the Blue Raiders as he enters his 17th season leading the program.
On the defensive side of the ball there is a lot of continuity coming back with Scott Scafer calling the defense for his sixth year and Tommy West returning to coach the defensive line for the ninth season. One change comes at corners coach, where Kenneth Gilstrap will now coordinate the special teams.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.