Ryan Silverfield, fresh off a lucrative new long-term contract extension, again has a full staff for his Memphis Tigers program.
Sources tell FootballScoop that Silverfied is hiring away Ohio defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky.
Tabbed as the Bobcats defensive coordinator prior to the 2022 season, Nowinsky made an immediate impact on the unit and then posted some of the nation's best year-over-year gains for any defense in college football.
Ohio, which posted a 10-win campaign last fall and whipped Georgia Southern in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, posted a nation's-best 75-spot jump in defensive scoring average from 2022-23. After allowing 28.3 points per game in the unit's first year under Nowinsky, it improved to just 15.9 ppg in '23, No. 6 in FBS.
The Bobcats also went from 109th nationally in yards per game, 426.9, to just 273.5 ypg last season, a 105-spot jump to No. 4 in the nation.
Nowinsky, who got his career started at the University of Wisconsin as a graduate assistant, was a nine-year defensive coordinator at FCS program Illinois State before he cracked into FBS with the defensive coordinator post under Chuck Martin at Miami (Ohio).
Ohio coach Tim Albin then plucked away Nowinsky from Miami after the 2021 season.
Now, it's another career step for Nowinsky as he joins Silverfield's Memphis program, which also posted a 10-win campaign in 2023 that resulted in Silverfield having just earned a new contract extension with the Tigers.