Today, we continue our series taking a look at the most impressive new staffs of 2023 with a look at the guys Jamey Chadwell has compiled at Liberty at our #8 spot.
The previous two spots on our list were Charlotte (#10) and Western Michigan (#9).
As we shared previously in this series, there's no exact formula for putting together a staff that is going to put a successful product on the field Saturdays in the fall. So generally speaking, coaches look for a mix of guys they have a prior relationship with, or have worked with coaches they have ties to and trust, or are excellent recruiters, have a ton of experience, have learned under some of the most respected coaches in the game, or retaining guys that have an intimate understanding of the roster.
Really, any mix of all those and so much more go into building a quality staff, and all while being able to do it with the salary pool allotted.
At Liberty, Chadwell brought a number of guys that helped him build one of the strongest Group of Five programs at Coastal Carolina.
There are a lot of new faces on defense, but the offensive side of the ball comes from the Chanticleers, where they developed one of the most creative, exciting, and talked about offenses in college football the last several years.
COORDINATOR RECAP
Former head coach Hugh Freeze has been an offensive innovator his entire career, but Chadwell got two of the most creative offensive minds in college football to follow him from Coastal Carolina to Liberty in Co-offensive coordinators Willy Korn and Newland Isaac.
Korn will work with the quarterbacks, and Isaac will mentor the running backs. Both will be surrounded by a staff of guys from Coastal that have an intimate understanding of what they want to do offensively.
Defensive play caller / defensive line coach Skylor Magee worked with Chadwell at four different schools before arriving at Liberty. The two worked together at Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, Delta State, and North Greenville.
With the Chanticleers, Magee's defensive line unit was one of the strongest in the Group of Five, helping the defense rank among the top 35 nationally in a number of key metrics.
At Liberty, he is surrounded by some new assistants, many of which bring some impressive experience.
BIGGEST HIRE
For the last several years, you couldn't talk about innovative offensive schemes without mentioning what Chadwell, Korn and Isaac were scheming up at Coastal Carolina.
While Chadwell's ability to get them on board was huge, their continuity with the rest of the offensive staff is so important because of how outside the box they are offensively.
Passing game coordinator / wide receivers coach Tony Washington reunites with Korn and Isaac after he spent last season mentoring the receivers at West Virginia. Before going to Morgantown, Washington worked with the Chanticleer wide receivers, and helped the program put together an impressive 22-3 mark during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
College coaching veteran Bill Durkin spent the past eight seasons at Coastal Carolina, and will work with the offensive line while Cody Ladutko, who was promoted to tight ends coach in 2022 after serving in a variety of roles at Coastal Carolina the previous several years, will continue working with Chadwell's tight ends.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Living somewhat in the shadow of a very creative offensive scheme isn't easy, so Magee and his staff will have their work cut out for them.
Magee doesn't have the luxury of knowing his colleagues on the defensive side of the ball in the same way that the offensive staff does, so while that does present a challenge in some respects, it does mean a lot of diverse ideas in the room.
The good news is, special teams coordinator / outside linebackers coach Kyle Krantz brings 12 years of experience in the SEC with him following stops at five different SEC programs. For five of those seasons, Krantz was the special teams coordinator at South Carolina, and he left Missouri (where he was a special teams analyst) to take over Chadwell's special teams.
Corners coach Dino Waites brings with him some coordinator experience as the co-defensive coordinator at Albany State (D-II - GA), where they posted six shutouts during the fall of 2021 and ranked #1 in the country in scoring defense, and last year was the safeties coach at the FCS level at VMI.
Josh Linam will work with the linebackers after spending the past two seasons at Auburn and Georgia Tech, respectfully. He served as a defensive analyst on The Plains, and at Georgia Tech held the senior analyst title on Geoff Collins' staff after also working at Temple and Florida.
The most recent addition, which we broke the news of last week, is expected to be Aaron Fierbaugh, who initially joined the staff as a senior defensive quality control coach and is set to become the new safeties coach.
MOST UNDERRATED HIRE
This one was relatively easy. Director of athletic performance for football Chad Scott found a way to maximize the athleticism of the Chanticleer roster in a way that has gone severely under appreciated, in my opinion.
Just a few years ago I had a tweet go viral pointing out the lack of height among the Chanticleer offensive line - they had a center that was 5 foot 9.
Over the last three seasons in Conway, Scott helped the Chanticleers not only put a really good team on the field as they went 31-7 over that span, but both their offensive and defenses ranked among the top 25.
That is no easy feat.
