A couple years ago, when Will Hall hired him Austin Armstrong made history as college football’s youngest defensive coordinator at the Football Bowl Subdivision level.
Now Armstrong, who’s engineered a remarkable defensive turnaround as the defensive coordinator at Southern Miss, is poised for a career leap that’s going to resonate throughout college football.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Armstrong is a strong candidate to join the staff at Alabama after consecutive years running the Golden Eagles’ ‘Nasty Bunch’ defense.
Southern Miss saw its first defense under Armstrong in 2021 rank among the most-improved units in college football; the Eagles’ stop-unit climbed 18 spots from 60th to No. 42 in total defense.
The group was top-10 in FBS in first downs allowed and red zone defense, ranking second and sixth respectively.
This past season saw Southern Miss continue its defensive renaissance under Armstrong; the Golden Eagles jumped into the top-6 in the SunBelt Conference in scoring average at 23.5 points per game – a mark good enough for 45th nationally.
For context, USM ranked 86th in 2020 in scoring defense when it allowed an average of more than 32 ppg; Armstrong shaved off nearly five points in 2021, when the Golden Eagles allowed less than 28 ppg and then nearly another five this past season.
With one college football source this week in Charlotte, N.C., at the AFCA Convention calling Armstrong “perhaps a young Kirby Smart,” it’s a notion that might not be that far-fetched.
Armstrong has coached under both Smart and Dan Lanning during his graduate assistant days at Georgia and includes shared history with Will Hall at NCAA Division II program West Georgia with other notable coaches, including Cody Kennedy and Josh Aldridge – both of whom have broken through the coaching ranks to emerge as two of the top offensive and defensive coaches, respectively, in FBS ball.
A former top assistant on Billy Napier’s record-breaking Louisiana staffs, Armstrong starred collegiately at well-known NCAA D-III program Huntingdon (Alabama) as a linebacker.
The Crimson Tide, after an 11-win season that included a romp of Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl, have two spots open with Pete Golding off to Ole Miss and Charles Kelly now with Deion Sanders at Colorado.
We will keep you posted as this one progresses. Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest coaching news.
Update> Pete Thamel and local reports are now sharing the same. Nick hasn't made this official yet; but look for Austin to share a big #RollTide soon enough.