Part of the magic of college football is the chaos of the "coaching carousel", a spinning wheel of coaches hired and fired every offseason that sends ripples throughout the college landscape.
Three of the four playoff teams from 2024 have new coaches. Over 500 coaches changed jobs this offseason, with 31 new head coaches being hired in this year's cycle.
Who are some of the newly hired defensive coordinators to monitor this season for bigger jobs the next time the coaching carousel comes calling?
For this list, I'm focusing mainly on G5 coaches, but there are some Power 5 coaches sprinkled in throughout who I think could go on to bigger P5 jobs later on. Many of the game's best coaches are found at the lower level.
Head Coaches
Offensive Coordinators
Clay Bignell, Southern Miss
Kicking off with a "who?" to start this article, Bignell's arrival to Southern Miss arrived with little fanfare. A desperate Golden Eagles team turned to the FCS ranks to find their defensive coordinator and might have once again struck gold.
Southern Miss's defense dropped off under Dan O'Brien last year. O'Brien left to work with Bill at Boston College and head coach Will Hall called Bignell.
A former two-time All-Big Sky Conference player and champion at Montana State, Bignell has risen quickly throughout the coaching ranks and has worked on some of the top staffs in the country. He got started working at Montana Western coaching linebackers in 2012 before returning to Montana State as a graduate assistant in 2013.
A year later, he was in the same role, this time with the Northwestern Wildcats under defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz. There, Bignell worked with current Pitt Panthers DC Randy Bates and current Cleveland Browns TEs coach Tommy Rees while helping coach the defensive line that featured multiple NFL players in Joe Gaziano, Tyler Lancaster, Dean Lowry, and Ifeadi Odenigbo.
In 2016, he moved into the same role with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where he assisted outside linebackers, rovers, and defensive backs from 2016-2019. Bignell coached under Mike Elko, Clark Lea, and Terry Joseph during his time at Notre Dame.
He spent 2020 and 2021 as a senior defensive analyst at East Carolina and Vanderbilt, respectively. In 2021, Bignell reunited with Lea while also coaching under Jesse Minter, who helped lead Michigan's defense in 2023 and is now the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Related: New Chargers coach instantly proves that he's not Brandon Staley
He got his first real positional coach role in 2022 at Eastern Illinois. The Panthers hired him as their safeties coach/defensive pass game coordinator, and he immediately hit the ground running. Safety Jordan Vincent was an All-American that year, and he put two defenders onto the second-team All-OVC team as well. The Panthers finished 16th in the FCS that season in interceptions.
Bignell was quickly promoted to defensive coordinator in 2023 and immediately righted the ship.
Eastern Illinois leaped to one of the best units in producing turnovers, amassing 25 turnovers that season. The Panthers also finished 18th in scoring defense, 32nd in red zone defense, 30th in rushing defense, and 26th in pass defense efficiency, just a year after finishing 85th, 84th, 53rd, and 72nd in those respective metrics. Eastern Illinois also leaped from 100th to 69th in passing defense as well.
That's a significant turnaround in one season, and Bignell will need to do something similar with the Golden Eagles this year.
Just a year ago, Southern Miss's defense was led by Austin Armstrong and were one of the top units in the G5. So much so that Nick Saban hired Armstrong as his linebackers coach before Florida called and offered Armstrong the opportunity to be their defensive coordinator.
Bignell gets to work with plenty of returning talent at each level of the defense. With a good 2024, he could earn a similar promotion.
Bryant Haines, Indiana
Haines has followed Curt Cignetti everywhere, fixing his defenses on four different staffs. That will continue with the Indiana Hoosiers.
Haines led the James Madison defense to one of the best units in both the FCS and FBS from 2019-2023. Eight All-Americans, three DPOY finalists, and four top 10 defensive finishes later, Haines followed Cignetti to Indiana and became their highest-paid coordinator in program history.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a category where James Madison's defense wasn't at least top-25 throughout his tenure there, culminating in its final form in 2023 as one of the most dominant defenses in the FBS.
The Dukes led the country in rushing defense, allowing just 61.5 yards per game and 2.1 yards per rush. James Madison unleashed a terrifying group of defensive linemen that amassed 45 sacks, tying them for third place with Florida State. This group guided the Dukes to an 11-2 season last season.
Indiana's defense has been anything but dominating in recent memory. Last season's defense was the worst in the Big Ten, finishing 85th in total defense (last place), 98th in scoring (tied for last place), 86th in passing (tied for second-to-last), and 106th in sacks (definitely last place).
Whiles Haines has been tied to Cignetti throughout his tenure, it's his defense that has helped pave the way to help the dup amass a 119-35 record together. If he can turn Indiana's defense around, I wouldn't be surprised to see him field some FBS head coaching and/or bigger Power 5 DC offers this offseason.
Lyle Hemphill, James Madison
One James Madison coordinator exits, another one enters. I find myself fascinated with Hemphill's career and proven developmental track record and excited to see what he can do with the transfer talent the Dukes brought in.
Hemphill's prior defensive stops have been productive. Before becoming the defensive coordinator at Stony Brook in 2013, Hemphill coached defensive backs at Hofstra and Delaware for several years prior.
As DC, Hemphill's defenses ascended to one of the best in the FCS landscape. During his last three seasons, the Seawolves finished in the top three nationally in total defense, including leading the country in 2015, allowing just 250.1 yards per game.
Under Hemphill, seven Seawolves earned all-conference honors. Victor Ochi became Stony Brook’s career leader in sacks, while Davonte Anderson became their all-time leader in interceptions.
Hemphill's success caught the attention of Dave Clawson at Wake Forest, who brought him in to coach the Demon Deacons' safeties in 2017. There, Hemphill coached future All-Pro Jessie Bates III. By 2019, Clawson had promoted him to defensive coordinator, where he helped Wake Forest make three consecutive bowl games and produced one of the best playmaking units in the country.
From 2019-21, Hemphill coached 14 defensive players to All-ACC recognition and three draft picks.
Hemphill left following the 2021 season to coach with Mike Elko at Duke, where he served as the Blue Devils' safeties coach. In his first year, safeties Brandon Johnson and Darius Joiner became All-ACC nominees, leading the Blue Devils in tackles and interceptions.
He was promoted to co-defensive coordinator alongside Tyler Santucci (more on him later) in 2023. There, he helped Duke to the 16th-ranked scoring defense before being hired to James Madison in 2024.
Mike Elko's staff was plucked apart as teams sought to get a piece of his ability after Elko became head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. Now once again set as a defensive coordinator on a team fresh off of a dominant 2023, Hemphill's name could be a popular choice for bigger jobs in 2024.
Tyler Santucci, Georgia Tech
( Editor's Note: I promise, he was on here before he led Georgia Tech's big win over Florida State)
Santucci actually worked under Lyle Hemphill at Stony Brook, but their journey split in 2013. Santucci became a graduate assistant at Wake Forest from 2014-15, followed by a brief stint as Texas State's linebackers coach in 2016. He would serve as an analyst on Mike Elko's defense at Notre Dame in 2017 and at Texas A&M in 2018 before serving as Hemphill's linebackers coach at Wake Forest in 2019.
There, Santucci coached linebackers Ryan Smenda Jr and Justin Strnad. Strnad was drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, while Smenda finished with the eighth-most tackles in program history.
Santucci returned to Texas A&M in 2020 as the Aggies' linebackers coach. While there, he coached Buddy Johnson, Aaron Hansford, Chris Russell Jr., Andre White and Edgerrin Cooper. Johnson and Cooper were drafted.
He then re-united with Elko at Duke in 2023, serving as his co-defensive coordinator in 2023. His efforts saw him nominated for the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in college football.
Duke linebacker Tre Freeman finished as an All-ACC second-teamer in Santucci's one year coaching linebackers with the Blue Devils.
Like Elko, Santucci prides his defense on creating physical chaos. Expect this GT unit to be a physical, tough unit that likes to create havoc with different fronts, pressure looks, and blitzes.
Shiel Wood, Houston
I discussed Jon Sumrall's success at Troy in the head coaching article, but Shiel Wood was a big part of his initial success with the Trojans in 2022.
After building one of the best defenses in the FCS at Wofford in 2017, Wood ventured into the P5, serving as Georgia Tech's safeties coach in 2018 under then-DC Nate Woody. After a brief stint serving as linebackers coach at Georgia State under Nate Fuqua in 2019, Wood re-united with Woody at Army in 2020.
Wood and Woody served as co-defensive coordinators for the Black Nights in 2020 and 2021. Army's defense was one of the top in college football both years, finishing among the top teams in many of the top categories, including rushing defense.
Wood's success saw him become Sumrall's top priority, who brought him in to serve as his DC with the Trojans in 2022.
Troy's defense became the Walls of Troy virtually overnight. The Trojans were absolutely elite, ranking in the top 10 nationally in yards per play allowed, yards per pass attempt and scoring defense. They also finished eighth in turnovers, 14th in sacks, 19th in total defense, and 24th in rushing defense.
Wood carried his success over to Tulane in 2023 as their defensive coordinator. The Green Wave finished seventh in rushing defense, 19th in scoring, and third in interceptions. Tulane also amassed a respectable 34 sacks, tying them with defenses like Miami, Oregon, Ole Miss, and Louisville and ahead of Michigan's dominant 2023 team.
Now with a Power Four opportunity and a chance to recruit one of the best talent beds in the country, Wood has the chance to rebuild Houston's defense into a respectable unit in the Big 12. If he can get the Cougars to similar heights as he did at his last few stops, he'll be in line for bigger jobs soon.
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