I did a piece on the main MGoBoard screening defensive performance over the last 3 years via FEI defense rank (an advanced measure I find much better than NCAA rankings).  I then did a bevy of gymnastics to screen out coordinators for various reasons and it left me with 8 DC names.  I am going to do an in depth look at 2 of the younger names of the list - Barry Odom and Tony Orlando as they have a good age profile and are somewhat available and Midwest / Eastish in profile.

Young Guy Pool

Kwiatkowski of Washington (Boise earlier) is the guy with the best metrics and I'd take him in a heartbeat even if his career has been in the West, but I am assuming he won't be on the radar for some reason.  Aranda of Wisconsin I discussed quite a bit in last year's CC: Gary Andersen piece; he is a guy from the "West" footprint who now has 4 years in the Midwest and knows the conference.  Tony Gibson is hated so won't discuss him.  So those are 3 of the 6 "young guys" - of the remaining 3, Boise's Marcel Yates is interesting as he has bounced between the SEC and Boise with good results 3 of the past 4 years.  (co-DC at A&M with Snyder who got fired and went to MSU)

So just for mental gymnastics let's look at the other 2 candidates.  Harbaugh is going to pick his guy and I am confident he will do well - he and Meyer have a great eye for coaching talent which is an under appreciated skill; position coaching is critical to footbawl as we saw with the Hoke regime and great HCs pick great staff members (and jettison mistakes quickly). 

A Frame of Reference

I am going to put Greg Mattison and DJ Durkin's data points in both these posts so people have a frame of reference.  Now keep in mind you have to grade these people on a curve.  The type of talent Florida and Michigan get is different from Wisconsin Minnesota Missouri which is also different then Utah State or Memphis.   If you watch EPL it is like judging Manchester United vs Newcastle.  If Newcastle finishes 7th its considered a near championship year since slots 1-5 in EPL are basically the same 5 teams annually.  If Man U finishes 7th its a disaster.  If you don't watch soccer that just made no sense but trust me, you have to grade on a curve.  Also ACC and Big 10 defenses have it easier in general than the other 3 conferences due to quality of QBs and lack of spread offenses that put up big points.

I put the year before arrival in italics so you see prior regime - Greg had a very easy D to improve on as 2010 Michigan was Indiana level and just pathetic.  I didn't put Greg's data for Florida because I am not doing a DCC for Greg, I just want readers to have some perspective on his performance at Michigan to give a framework.  I consider Greg's Um defenses (save 2013) to be "good not great".  Durkin had an elite D he was handed at Florida and also had what was considered an elite D coordinator in Muschamp as his HC so caveats apply.

G Matt

Durkin

I put the columns in order of what I think are the best measures: FEI, S&P+, then total defense.  (all total defense is, is a NCAA measure that ranks defenses by yds given up - a measure that benefits ACC and Big 10 defenses greatly due to the general sad offenses in those conferences)

On to Barry Odom

Who is Barry Odom?

Odom is a "Missouri Man" through and through.  Played there as a MLB.  Was a football admin and then defensive coach there (safeties).  Then he had to leave to be a defensive coordinator as Missouri had a long term one there on Pinkel's staff.   Age 39.

He went to Memphis for 3 years and took an awful D and built it up year after year - by year 3 it had excellent metrics for a non P5.  Again let me emphasize with these spread offenses today you can go to a non P5 and make a top 20 offense.  You can do it at the bottom of the P5 too (seee Indiana or Washington State)  Schemes help offense a lot more than defense.  Building a top 20 defense or near it without elite athletes is damn hard as scheme can only take you so far - you need the horses.  So his annual progress at Memphis and his final product in 2014 both impress.  I also like that Memphis defense fell dramatically this year when he left - it shows me the defense suffered without him. 

Then he took over a Missouri defense this year which had metrics similar to GMatt UM and kept is steady despite a steady outflow of NFL draft picks from the front 4 especially (and front 7 in general) in recent years.   This despite coaching a 3-4 at Memphis and converting to a 4-3 at Missouri. 

One other caveat this year - Missouri's offense was horrible so the defense was on the field a ton.  Missouri lost to UConn 9-6.  They lost to Georgia 9-6.  They lost to Vanderbilt 10-3.  They beat BYU 20-16 (woo hoo offensive explosion).  So Odom got little help from the offense this year.

The chart.

Is it moot to consider Barry Odom?

In a perfect world Pinkel would have stuck around a few more years to give the still relatively green (only 4 yrs coordinating incl only 1 in a P5) some time to grow into an eventual replacement.   But with Pinkel's health issues Missouri doesn't have that option.  From all accounts their AD is really hitting the pavement and meeting with many established head coaches, especially in Western regions and even Cal's coach has recently entered the mix.

Meanwhile Memphis lost Justin Fuente (who identified Odom - so if you believe Fuente is a good coach and good coaches find coaching talent, another feather in Odom's hat) so Odom was target #1.  But Odom is trying to do a delicate dance - obviously the Mizzou job would be his dream job - he could be their Pat Fitzgerald.  But he is not option #1 for Mizzou as he has no HC experience.... while he was for Memphis.  So that whole thing has been going on while most of the rest of the world is caught up in Kirby Smart and Mark Richt.

As of yesterday it appears Memphis got tired of waiting and closed the door on Odom as he slow played them too long.  But until Memphis gets a coach hired it's not "over" in my eyes. So maybe Odom will be a moot point ...or maybe not.  The next few days should tell the tale with the main domino being Missouri.

'Crootin?

I find it impossible to really judge 1 guy in isolation on 'crooting because the school matters, the head coach matters, the conference matters.  You are not getting bad a$$ talent to Memphis no matter what.  I did find this snippet but take it for what it's worth:

He is well-regarded as a tactician, a recruiter, and potential administrator. He was seen by some as Mizzou's best recruiter during his first Pinkel stint, and he was generally thought of as a steady, organized position coach.

Stick around factor?

No I don't see him sticking around for 4-5 years.  UM fans have to get used to this, we will lose coaches often in 2-3 year snippets. I don't think any coordinator under Harbaugh under the age of 55 will be around long term as they will be in demand elsewhere.  And Odom is at an age that a few years of success at UM would make him highly coveted.  He is also very driven to be a HC one day.  If he was hired at UM you might however get 4 years out of him if he wants the Mizzou job.... if the  new Mizzou HC hire looks like he could be in trouble in year 3/4.

System

As mentioned above Odom ran a 3-4 at Memphis (out of necessity due to lack of DL) but shifted to a 4-3 at Missouri.  Football geeks can read all about it here.  If it makes your eyes roll into the back of your head skip ahead.

Steckel's (prior Missouri DC) methods included both under- and over-shifted fronts, with the over defining more of the philosophy. He had the DEs lining up as right or left no matter the strength of the offensive formation, thus changing whether Mizzou was playing a strongside or weakside technique. They'd set the better pass rusher to the right so that he could take more blindside shots at right-handed QBs. 

The entire front would play aggressive, looking to get into the backfield and relying on the zone eyes of the defenders behind them to clean up anything that got through. This style made them vulnerable to giving up ground, but as long as they didn't allow big gains, the disruption could kill drives.  Kuligowski did a great job finding athletes to develop, then unchaining them in aggressive schemes.

Odom's Memphis 3-4 was not the kind of two-gapping style that would make for a polar opposite to Steckel's 4-3, but there will be some degree of shift from one scheme to another. While Steckel would set his defensive ends as left or right, Odom's Memphis played only one true pass-rushing DE on the field at a time, at a weakside end/linebacker hybrid position. He lined up a true linebacker as the strongside on the opposite end.

The positions are different than the 4-3 over style that Missouri has been playing, but the difference is essentially the difference between the under and over schools of defense. Odom's players still used single-gap techniques.

Various reference articles and snippets:

Controlled chaos: How Barry Odom's past affects Missouri's future

We are already aware of his black and gold steeped past, but an unknown quantity still remains. Come August, Odom will be charged with keeping Mizzou’s streak of nasty defenses alive. So just how the hell is he going to do it?

To answer that question, I watched all of the game-film that I could get my hands on from Memphis’ 2014 campaign. That included the entirety of the Miami Beach Bowl, which pitted Odom’s former Tigers against the Cougars of BYU, and... nothing else. Try as I might, that was the only full game of Memphis’ that I could locate.

SPOILER: This defense is going to be fun as hell to watch.

Gone will be the Missouri staple of relying on only the defensive line to create pressure. In it’s place, a new style of havoc will emerge; one that isn’t afraid to send any and all of its players hurtling towards the opposing quarterback. Linebackers and cornerbacks alike will abandon their posts and blitz – yes, blitz – with regularity, which will be quite the departure from the blitz-starved defenses that Tiger fans became accustomed to under Steckel.

At Memphis, versatile meant lots of blitzes from lots of positions with lots of different paths for the blitzing player to take to the quarterback. Creativity was the name of the game. Taking into considering how often Odom blitzed, it had to be. Keep sending the linebacker barreling through the outermost gap and the offense is bound to see a pattern eventually.

To avoid this, Odom was constantly mixing things up. One play, a linebacker would crash the edge. The next, that same player would start outside, only to have an end cut underneath him while he stunted inside.

It's a defense that isn't afraid of risk. One that aims to smack you square in the mouth from every direction. Odom will have an incredibly active defense. He's going to blitz the hell out of teams (which I'm sure has Kentrell Brothers' mouth watering), and he's going to do so in a wide variety of ways. It's a departure from previous Missouri defenses, but one that I think fans will come to welcome. Maybe even adore.

Barry Odom deserves to be Missouri's new coach

Now that the regular season is over, let’s take a look at Mizzou’s final defensive numbers under Barry Odom.

• The Tigers are second nationally in tackles for loss at 8.83 per game.
• They are seventh in scoring defense, allowing 16.2 points per game.
• They are seventh in pass defense, allowing 169.3 yards per game.
• They are ninth in total defense, allowing 302.0 yards per game.

That’s a top-10 finish in every important statistical category except for turnovers.

By the way, Missouri finished 117th in time of possession this season. That means that only 11 defenses were on the field longer than the Tigers.

The 2015 Mizzou defense was better than the 2014 unit in just about every statistical category except for turnovers; the ’14 Tigers caused 22 and the ’15 caused 16.

What makes these improvements even more remarkable? Last season’s defense was led by Shane Ray, the SEC defensive player of the year and a first-round pick of the Denver Broncos. Markus Golden was drafted in the second round by the Arizona Cardinals. Braylon Webb, who was a three-year starter and arguably Missouri’s best safety since William Moore, was lost to graduation. And Harold Brantley, who is one of the most athletic defensive tackles in the country, didn’t play this because of an offseason car accident.

I’ve mentioned this before, but when Odom took over as defensive coordinator, he also took over the linebackers. During that time, he took Kentrell Brothers from relative obscurity and turned him into arguably the best linebacker in the country.

Odom's gamble brings him back to Mizzou

Odom’s brand will come in the form of some wrinkles to a Missouri defense that for 15 years under coach Gary Pinkel has operated with a four-man defensive front. At Memphis, Odom inherited a roster with ample linebackers and few readymade linemen. He cooked up a 3-4 defense that improved statistically each season, peaking last year when Memphis allowed just 19.5 points a game. Odom won’t dismantle Mizzou’s 4-3 system — the Tigers have been recruiting linemen and linebackers to fit that scheme for years — but he’ll mix in some three-man looks this fall.

When spring practices begin March 10, he’ll inherit a defense that returns seven starters. Odom joked that his first tasks were finding departed defensive end Markus Golden another year of eligibility and convincing SEC defensive player of the year Shane Ray to stay for his senior season. Instead, he’ll be without both star linemen.

Odom eage to put stamp on Mizzou defense

The first question on everyone’s mind, including someone who stopped Odom at the grocery store on Tuesday: Will the Tigers run a 4-3 defense or a 3-4? Missouri has always used a base four-man front under Pinkel. Odom ran a 3-4 base defense at Memphis (three linemen, four linebackers) the last three seasons.

Memphis’ defensive roster was thin when Odom joined Justin Fuentes’ staff for the 2012 season. The Tigers were especially short on readymade defensive linemen.  “We had more linebacker body types when I started there and we didn't have many defensive linemen,” he said. “Number one, structurally that’s why we went to what we did. And then had some success my first year and said, ‘Hey, let’s really piece this together and start recruiting those body types and continue to build it that way.’”

Odom's past, present, future collide at MU