re: Defensive Coordinator Mega Thread

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Scott Symons was hired as SMU's Defensive Coordinator in December 2021 after spending three seasons as Defensive Coordinator at Liberty, while also working with safeties and linebackers.

Symons completed his first year as Defensive Coordinator with the Mustangs in 2022. SMU went 7-5 in the regular season, and faced BYU in the New Mexico Bowl. The Mustangs made 964 total tackles across their 13 games, including 28.5 sacks and 76.0 tackles for loss. SMU picked off 10 passes in the 2022 season, as well as forcing 12 fumbles, eight of which were recovered by the Mustangs. Symons’ defense held North Texas to a season-low 10 points in the season opener on September 3.

Symons helped mentor All-American Athletic Conference second-team selection Elijah Chatman, who was also member of the Bronko Nagurski, Outland Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award Watch Lists, Chatman finished the regular season with 37 tackles, including four for loss and three sacks. He added one fumble recovery for a touchdown and a blocked PAT.

Prior to the 2022 season, Symons was named to Dave Campbell's Texas Football 40 Under 40 List.

Liberty closed out the 2021 season with a win in the Lending Tree Bowl and finished in the top 20 in passing yards allowed (9th, 180.3), red zone defense (10th, .725), total defense (15th, 320.2) and tackles for loss (16th, 7.1), while also ranking 26th in sacks (2.85) and 27th in scoring defense (21.5).

In 2020, Symons helped the Flames to a 10-1 season and a No. 17 final ranking in the AP Poll, their highest in program history. He was named to the Broyles Award Watch List and led the defense to a top-20 ranking in total defense (No. 11, 317.7).

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Nowinsky is in his second year as the Bobcats’ Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Ends Coach. Under his guidance, the defense aided the Bobcats in their fourth 10-win season in program history, highlighted by an undefeated record on Frank Solich Field and an overtime victory in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.

Ohio's 2022 defense finished second in the MAC in points allowed per game (21.1), less than a quarter of a point behind the leader. After their seven-game winning streak against MAC opponents, defensive end Jack McCrory, linebacker Keye Thompson and safety Tariq Drake earned All-MAC Third Team honors.

In 2021, Nowinsky Coached Ivan Pace, First Team All MAC Linebacker, Co-MAC Defensive Player of the Year, MAC Linebacker of the Year, and 2nd Team All-American Action Network. Nowinsky also coached Matt Salopek, 2nd Team All MAC Linebacker. Nowinsky had seven total All MAC Defensive Players during the 2021 season.

The Miami Defensive Unit was Number One in the MAC in Scoring Defense, Rushing Defense and Sacks during the 2021 campaign. The Miami RedHawks earned their first bowl victory in over a decade on December 23, 2021 using a dominant defensive performance to defeat North Texas in the inaugural Frisco Football Classic Bowl. The RedHawks defense limited the Mean Green to 317 yards of total offense in the game, 89 yards rushing, 2.8 yards per carry, and 14 points, in addition to two forced first-half turnovers that helped Miami establish momentum. Miami beat North Texas, 27-14.

Under Nowinsky, the RedHawks defense finished in the top-half of almost every statistical category in 2018. Miami finished fourth in scoring defense (25.5), third in rush defense (159.7) and fifth in total defense (368.2) and sacks (29). A year later, in 2019, the defense got even better, finishing second in scoring (22.5), third in total defense (352.9) and first in pass defense (175.9).

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Blake Baker joined the Mizzou coaching staff as safeties coach in January 2022. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in late February. He spent the 2021 season as linebackers coach at LSU.

He comes to Mizzou with six years of experience as a defensive coordinator – two at Miami (2019, 2020) and four at Louisiana Tech (2015-18). In addition to his coordinator duties with Miami and Louisiana Tech, Baker also coached the linebackers at both schools.

He joined the Hurricanes in January of 2019 and in his first year, he oversaw a Miami defense that ranked No. 13 nationally in total defense and 12th in the nation in yards allowed per play. The 2019 Hurricane defense also ranked among the top 20 in the nation in rush defense (No. 10), redzone defense (No. 16) and pass defense (No. 18).

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Shiel Wood joins the Green Wave as the Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers coach in the spring of 2023. Wood joins the Tulane coaching staff after spending the 2022 season as Troy’s defensive coordinator, while also working with the safeties unit there.

Wood oversaw a defensive unit that paved the way for Troy’s 12-2 record in 2022 that saw the Trojan’s first ever ranking in the final AP Poll at No. 19 after winning the Sun Belt Conference Championship over Coastal Carolina and the Cure Bowl over No. 22 ranked UTSA.

The Trojan defensive unit ranked eighth nationally in turnovers gained, 14th in sacks, eighth in scoring defense, 19th in total defense and 24th in rushing defense, while finishing ranked in the top five in the Sun Belt Conference for scoring defense, total defense, sacks and interceptions.

Additionally, linebacker Carlton Martial earned All-America honors for the fourth season after finishing third nationally, averaging 11.2 tackles per game and as the all-time leader in career tackles at the FBS level.

Prior to serving as the defensive coordinator at Troy, Wood spent two seasons at Army West Point as the co-defensive coordinator, also working with inside linebackers in 2020 and safeties in 2021.

During the 2021 campaign, Wood helped guide Army to a 9-4 record, capped by a victory over Missouri in the Armed Forces Bowl. Army ranked 17th nationally, holding opponents to just 328.4 yards per game, 36th allowing just 22.3 points per game and 17th allowing only 117.2 yards per game on the ground. The Black Knights were also one of the fewest penalized teams in the country, finishing third with just 3.85 penalties per game.

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A multiple-time Broyles Award nominee, Brown spent four seasons as the defensive coordinator at Louisville. He was elevated to associate head coach in 2020. He spent six seasons at Appalachian State, coaching cornerbacks from 2012 to 2018, and adding defensive coordinator responsibilities beginning in 2018.

Brown has helped lead his teams to seven bowl games since 2015.

Taking over a defense that was ranked near the bottom of college football at UofL in 2018, Brown saw his troops improve dramatically during his tenure – culminating in one of the most prolific seasons in Louisville history in 2022.

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