A bit off subject, and siap, but something I just noticed when looking at the new SEC HC hires, that Dan Mullen at UF is now the only HC in the East who comes from the offensive side of the ball. Pruitt, Smart, Muschamp, all ex Saban DCs, Mason, Stoops and Odom, are all former DCs. In the west, only Saban and Coach O are defensive guys, so 8 out of the 14 HCs in the league are defensive minds.
A common thought has always been, with obvious exceptions such as Saban, that DCs are too high strung and volatile to make good CEOs, but there seems to be a shift in that thinking, at least within the SEC, as we've seen with Saban, and Smart and Muschamp have enjoyed at least early successes, after WM's early fail at UF. But UK has improved under Stoops, and Vandy is better under Mason. Hard to tell yet about Odom, because the successes at Missouri have been on the offensive side of the ball, and can largely be attributed to Huepel's hurry up offense and Drew Lock. Heupel is gone now and Lock is a senior, so we will learn more about Odom starting next season. But his defenses haven't been as good as Pinkel's, so it is as yet to be determined if he can evaluate and develop talent like Pinkel.
But another thought I had is that Pruitt is the first defensive mind that UT has hired as a HC in at least the last 50 years. Butch, Dooley, Kiffin, Phil, Johhny, Battle, and Dickey were all offensive guys. I am not sure about any of the HCs between Neyland and Dickey.
