The path to becoming a head coach in college football is easier for those with offensive backgrounds. 

Nine of the 13 FBS coaches in Texas were assistants on the offensive side of the ball. Only two of the 13 – Baylor’s Dave Aranda and Texas A&M’s Mike Elko – are former defensive coordinators at the college level. Houston’s Willie Fritz was a defensive assistant in college at Sam Houston State before becoming a head coach. And Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire has a defensive background as an assistant in both college and high school. 

The trend stretches beyond the Lone Star State. Only 28 of the 68 head coaches at the Power Four level – roughly 41 percent – spent most of their time as defensive assistants en route to the main chair.  And of the 16 hires made by the Power Four in the latest offseason, only six of those head coaches would be considered defensive-minded. 

Every major conference in college football boasts more offensive-minded head coaches than defensive. Six of the 16 coaches – 37.5 percent – in the SEC and the Big 12 were defensive assistants. Coaches with defensive backgrounds account for 44 percent of the head coaches in the Big Ten and the ACC – if we consider Notre Dame part of the ACC for the purposes of this article. 

“Certainly, the numbers would tell you that it’s a little bit more challenging,” Elko said last week at the THSCA Coaching Convention in Houston. “For sure there has been times over the years where you look around and you feel as though it is slanted towards offensive people.” 

The why requires context. McGuire, who is the only head coach in Texas without coordinator experience on either side of the ball, says that athletic directors searching for a new head coach are concerned with wins and ticket sales. And like the famous MLB advertisements from the 1990s, chicks dig the long ball. Just substitute an explosive offense for the long ball and ADs for the chicks. 

“Everyone thinks that offense is sexy,” McGuire said. 

But Aranda has another theory, one built from experience. He agrees that offensive coaches have an advantage because points are flashy and that there is an excitement that comes with a high-scoring offense that decision-makers and fans gravitate toward. 

He also points out that defensive-minded coaches typically aren’t as forward facing as offensive assistants. That the nature of calling a defense – which is a sports version of constantly facing attacks – keeps defensive coaches in the proverbial foxhole and less inclined to be media savvy. That can also lead to a disadvantage in the interview process, which requires coaches to sell themselves and their plan to prospective athletic directors and university presidents. 

“With defensive coaches, there is typically a mentality in them that might not be forward facing, in terms of cameras, press conferences and those things,” Aranda explained at the same THSCA event. “There are a couple of laps you have to run to kind of encircle what needs to happen on defense and it is a lot of work to do. To get your mind out of the analytics and the breakdowns and the ‘this is what they’ve done and they did this two years ago’ type of thinking to the kind of forward facing (personality) is a long journey that is probably harder on defensive coaches than offensive ones.” 

Elko says that defensive coaches also have a reputation for not valuing an explosive offense. That they’re so concerned with low-scoring games and keeping their own defense off the field that they handicap the program and limit what it can do offensively. He’s seen that with other former defensive coordinators and he’s focused on not falling into that trap. 

“To me, there’s something about coming up on the defensive side of the ball with an understanding of what an explosive offense can do,” Elko explained. “If you can bring the things – the toughness, the discipline – that comes from being a defensive-minded coach to some degree, with an understanding of how important it is to play explosive offense, those guys are really successful.” 

And it doesn’t take long to find those success stories. Pete Carroll at USC in the 2000s. Nick Saban at Alabama in the 2010s. Kirby Smart and Marcus Freeman in the current era. In an offseason poll by ESPN, three of the top five coaches in the sport – Smart, Freeman, and Dan Lanning – have defensive backgrounds. Add Elko and Whittingham and five of the top nine were former defensive coordinators. 

“When I was interviewing for positions, the one thing that I always pointed out was that if you look at some of the teams that are consistently competing for championships at the time, it was Nick Saban, it was Kirby Smart, it was Bill Belichick in the NFL,” Elko said. “They all have defensive backgrounds.”

Despite the on-field results, it is hard to argue with the overall numbers. 

“It is not that it can’t be done because for sure it is (possible) but I do think it is a longer road,” Aranda said.