The Pac-12 is coming off a very underwhelming year as a whole so it’s no surprise that a number of teams made moves in order to shake things up this offseason. USC, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona and Utah each gave its head coach a pass but the assistant coaches and coordinators weren’t all so lucky. Here is a breakdown of the new assistant hires in the Pac-12 this offseason.
Brady Hoke, Oregon Ducks
Defensive Coordinator
No Pac-12 team surprised the college football world more than the Ducks, who managed to land former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke as their defensive coordinator. Some are still skeptical of Hoke after the Wolverines stumbled under his watch but he has all of the attributes to thrive as a defensive coordinator will he will be able to narrow his focus and get the most out of a talented young group. It’s important to remember that despite his resume at Michigan Hoke is still a three-time conference coach of the year in three different leagues so there is every reason to give him the benefit of the doubt heading in to his first season at Oregon.
Clancy Pendergast, USC Trojans
Defensive Coordinator
The Trojans didn’t shock the college football world the way that the Ducks did but they may have landed the better hire at the defensive coordinator position. Pendergast, who returns after a stint with the San Francisco 49ers, is a highly respected name in the industry. While some people might forget, Pendergast was a quality defensive coordinator early in his career. He was the Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator the last time they were in the Super Bowl in 2009. After that, he was in Kansas City as part of the failed Todd Haley regime and also got washed away as part of the California Golden Bears previous coaching staff (at the end of the Jeff Tedford era). This should revive his career.
Pendergast put together some of the most successful USC defenses in the Pac-12 era and he appears to be the perfect hire to help get the Trojans back to an elite level on that side of the football.
Marcel Yates, Arizona Wildcats
Defensive Coordinator
Rich Rodriguez brought in Yates from Boise State to serve as the defensive coordinator and his recruiting ability will be a major key to what he brings to the table in addition to his ability to coach up the defense. The Broncos were excellent on the defensive side of the football under Yates and the hope is that he can shore up the Arizona defense with Donte Williams also coming over from San Jose State to work as a defensive assistant that handles the secondary.
Kevin Clune, Oregon State Beavers
Defensive Coordinator
One of the underrated new assistant hires in the Pac-12 could be the Beavers move with Clune. Clune has a long relationship with head coach Gary Anderson and that will be important as they look to work together to turn things around at Oregon State during this rebuilt. Clune has proved that he can turn around a defense in short order in the past with the same group of players and he will try to do that again with the Beavers next season.
Morgan Scalley, Utah Utes
Defensive Coordinator
John Pease’s retirement opened the door for Scalley as one of the new assistant hires in the Pac-12. He received a promotion as a familiar face that Kyle Whittingham trusts to handle the defensive coordinator duties moving forward. However, the loss of Pease is significant. Remember that Utah has been a Top 25 team – or in that vicinity – over the last few seasons and the main reasons for that have been a reliable running game and a steady defense. Pease was a major reason for that and now all of the sudden there will be some question marks about this area of the team, even though Whittingham and the talent are still there.
The good news is that Scalley is already known as an excellent recruiter and he has a long history with the Utes as a former player, so it will be interesting to see how he fares running the defense. He’s a younger coordinator that is expected to be very aggressive calling plays and attacking opposing defenses and hopefully – for Utah’s sake – there isn’t much of a drop-off – if any.
