Vanderbilt football offensive coordinator search: 10 potential candidates for Clark Lea
Vanderbilt football faces one of its most important decisions of the offseason in who to hire as offensive coordinator.
After firing Joey Lynch, coach Clark Lea has commenced a search for a new playcaller, and is hoping for the search to move quickly.
"A game control offense ,which means they're efficient on first down and demonstrated efficiency on third down," Lea told The Tennessean when asked what he's looking for. "A part of that is the ability to score points in the red zone, so that we can finish drives with touchdowns. And establishing a running game is important for us. That's something we weren't able to do last year. And off the run game, an explosive pass game. ... I want to simplify the system for the quarterback."
A primary motivation of moving quickly for Vanderbilt is to attract a good quarterback from the transfer portal, and Lea said the Commodores are looking to potentially take two quarterbacks in the portal. Because Lynch was the quarterbacks coach, and because the Commodores have struggled to get production from that position, it seems likely they will look to someone with experience coaching quarterbacks.
Here are 10 potential candidates:
Michigan quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell
Campbell's timing is probably not ideal for Vanderbilt. Michigan is in the College Football Playoff, and it seems unlikely that a staff member there would leave his post before then.
Regardless, Campbell would be a quality candidate. He mentored JJ McCarthy with the Wolverines, he worked under James Franklin at Penn State and he has experience calling plays as Old Dominion's offensive coordinator from 2020-21.
Troy offensive coordinator Joe Craddock
Craddock is on the market after Troy coach Jon Sumrall was hired by Tulane. That could make it harder for Vanderbilt to land him, as Craddock figures to be in play to either get the top job at Troy or follow Sumrall to Tulane.
But Craddock has ties to Tennessee, having played quarterback at Middle Tennessee State, and also has a background coaching quarterbacks. He also has prior coordinator experience in the SEC at Arkansas under Chad Morris, though both those years were disastrous and resulted in Craddock's firing.
Memphis offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey
Cramsey checks a lot of boxes. He has worked in Tennessee as Memphis' offensive coordinator, he has been a longtime quarterbacks coach at the Group of 5 and FCS level and the Tigers were second in the AAC this season in points per game.
Cramsey's main drawback is that he has never worked at a Power Five school, not even as a position coach. Can he make the jump?
Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli
Guidugli never officially worked with Lea at Notre Dame, but Lea is likely familiar with him regardless. He was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Cincinnati team that made the College Football Playoff in 2021 and spent 2022 as the offensive coordinator there before moving to Notre Dame.
Texas State offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich
Leftwich is just 29, and his 2023 season spent as Texas State's offensive coordinator was his lone one at the FBS level. He did find success as an FCS offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, though, at Incarnate Word. There, his offense led FCS in scoring and he developed quarterbacks like Lindsey Scott and Cam Ward.
SMU co-offensive coordinator Rob Likens
SMU has three co-offensive coordinators, though Likens also has an associate head coach title, which could make him more difficult to get especially with SMU moving to the ACC.
Though Likens is not currently a quarterbacks coach, he has served as one in the past at both Kansas and Arizona State and has several years of experience as a coordinator.
UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion
Could Vanderbilt land Marion? He's one of the hottest names on the market after the Rebels finished with nine wins in his first year there, and he could be in play not only for big-time offensive coordinator jobs but also head coaching jobs.
If he doesn't get a head job, it would be worth making a push for Marion. The one drawback is that his background is coaching wide receivers rather than quarterbacks, and Vanderbilt already has a wide receivers coach on staff.
UT Martin coach Jason Simpson
There has been an increasing trend of lower Group of 5 or FCS coaches leaving to become coordinators at the Power Five level. There are reasons to be skeptical of Simpson. He's been at his job for 18 years, and while he was an offensive coordinator at Chattanooga, he has never been a coordinator at the FBS level.
Perhaps the biggest draw to Simpson is that his son, Ty, is currently a quarterback at Alabama. Simpson is not in the transfer portal currently but if he does enter, Vanderbilt could put itself in play for the former five-star by hiring Simpson.
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LSU quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan
Sloan's tenure as LSU quarterbacks coach has coincided with the development of Jayden Daniels into the Heisman Trophy winner which could bode well for a team looking to bring in a transfer quarterback itself. He also has experience as a playcaller, having served as Louisiana Tech's offensive coordinator before leaving for LSU.
Jacksonville State offensive coordinator Rod Smith
Smith is a Rich Rodriguez disciple, and his spread offense could inject some excitement into Vanderbilt's passing attack. He has experience as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at multiple Power Five jobs, including at Michigan, Arizona, Indiana and Illinois, serving one game as the interim head coach at the latter.
However, Smith is 50 years old and Vanderbilt may want to go with someone younger.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt football offensive coordinator search: 10 potential candidates
