- Dowell Loggains matched what Shane Beamer thought was important for South Carolina. Beamer was looking for NFL experience and Loggains has plenty of that. Before joining the Arkansas staff for the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Loggains was an NFL assistant for 10 seasons and was an Offensive Coordinator in most of those seasons. What may not be known about Loggains is his longest NFL tenure as an NFL OC, was just two seasons.
- Kevin Barbay is not one of the youngest, fast risers like others on this list. Instead, he was a sought-after OC, following strong performances at Central Michigan State and Appalachian State. One little-known fact in Barbay’s somewhat ‘quiet’ career is he played quarterback in college, for Doug Williams at Grambling State.
- The most little-knowns in this list are tied to Auburn’s new OC, Phillip Montgomery. Similar to past Auburn OCs, it is not known how much control Hugh Freeze will give Montgomery. Looking at Montgomery’s head coaching career does not inspire confidence. After last season, college football had 17 head coaches (with at least five head coaching seasons) with career records of less than 50% in wins. After eight seasons at Tulsa, Montgomery was fired with a winning record of 44.2%. Even with Auburn’s dubious track record in hiring coaches, why hire a documented loser? Though it may be little known, Hugh Freeze had a good reason. When Robert Griffen III won the Heisman in 2011, his QB coach at Baylor was Phillip Montgomery. Hugh Freeze needs to bring some quarterback magic to Auburn and Montgomery might be able to help.
Which one of the 10 new SEC football OCs will be the best? Alabama football fans are sure it will be Tommy Rees.