Here’s hoping that having two former Nick Saban coordinators will work better than one.
Florida has hired Doug Nussmeier as the new offensive coordinator, according to reports. Nussmeier came over from Washington and took the offensive coordinator job at Alabama under Nick Saban following McElwain’s departure, and guided Alabama to a national championship in 2012 and a Sugar Bowl berth the following year.
Nussmeier worked with AJ McCarron closely for two years at Alabama, developing him into a star. Under Nussmeier’s tutelage, McCarron threw for a school record 26 touchdowns in a single season. After two largely successful years at Alabama, Nussmeier left for Michigan, where he didn’t quite find as much success. After the firing of Brady Hoke, it was made clear that he would not be retained, so McElwain hired him.
Nussmeier and McElwain have worked on the same staff before, though never under Saban. They spent three years together at Michigan State from 2003-05. Nussmeier also replaced McElwain two different times as offensive coordinator: first at Fresno State, then at Alabama.
I think it’s a good hire, personally. Obviously, there are hotter names out there, like Jake Spavital and Rhett Lashlee, but Nussmeier makes sense. The similarities in their offensive philosophies make them compatible to work with each other, and that’s a welcome change after watching Muschamp and his coordinators bump heads about what they wanted to do. Nussmeier also gets a lot of the credit for working with McCarron and Tom Brandstater at Fresno State, and developing them into winning, NFL caliber QB’s. Even though his year at Michigan was a disaster, I’m willing to overlook that because the hand he was dealt was quite an ugly one, walking into a lose-lose situation with a head coach whose seat was only slightly cooler than Will Muschamp’s.
So welcome, coach Nuss. Do your thing.
