Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Sumlin Hires Mark Snyder as Defensive Coordinator

Mark Snyder


  • Marshall c/o '88
  • 4-3 base defense

  • 1991-1996 Youngstown St. LB/ST/DC
  • 1997-2000 Minnesota DE Coach
  • 2001-2003 Ohio State LB Coach
  • 2004 Ohio State Defensive Coordinator
  • 2005-2009 Marshall Head Coach
  • 2010-2011 South Florida Defensive Coordinator
Coach Sumlin made the move on Monday to bring Mark Snyder on board as the defensive coordinator. He comes to us straight from South Florida where he was the defensive coordinator for the last two seasons.

I'll be completely honest - when my father-in-law texted me his name the first thing that went through my mind was, "Who?" I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

The next thing that went through my mind was, "Well, I had better find out." So here's a pretty detailed look at the last 3 stops on his resume, which are most relevant.

Snyder reunited with Jim Tressel at Ohio State after working for the Vest during his time at Youngstown State. His first three years in Columbus he was the Linebacker coach with some big names, like Matt Wilhelm and A.J. Hawk under his tutelage. In 2004 he was promoted to defensive coordinator.
Ohio State National Defensive Rankings
BEFORE DURING AFTER
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
========== ========== ==========
Rush D 3 2 124.3 (32) 1 15
Pass D 95 80 201.6 (41) 43 30
Tot D 23 10 332.0 (30) 5 12
Scor D 2 16 18.3 (19) 5 5
That was not what I wanted to see. In the five years shown there, the one season he was at the helm was the worst. They were still very good, but it was easily the worst season of the five.

I was impressed when I did a quick Google search and saw he was Tressel's DC at tOSU. That's a big, big program and that was right in the middle of their strong mid-2000s run. Holy cow were they good....they won the National Championship in 2002 and then followed that up with four times top 4 finishes over the next five years - but 2004 was their worst finish....at #19.

After 2004 he was hired away by Marshall, his alma mater, to be the head coach.
Marshall
Rush D PassD Total D Scoring D
========== ========== ========== =========
2005 161.8 (75) 178.5 (12) 340.3 (33) 25.9 (60)
2006 139.3 (65) 251.7 (114) 390.9 (101) 29.3 (102)
2007 191.0 (93) 259.8 (100) 450.8 (107) 34.3 (102)
2008 164.4 (85) 253.7 (100) 418.1 (102) 27.7 (72)
2009 134.9 (48) 236.9 (91) 371.8 (66) 24.3 (54)
There are a lot of triple digit national rankings in there....TORBUSH! Let's take a closer look.
Marshall National Defensive Rankings
BEFORE DURING AFTER
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
========== ============================ ==========
R 57 19 75 65 93 85 48 55 58
P 10 72 12 114 100 100 91 94 96
T 24 32 33 101 107 102 66 71 78
S 47 37 60 102 102 72 54 74 74

What I was hoping to see was that they were really, really bad before he got there and he was improving the program but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Now it is worth pointing out two things that could be playing into this.
  • Marshall moved from the MAC to C-USA the year he arrived to Marshall....but then again they were still respectable in his first year/their first year in C-USA.

  • It's an entirely different deal getting to be a coordinator at a powerhouse program where you get blue chips delivered to your doorstep by Jim Tressell than it is having to recruit and play with the kids that you can get to come to a mid-major
Snyder lasted five seasons as the head man at Marshall before he resigned/fired following a 6-6 2009 season and a 21-37 overall record. During his time at Marshall he did face Sumlin (at UH) in 2008 getting the best of the Cougars 37-23.

He landed on his feet at South Florida as their defensive coordinator.

South Florida
Rush D PassD Total D Scoring D
========== ========== ========== =========
2010 125.6 (22) 192.3 (24) 317.9 (17) 20.0 (22)
2011 107.3 (15) 244.0 (84) 351.3 (39) 22.7 (37)

Those numbers are promising. Let's take a look at a snapshot before/during his tenure:

USF National Defensive Rankings
BEFORE DURING
2008 2009 2010 2011
========== ==========
R 10 49 22 15
P 37 25 24 84
T 10 24 17 39
S 24 19 22 37

I'm not seeing a really significant improvement from the before and during.

Now I don't know who the defensive coordinators he followed at Ohio State, Marshall, or South Florida and maybe they were all really good DCs but I am having a hard time getting excited about someone who didn't seem to improve the last defensive units that he was put/was in charge of.

The last thing I wanted to take a look at was who on earth some of these teams played. I don't know what a typical South Florida schedule looks like....so I looked:

USF 2010
v. USF Season Avg.
Yds Pts Yds (rk) Pts (rk)
======= =================
Stony Brook 253 14 - -- -- --
Florida 423 38 351 (82) 30 (43)
W.Kentucky 314 12 319 (98) 23 (90)
Fla. Atlantic 208 3 395 (45) 17 (113)
Syracuse 307 13 323 (97) 22 (93)
West Virginia 298 20 373 (67) 25 (78)
Cincinnati 590 30 417 (32) 27 (57)
Rutgers 238 27 295 (114) 21 (101)
Louisville 328 21 369 (71) 26 (63)
Pitt 292 17 367 (72) 26 (67)
Miami 353 20 421 (31) 26 (67)
UCONN 232 19 326 (96) 26 (63)
Clemson 356 26 335 (88) 24 (86)

Now this is more promising. Only Florida, Cincinnati, & Clemson gained more yards against South Florida than their season average....the best three teams they faced. Almost the same thing can be said on the scoring side....just about everyone was held at or below their season averages.

USF 2011
v. USF Season Avg.
Yds Pts Yds (rk) Pts (rk)
======= =================
Notre Dame 508 20 413 (35) 29 (49)
Ball State 225 7 379 (68) 25 (72
Florida A&M 181 17 --- -- -- --
UTEP 339 24 381 (64) 27 (62)
Pitt 523 44 350 (88) 24 (83)
UCONN 253 16 313 (108) 24 (82)
Cincinnati 501 37 386 (61) 33 (27)
Rutgers 228 20 339 (99) 26 (65)
Syracuse 405 17 348 (90) 24 (84)
Miami (FL) 316 6 378 (70) 27 (63)
Louisville 373 34 333 (103) 22 (98)
West Virginia 364 30 470 (15) 37 (14)
Not quite as impressive with three 500+ yard games but on the scoring side really only Louisville and Pitt really outscored their season average.

Bottom line is that Sumlin needs for this hire to pay off big dividends - the SEC is a defensive conference. I really hope that some of these trends are bucked and this one works out for us.

Welcome to Aggieland Coach Snyder!

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