3. Mike Locksley
Usually, it’s the Alabama defensive coordinators who get the most attention as head coaches (Kirby Smart and Jeremy Pruitt being the most recent examples), but Jimbo Fisher went from Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at LSU to a title-winning coach at Florida State.
This year, Alabama’s offense is drawing the most attention, thanks to the stellar play of QB Tua Tagovailoa. However, OC Mike Locksley deserves his fair share of credit for keeping the offense running smoothly week in and week out.
He might not be a hot commodity after the season because of his struggles as a head coach — 2-26 at New Mexico and 1-5 as Maryland’s interim coach in 2015 — but he has strong recruiting ties to both the St. Louis area (from his time as Illinois’ offensive coordinator) and the talent-rich Washington D.C. era.
The Mizzou program could use an infusion of some of the principles Saban tries to instill at Alabama, and Locksley could be just the guy for the job.
