Florida hires former SEC assistant, sees another leave for different SEC team

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Image Credit: UNC Athletics

Round and round we go in the coaching carousel as the Florida Gators announced late Friday they have hired Charlton Warren as an assistant without a specified position. Warren’s Twitter profile lists him as Florida’s “secondary coach.”

Sports Illustrated‘s Bruce Feldman reports that Warren is also being hired as special teams coordinator, though to be fair, he may have simply been reading his prior job title as he coached defensive backs and ran special teams for Tennessee in 2017.

An alumnus of Air Force, Warren returned to the Falcons as secondary coach and recruiting coordinator (2005-07) after completing his active military service. He added the title of co-defensive coordinator (2008-11) and then associate head coach while being the lone defensive coordinator (2012-13). Warren moved on to coach defensive backs at Nebraska in 2014 and at North Carolina for two seasons (2015-16) before joining the Vols.

FootballScoop reports Warren chose the opportunity at Florida over a similar offer from new UCLA head coach Chip Kelly.

Also on Friday, Gators offensive line coach Brad Davis, who was one of four assistants at least temporarily retained by head coach Dan Mullen, left Florida to take the same position at Missouri.

Mullen has now hired six of his 10 on-field coaches, though only one — defensive coordinator Todd Grantham — has a specific position at this time. Warren is the only defensive assistant on board besides Grantham. The others are all on the offensive side of the ball, including Billy Gonzales, John Hevesy, Brian Johnson and Greg Knox, who is a reported hire at this time as he’s still working as Mississippi State’s interim coach through the bowl game.

Grantham also coached linebackers at MSU. Gonzales served as co-offensive coordinator/passing game and coached wideouts. Hevesy was co-offensive coordinator/running game and coached the offensive line but has prior experience coaching tight ends. Knox was running backs coach and special teams coordinator prior to being elevated to his current position. Johnson is a career quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator who did both last season at Houston.

With Davis joining former defensive line coach Chris Rumph as two temporarily retained assistants that have moved on to other teams (Rumph left for Tennessee), that leaves only running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and linebackers coach Tim Skipper as potential holdovers from Jim McElwain’s staff. One would think Seider is the most likely to be retained, though it is unknown how that would shake out from a job perspective.

Coaching positions without obvious on-staff or holdover candidates at this time include offensive line or tight ends (whichever Hevesy does not coach), defensive line and linebackers (if Skipper is not retained). Either Seider or Knox can coach running backs, while either Warren or Knox can coach special teams.

Mullen has also locked up his director of strength and conditioning, bringing over Nick Savage from the Bulldogs for the same role with the Gators.