Georgia Southern parts ways with its offensive coordinators

It was announced on Sunday afternoon that neither of the Georgia Southern Eagles’ offensive coordinators will be kept on staff for next season.

Under co-coordinators David Dean and Rance Gillespie, the normally potent Eagles offense struggled for most of the season, save for one half of football at Ole Miss and the final game of the season, a 28-24 win over the Troy Trojans on Senior Day.

Southern came into the 2016 campaign having ranked No. 1 in the country over the previous two seasons in rushing yards per game under former coach Willie Fritz and company. The Eagles averaged over 300 yards per game on the ground in both 2014 and ‘15.

With Dean and Gillespie calling plays this season, the Eagles regressed mightily as a unit, and ended the season ranked 29th in the nation in rushing yardage, averaging just over 224 yards per game as a team.

Even advanced analytics say GS finished in the bottom half offensively in FBS play.

According to Football Outsiders, the Eagles ranked 99th in the country (out of 128 teams) in offensive S&P+, and the team finished 118th in the country in offensive line play as well.

This move might help a little toward quelling the anger of Eagle fans who were upset at the team’s head coach being retained, and it will remain to be seen who is brought in to replace Dean and Gillespie as OC next year.

I think this is undoubtedly a positive step forward for both the team and the head coach, and while some will remain angry at Tyson Summers returning, nearly every GS fan agreed that the offensive coordinators were in way over their heads.

But for Summers’ sake, let’s hope it is someone who knows Georgia Southern needs to effectively run the football to both calm a heated fan base and be a successful football program.