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In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last week or so and know nothing about Baylor’s coaching staff under Matt Rhule, here’s the best and most concise way I have to describe it at this point:
Offensive Staff: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Defensive Staff: Temple 2.0.
Texas Ties: GOT ‘EM, COACH.
Offensive Staff
At this point, your guess is as good as mine. It would stand to reason that, based on Rhule’s comments and the fact that none of his Temple offensive assistants have been reported to be coming this way yet, that not all of his Temple offensive assistants would be coming this way. I may be reading too much into that, but it’s a stark contrast to the defensive side of things.
For my part, I actually like his Temple OC/QB coach, Glenn Thomas, quite a bit and could see him coming over in some role. But we don’t have any information about the offensive staff to share yet.
Defensive Staff
With today’s report that Temple will hire Florida DC Geoff Collins rather than prior Temple DC Phil Snow, it appears all but certain that Snow will join Rhule in Waco, giving Baylor a full defensive staff made up of guys that were in Temple. This isn’t confirmed just yet*, since a couple of those guys are staying in Temple through the bowl game, but it is expected to happen. Below are the guys expected to be here with their prior school and status in parenthesis:
DL: Elijah Robinson (Temple — UNCONFIRMED)
LB: Mike Siravo (Temple — CONFIRMED)
DBs: Francis Brown (Temple -- CONFIRMED)
DC: Phil Snow (Temple — CONFIRMED)
*But it’s gonna happen, according to SicEm365 while I was writing this piece. Should be noted that Snow is already following a ton of major Texas recruits on Twitter. John Werner from the Waco Trib has also confirmed Snow to Baylor.
Wildcards/Unknowns
Besides the Phil Snow news at Temple (that he wasn’t hired as their HC, obviously), the big news of the day is the return of former Baylor QB Shawn Bell, currently the head coach at Cedar Ridge HS. He has confirmed to David Smoak of ESPN1660 that he will be joining Baylor’s staff in an as-yet unknown capacity. SicEm365 broke the news this morning.
Bell’s hire not only brings back a (mostly?) beloved figure from Baylor’s past but also enhances and solidifies those #TexasTies that everyone thought were so important during the hiring process. He’s generally regarded as one of the top up-and-coming HS coaches in the state, and although we don’t know where he’ll fit on this staff just yet, he should be a powerful recruiter for Baylor, knowing the school better than just about anybody else on Rhule’s staff other than Wetzel. I support this hire 100% and can’t wait to see what he’s able to do for Baylor going forward.
That leaves the below as our unassigned/unknown/jack-of-all-trade staffers as of right now:
David Wetzel (San Antonio Reagan — CONFIRMED)
Shawn Bell (Cedar Ridge — CONFIRMED).
That’s in addition, of course, to guys like Evan Cooper, our new Director of Player Personnel, EJ Barthel, Temple’s recruiting coordinator that will reportedly come here, as well, and Sean Padden, Rhule’s right-hand man.