A look at Arizona’s history of coordinators with Seth Doege’s hire to lead offense

Arizona’s new offensive coordinator is 35-year-old play-caller and former Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege, the 23rd person to hold that position in the last 46 years, when the program transitioned to what was the Pac-10 in 1978.

Doege (pronounced DAY-ghee) replaces Dino Babers, who will not return after Arizona finished 4-8 in Brennan’s first year. The Wildcats ranked 97th in total offense in the nation with an average of 354.5 yards per game. They were 120th in rushing offense at 106.6 yards per game.

Their 21.8 points a game was No. 115 in the nation.

Doege spent the 2024 season as Marshall’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, his first season as an offensive coordinator.

ARIZONA TOTAL OFFENSE PER GAME

The Thundering Herd averaged 31.8 points per game, ranking 40th in FBS. They gained 201.7 rushing yards per game, 20th in the country. Marshall was 70th in the country averaging 382.8 yards per game.

Marshall, 10-3 this year with a Sun Belt title game victory, is slated to play in the Independence Bowl.

“Seth is a young, innovative offensive mind whose experience as a player and coach will bring value to our offense and coaching staff,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said in a press release.

“Doege has worked with some of the best offensive minds in college football and Doege has deep ties to Texas and California which are two of our biggest recruiting areas.” 

Doege, a West Texas native, has roots in the state of Texas and his father Randy was a high school head coach in West Texas at Big Lake Reagan County High School.

The Thundering Herd has undergone a mass exodus of players to the transfer portal, especially with head coach Charlie Huff leaving to take over at Southern Miss. Many in the portal are veterans, including all three quarterbacks who played this season: Braylon Braxton, Stone Earle and Cole Pennington.

Leading rusher A.J. Turner and three of the team’s top seven wide receivers are also in the transfer portal.

Doege was nominated for the Broyles Award honoring the best assistant coach in the country.

Wildcat fans please join us in welcoming our new Offensive Coordinator, Seth Doege! pic.twitter.com/oMgNM7qUMR

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) December 13, 2024

He played quarterback at Texas Tech from 2008-12, where he was a Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist in 2012. He played for late Air Raid architect Mike Leach in his first two collegiate seasons.

Leach reportedly first saw Doege play when Doege was in the eighth grade and he offered the young quarterback a scholarship after his sophomore season at Crane (Texas) High School, which is in the western part of Texas.

“He was a mature and heads-up kind of guy,” Leach told the Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Leader-Post when Doege played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League in 2014.

“His father was a coach and he could really sort things out quickly.”

Leach remained committed to Doege, who did not play his junior and senior years at Crane because of a torn ACL in each leg. He suffered a torn ACL in his left knee as a junior and one in his right knee as a senior. Despite the lack of playing experience in high school, he went on to break records at Texas Tech.

“He has always been focused and dedicated,” Leach told the Leader-Post. “He worked hard in the summers. He just continued to work. He continued to do the same thing over and over again until he was a starter.”

Doege’s coaching background:

— Bowling Green from 2016-18 as a graduate assistant, wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator.

— USC from 2019 to 2021 as an offensive quality control analyst and also tight ends coach under head coach Clay Helton.

— Ole Miss as an analyst in 2022 for head coach Lane Kiffin.

— Purdue as a tight ends coach in 2023.

— Marshall this season as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

ARIZONA TOTAL DEFENSE PER GAME

It is interesting to note that eight of the top 10 offenses in Arizona history are from the last 13 years, including five operating Rich Rodriguez’s read-option offense. Co-offensive coordinators Calvin Magee and Rod Smith led those offenses, including the top three in program history. The offense in Rodriguez’s first year ranks No. 1 in Arizona history averaging 526.2 yards per game.

Doege’s “Air Raid” learned from the late Leach is more along the lines of what Seth Littrell operated in 2011 with Nick Foles at quarterback. The Wildcats averaged 465.2 yards a game that season, ranking fifth-best in program history.

It was No. 2 at Arizona before Rodriguez’s offenses came into effect. The No. 1 offense at that time was Babers’ in 1999 that averaged 471.9 yards a game, which was No. 3 in the nation. Babers had the playmaking ability of quarterback Ortege Jenkins and two NFL draft picks — running back Trung Canidate and receiver Dennis Northcutt.

Arizona has yet to fill the vacant defensive coordinator position, with veteran coach Duane Akina focusing on the defensive backs, although it is believed Danny Gonzales — the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator this season — will be placed in that position.

The best defense in school history was the Desert Swarm, specifically from 1992 to 1995, and the defensive coordinator at the time was Larry MacDuff, who has the longest tenure at that position at Arizona.

He coached 10 years (1987 to 1996) as Dick Tomey’s defensive coordinator with the architect of the Desert Swarm — Rich Ellerson — the defensive line coach from 1992 to 1995. Ellerson later became the defensive coordinator from 1997 to 2000, a four-year span that is longer than the norm at the school.

Some of the best defensive players in Arizona history were groomed during this time, including College Football Hall of Famers Chuck Cecil, Rob Waldrop and Tedy Bruschi. A long list of others applies, including Dana Wells (1987 Pac-10 Morris Trophy winner), Jim Thorpe Award winner Darryll Lewis and All-American Chris McAlister. and two-time All-Pac-10 picks Chris Singleton, Brandon Sanders and Sean Harris.

MacDuff is the longest-serving defensive coordinator at Arizona — 10 with Tomey and two with John Mackovic. He returned to Arizona in 2001 to coach under Mackovic after a four-year stint as the special teams coordinator with the New York Giants. Without Ellerson and others on Arizona’s staff he was accustomed to working with under Tomey, his stay was short-lived in Mackovic’s sinking ship of a program. He departed after two years to become the special teams coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers in 2003.

Two defensive coordinators lasted six years with Arizona and both were successful — Moe Ankney under Larry Smith from 1980 to 1985 and Mark Stoops under his brother Mike Stoops from 2004 to 2009.

Ankney coached the best player in Arizona history — Ricky Hunley — and groomed the likes of Randy Robbins, Byron Evans, Cecil, Al Gross, LaMonte Hunley, David Wood and Allen Durden.

Mark Stoops’ mark on the program included coaching Jim Thorpe Award winner Antoine Cason. He inherited a unit under Mackovic that was 109th in the nation in total defense and 107th in scoring defense in 2003, the year before he arrived.  By the end of his term at Arizona, the Wildcats ranked in the nation’s top 25 in total defense his final two seasons and ranked as high as 33rd in scoring defense.  

Ellerson and Jeff Casteel (under Rodriguez from 2012-2015) had four-year tenures as defensive coordinators. Although Casteel coached Scooby Wright III, one of the most decorated players in school history, his 3-5 defensive alignment did not entirely work, and he was the first defensive coordinator to be fired by an Arizona coach in the Pac-10/12 era.

Marcel Yates became the second one to be fired eight games into the 2019 season, Kevin Sumlin’s first at Arizona.

ARIZONA COORDINATORS PAC-12 & BIG 12 YEARS (1978-present)

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TONY MASON (1977-79)
Offensive Coordinator
Mike Gottfried (1977)
Tony Yelovich (1978-79)
Defensive Coordinator
Bob Valesente (1977-79)
LARRY SMITH (1980-86)
Offensive Coordinator
Steve Axman (1980-84)
Chris Allen(1985)
Chuck Stobart (1986)
Defensive Coordinator
Moe Ankney (1980-85)
Chris Allen (1986)
DICK TOMEY (1987-2000)
Offensive Coordinator
Ben Griffith (1987-88)
Rip Scherer (1989-90)
Pat Hill (1990-91)
Duane Akina (1992-95)
Homer Smith (1996)
Dino Babers (1997-2000)
Defensive Coordinator
Larry MacDuff (1987-96)
Rich Ellerson (1997-2000)
JOHN MACKOVIC (2001-2003)
Offensive Coordinator
John Mackovic (2001-03)
Mike Deal (2003)
Defensive Coordinator
Larry MacDuff (2001-02)
Mike Hankwitz (2003)
MIKE STOOPS (2004-2011)
Offensive Coordinator
Mike Canales (2004-06)
Sonny Dykes (2007-09)
Bill Bendenbaugh (2009-10)
Seth Littrell (2009-11)
Defensive Coordinator
Mark Stoops (2004-09)
Greg Brown (2010)
Tim Kish (2010-11)
RICH RODRIGUEZ (2012-2017)
Offensive Coordinator
Rod Smith/Calvin Magee (2012-17)
Defensive Coordinator
Jeff Casteel (2012-15)
Marcel Yates (2016-17)
KEVIN SUMLIN (2018-2020)
Offensive Coordinator
Noel Mazzone (2018-20)
Defensive Coordinator
Marcel Yates (2018-19)
Chuck Cecil (2019)
Paul Rhoads (2020)
JEDD FISCH (2021-23)
Offensive Coordinator
Brennan Carroll (2021-23)
Defensive Coordinator
Don Brown (2021)
Johnny Nansen (2022-23)
BRENT BRENNAN (2024-present)
Offensive coordinator
Dino Babers (2024)
Seth Doege (2025-present)
Defensive coordinator
Duane Akina (2024)
New DC TBA (2025-present)

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.