COLUMBIA, MO. • Unlike the other power conferences across college football, the head coaches in the Southeastern Conference with backgrounds in defense outnumber the offensive coaches (8-6). But there’s still a certain kinship among the defensive guys, as if they come from the island of misfit toys in an industry that treasures its quarterbacks and touchdowns.
“You tend at coaching conventions and meetings to gravitate toward each other,” Missouri coach Barry Odom said of his defensive-minded brethren.
That clique includes Odom’s next counterpart, South Carolina’s Will Muschamp, who, like Odom, knows what it’s like to succeed a proven winner.