1/11/2024 football Edit

Candidate profile: Greg Gasparato

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

Less than three weeks after signing a second extension to remain Missouri's defensive coordinator, Blake Baker has agreed to do the same job for LSU. Now, Missouri is searching for its fourth defensive coordinator in five years.

You can find out full hot board here. In the meantime, we will also bring you a more in-depth look at each candidate by profiling one every day during the search.

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Current position: Tulane defensive coordinator

Coaching experience: 12 years (two as defensive coordinator)

Salary: Unkown made $300,000 in 2023 at Troy

Buyout: Unknown

Gasparato played safety at Wofford from 2005-08 and initially began his coaching career at Richland Northeast High School as a safety and special teams coach in 2010. He then went to Juniata, a private liberal college in Pennsylvania in 2011 before going to Brevard, a private college in North Carolina, to be the outside linebackers coach in 2012.

He went on to be a grad assistant and linebackers coach for Appalachian State for the 2013-14 seasons before stopping at Wofford from 2015-17 as the inside linebackers and special teams coach.

Gasparato re-joined the Mountaineers in 2018 as the safeties coach and was on staff in 2019 for Eli Drinkwitz's lone season as the head coach.

From there, he took his talents to West Point, New York, to be the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Army under Jeff Monken.

The year before Gasparato joined the Black Knights, they had the nation's 30th-ranked defense, allowing 342.3 yards per game, 23 points per game (42nd), 178.9 passing yards per game (fifth) and 163.4 rushing yards per game (73rd).

In 2020, Gasparato helped lead Army to the best defense in the nation, holding opponents to 275.3 total yards per game.

The Black Knights were also second in scoring defense and pass defense, allowing 14.8 points per game and 160.8 passing yards per game, respectively. They were also 18th in rushing yards per game allowed at 114.8 yards per game.

Gasparato parlayed that into his first Power 5 job coaching safeties at Louisville in 2021 under Scott Satterfield, a coach he had already worked for during his stint at App State.

In 2022, he transitioned to outside linebackers coach for the Cardinals.

He got his second crack at being a defensive coordinator last season at Troy under Jon Sumrall, replacing Shiel Wood, the coach he shared coordinating duties with at Army.

Wood helped lead the Trojans to the 20th-ranked defense in 2022, allowing 327.4 total yards per game, 17.1 points per game (eighth), 207.5 passing yards per game (36th) and 119.9 rushing yards per game (24th).

When Gasparato got his chance last fall, the defense improved in total yards allowed per game (308.1/14th), passing yards allowed per game (201.5/30th) and rushing yards allowed per game (106.6/13th).

Troy was also 10th in points allowed per game, remaining at 17.1.

On Dec. 8, Gasparato was named the interim head coach for Troy's Birmingham Bowl matchup against Duke when Sumrall departed for the Tulane head coaching job. A little over two weeks later, he was hired as Tulane’s defensive coordinator.

Overall, Gasparato is one of college football's best assistants and he's not far away from re-joining the Power 5 ranks as a coordinator. He has a rapport with Drinkwitz, and in his two stops as a defensive coordinator, he's recorded two top-15 defenses.

Obviously, his recent hiring at Tulane muddies things and one has to think his rapport with Sumrall is just as strong if not stronger than his rapport with Drinkwitz currently, just based on recent events alone.

However, Baker’s departure has shown that new contracts aren’t ironclad. Plus, Mizzou has the money to afford him and one has to think a buyout wouldn't be something that would scare Mizzou out of hiring him if Drinkwitz wanted him.

On top of that, he'd go from a top 25 Group of 5 school to a top 10 Southeastern Conference school. He'd have another chance to improve a top-40 defense and bolster his resume, which may lead to him being a head coaching candidate sooner.