Missouri has officially hired Corey Batoon as its new defensive coordinator, the school announced on Saturday.
"Our intent from the start of this search was to identify a leader for our death row defense who has proven success as a coordinator, and equally as important, is aligned with the philosophy of our defense,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “Corey has been a part of championship-level teams at every stop along his path. He’s a veteran coach who’s battle-tested and has an ability to break things down and teach the game at a high level. I’m excited to see him bring those skills and experience to fit with our defensive approach.”
The hiring comes three weeks after Blake Baker departed for the same job at LSU.
Batoon, 55, has coached at South Alabama for the last three seasons and before he got his coaching career started in 1991, he played safety at San Diego J.C. from 1986-87 and at Long Beach State from 1988-89.
In his 30-plus year coaching career, he has made stops at Montana, Arkansas State, Ole Miss, Florida Atlantic, Hawaii and Liberty.
"The energy, passion and plan that Coach Drinkwitz has is absolutely incredible. I am truly grateful to him for allowing me an opportunity to coordinate the Mizzou defense,” said Batoon. “As coaches, we want to challenge ourselves among the best of the best, and Missouri is in that mix. Just watching them from afar this past season, you could tell the program has a specialness to it and the upward trajectory is apparent. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the staff and players and get to work.”
With that being said, let's take a deeper dive into Batoon's coaching history.
Batoon began his career as an assistant coach at Pierce J.C. (Calif.) in 1991 and stayed there through the 1992 season before taking assistant coaching roles at Saint Mary's (Calif.) (1993-95), Central Missouri State (1996) and Montana (1997).
He got his first defensive coordinating gig at Northern Arizona in 1998 and held that position through the 2008 season. In his 11 seasons, the Lumberjacks secure two Big Sky Conference titles and three FCS playoff appearances.
Batoon would coach defensive backs and special teams at Arkansas State for the 2009-2011 seasons under Steve Roberts for the first season and Hugh Freeze for the last two. This means Batoon just missed out on working alongside Drinkwitz, who would join the staff in 2012.
Batoon joined Freeze at Ole Miss in 2012 as the Assistant AD for player development and recruiting operations/defensive assistant from 2012-14 before moving on to coaching the safeties and being the team's special teams coordinator for his final two seasons with the Rebels.
He got his second opportunity to be a defensive coordinator in 2017 at Florida Atlantic under Lane Kiffin, but a year before Batoon's arrival, the Owls were the fifth-worst defense in the nation, allowing 513.8 total yards per game.
They also had the fifth-worst scoring defense, allowing 39.8 points per game. They were 110th in passing yards allowed at 268.4 and 119th in rushing yards allowed at 245.4 in a 3-9 season.
In his lone season at Florida Atlantic, the team took a dramatic step forward defensively with the Owls ranking 63rd in total defense, allowing 389.6 total yards per game.
They were also 35th in scoring at 22.7 points per game, 74th against the pass, allowing 230.7 yards per game and 56th against the run, allowing 158.9 yards per game en route to an 11-3 season.
In 2018, Batoon would then take the defensive coordinating job at Hawaii under Nick Rolovich and remain there through the 2019 season.
The season before Batoon arrived, the Rainbow Warriors were 115th in total defense, allowing 458.8 total yards per game. They also allowed 33.9 points per game (107th), 248.6 passing yards per game (99th) and 210.2 rushing yards per game (111th) in a 3-9 season.
Hawaii took a few small incremental steps forward during Batoon's time in Honolulu, but it was enough to mark a five-game improvement in his first season and the program's first 10-win season since 2010.
In 2020, Batoon would reunite with Freeze at Liberty as his safeties coach, and the Flames would go 10-1.
That same season, South Alabama would have the nation's 92nd-ranked defense, allowing 436.6 total yards per game. The Jaguars would also be 53rd in points per game allowed at 27.3, 104th in passing yards allowed per game at 261.5 and 77th in rushing yards allowed at 175.1.
They finished 4-7.
In 2021, they brought in Kane Wommack to be the head coach and Batoon joined him as the defensive coordinator.
During Batoon's time with the Jags, the defense steadily improved with the defense's third and final season under Batoon being its best.
South Alabama went from a good to borderline elite defense during his tenure there, and with his vast experience not only as a defensive coordinator but as a defensive back and safeties coach, the Tigers have hit two birds with one stone assuming he is also the safeties coach.
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