What Maryland football’s coaching staff looks like after its newest hires

Maryland football officially announced the hiring of offensive line coach Bryan Stinespring and safeties coach Chuck Heater Tuesday afternoon. In the same release, the team announced that linebackers coach Matt Barnes “has added the duties of Special Teams Coordinator.”

These moves have put the coaching staff closer to its final form. We’re here to lay everything out as it stands, based on all the publicly available information we have.

Here’s how the Terps coaching staff entered the offseason:

Head coach: DJ Durkin
Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks: Walt Bell
Running backs: Anthony Tucker
Receivers: Chris Beatty
Offensive line: Tyler Bowen

Special teams coordinator/tight ends: Pete Lembo

Defensive coordinator: Andy Buh
Defensive line/co-defensive coordinator: Jimmy Brumbaugh
Linebackers: Matt Barnes
Defensive backs: Aazaar Abdul-Rahim

Since the offseason began, Maryland has suffered two coaching defections. Bowen left to be Penn State’s tight ends coach, where he’ll be reunited with head coach James Franklin, who was in College Park when Bowen was a player. Tucker left his post as running backs coach to take up the same position with the self-proclaimed national champions at UCF. The NCAA rule approving the addition of a 10th on-field assistant went into effect on Tuesday as well, creating a new spot to be filled, and likely the reason for the timing of Maryland’s announcement.

In light of Tuesday’s news, here’s how the staff is constructed—at least publicly:

** denotes a change

Head coach: DJ Durkin
Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks: Walt Bell
**Running backs: Open
Receivers: Chris Beatty
Tight ends: Pete Lembo
**Offensive line: Bryan Stinespring

**Special teams coordinator: Matt Barnes

Defensive coordinator: Andy Buh
Defensive line/co-defensive coordinator: Jimmy Brumbaugh
Linebackers: Matt Barnes
**Cornerbacks: Aazaar Abdul-Rahim
**Safeties: Chuck Heater

As of Tuesday, the Terps still have at least one open assistant coaching spot to fill. Durkin has yet to hire a running backs coach, but all indications are that he’s likely to do so sooner rather than later. The addition of Heater as a safeties coach fills the 10th assistant coaching spot. Stinespring is a straight swap, replacing Bowen.

Where it gets interesting is with Barnes adding special teams coordinator duties. Pete Lembo held that position for each of the past two seasons, but is apparently only serving as assistant head coach and tight ends coach right now. The release also suggests that Barnes will continue to be the team’s linebackers coach in addition to his new role, but any movement there would create another opening.

It’s also worth noting Heater’s coaching acumen comes mainly as a defensive coordinator, so signing on as just a safeties coach seems like a downgrade. Maryland’s defense was one of the worst in the nation last season, and Andy Buh—who was a last-minute replacement when Scott Shafer left the coaching staff in the spring of 2016—was the man in charge. Safeties coach could just be an entrance point for Heater, but it’s unclear if he stays put in that role for long. He’s turned statistically poor defenses around before (at Temple and Marshall), so having him on staff in any capacity is an upgrade, but he’s earned his reputation running defenses, not as a position coach.

There are still several moves that are yet to have been made, it would seem, and while it’s unclear exactly what they’ll be, the current construction of the staff provides some hints as to which positions they might affect.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that Pete Lembo no longer holds special teams coordinator duties.