College Football Coach Hire Grades: San Diego State

San Diego State Aztecs: Sean Lewis

Why the job was open: San Diego State for a long time was a program high on potential but never quite reaching it. That changed a little over a decade ago and now it’s one of the best jobs in the Mountain West. Brady Hoke, the man that unlocked this program’s potential was also sending it in the wrong direction in his 2nd stint. Their offense completely capsized and their games became unwatchable at times, and during other times their punter was the most electric individual on the field. It was time for the Aztecs program to go in a new direction.

Coach Profile: Sean Lewis spent a few years as an assistant but really got his start under Dino Babers, originally at Eastern Illinois then following him to Bowling Green. His offense at BG was absolutely incredible to watch, they rolled up 30 points on Tennessee, beat 2 Big Ten schools and won the MAC championship. Lewis continued to be Babers OC at Syracuse, and helped them put up a lot of points, including leading them to an upset win over Clemson. Babers got his first HC job at Kent State and instantly made them better. He compiled a 24-31 record with the Golden Flashes which doesn’t stick out at first, but remember this is a Kent State program that doesn’t invest heavily in football, schedules 3 impossible non-conference games every year and he had a reset 2-10 his first year. The highlight of his time there came in 2019 when they finished with a rare winning record and won the Frisco Bowl, the first ever bowl win in program history! Lewis moved on to become Colorado’s offensive coordinator under Coach Prime, initially it went very well but things fell apart late in the season that led to a well documented awkward ending.

Why he will succeed: San Diego State is a program with a lot of resources, including a nice new stadium. They’re in a prime recruiting location and have the infrastructure to be one of the best jobs in the Mountain West. With Lewis you know you’re getting an exciting offense which is something this program has really needed, but he also showed at Kent State that he can win, and it will be exciting to see what he can do with significantly more resources.

What obstacles are in the way of success: This got lost among the collapse of the Pac-12 last offseason, but at one point San Diego State was set to join a power conference, and it all went away because the Pac-12 collapsed. Frankly it was quite a devastating situation for a program that seemed ready to move up. That will be an odd situation to get around to keep donors invested. Lewis appears to be starting this off with himself as an OC, this day and age holding both HC and coordinator titles hasn’t gone well because there’s just too much to manage.

Grade: A- – This hire excites me a lot. I’ve always been a fan of Sean Lewis and felt like he was a great coach. Now he gets to lead a program in a great position to succeed. It’s going to be interesting to see how he meshes his hurry up offense with the defense first culture of the program but it’s the refreshing change they’ve needed.