We’ve included an helpful pronunciation video
Arizona had one of the worst offenses in the country in 2024, ranking 115th out of 134 FBS schools in scoring and producing the second-fewest red zone trips. It was a major contributing factor to the Wildcats going 4-8 and something had to change.
That change was bringing in Seth Doege to serve as offensive coordinator, the first time the UA has brought in a new OC (without a change in head coaches) to start a season since 2007.
Doege, who turns 36 next week, comes to Tucson after one very successful season at Marshall. In his first gig calling plays he helped the Thundering Herd go 10-3 and win the Sun Belt title, doing so with a scheme that rushed for more than 200 yards per game and also threw the ball efficiently.
“We’re just incredibly impressed with how he thinks, his philosophy on football, just what he did this year,” UA coach Brent Brennan said Friday at a press conference to introduce Doege. “His first year calling the offense at Marshall, winning the Sun Belt championship, and how special that is. And those are things we want to do here. We want to be in competition for the Big 12.”
Here are some things to know about Arizona’s new play caller:
He comes from a well-known coaching tree but has branched out elsewhere
Doege is a former quarterback at Texas Tech, where he still ranks fourth in school history in passing yards behind Graham Harrell, Kliff Kingsbury and Patrick Mahomes. He played for the Red Raiders from 2008-12 under the late Mike Leach, the modern architect of the Air Raid offense.
He never coached with Leach but has for Leach disciples. His first job in 2016 was at Bowling Green under Mike Jinks, who had been Leach’s running backs coach the previous three seasons, then in 2019 he joined USC’s staff and worked under Harrell for three years.
In 2022 Doege was an analyst at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin, then in 2023 was back with Harrell at Purdue before going off on his own at Marshall this season.
“That was compelling, just who raised him in this profession,” Brennan said. “I think that’s one thing that I always think about when I’m hiring coaches is, who did he come up under? He learned from some of the best offensive minds in football.”
Though he never coached with Leach, playing for him left an impression on Doege that he has tried to carry on with his coaching.
“It’s all about mentality, mentality over everything,” he said of Leach’s approach. “What he sold to everybody in his program was a mentality that it didn’t matter the arena, it didn’t matter the circumstances, it didn’t matter where the ball was placed down. All 11 guys on the field believed in what we were doing, and they all believed that they could be the best at doing their job, and that’s why we scored a lot of points.
“He called the same plays over and over and over and over, and schematically sometimes it did not fit. It was a Cover 4 beater or a man beater, and you’re calling into cover 2, ideally not the greatest call. But why did it work? It worked because you had 11 people that believed in it. There were built in answers in the system that we defined.”
He runs a ‘flexible’ spread offense that can work with any personnel
Marshall ranked 20th in FBS this season with 201.7 rushing yards per game, and three players (including dual-threat quarterback Braylon Braxton) ran for at least 500 yards. The run component of his scheme was influenced by what he saw while at Ole Miss, which was third in the nation in rushing that season.
But he’s still an Air Raid guy at heart, and much of his system is the one Harrell used at USC from 2019-21. The Trojans led the Pac-12 in passing twice and was second the other year.
“I think we’ve created a very flexible offense that you can do it, whether it be to the air or on the ground, and be very efficient and score a lot of points,” Doege said. “What you get from this offense is a very efficient offense. It’s flexible to your personnel. If you got a quarterback like Noah (Fifita) you can grip it and rip it. If you don’t, you can still win games and score points, which is the name of the game. Kids can play free in their minds and play fast.
“And then there’s a tempo aspect to it that allows you to equalize any deficiencies or any matchup problems that you have during the game, because you’re playing fast and people are tired, and so in the third and fourth quarter, it’s all equal. I’m excited about the personnel that we have. I mean, obviously, we’re going to add stuff in the portal, but I’m really excited about that quarterback. I think he makes this thing go.”
He has experience building a roster through the portal
Marshall hired Doege last December, right as the transfer portal opened. The Thundering Herd would add 32 players in the offseason, and many of the offensive pickups contributed in 2024 including Braxton, running back Jordan Houston and five of the seven players that caught at least 15 passes.
“The sell there was, hey, I’m coming to bet on myself here,” Doege said. “Come do it with me, and we’ll do something special, which we did.”
Doege said he wants to make sure football remains fun for the players, since that’s what got them interested in it as a kid.
“We love this game, we grew up wanting to play this game when we were six years old because our dad put a football in our arms,” he said. “Me being a little younger, I still think I can relate to those guys.”
Arizona currently has 30 players from the 2024 roster in the portal, one of which Doege already has a connection with. Tight end Keyan Burnett originally committed to USC when Doege was there.
“I’ve already made some calls on my way up here, just trying to get in touch with some of the (Arizona) guys that are in the portal,” Doege said. “I know they don’t know me, and so I’m just trying to convince them that if they give me a chance I think you’ll really enjoy the type of brand and type of environment that you’ll be in offensively, and it’ll be a change from from what you what you’ve been in.”
It’s pronounced ‘Day-Ghee’
The Internet never forgets, and back when Doege was putting up back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons at Texas Tech a video was made to help Red Raider fans pronounce their quarterback’s name. Come for the various attempts to say Doege, stay for the random Yu Darvish cameo.