COLUMBIA, Mo. — The defense has its leader.
Missouri has hired Corey Batoon as its next defensive coordinator, ending a three-week search following the surprise departure of Blake Baker shortly after the end of last season.
Batoon, 55, joins MU after spending the past three seasons at South Alabama, where he was defensive coordinator and safeties coach. The university announced Batoon’s hiring Saturday afternoon.
“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,†MU coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a statement. “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.â€
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Batoon sounds eager to join the staff.
“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,†Batoon said in a statement. “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.â€
Batoon, who hails from Hawaii, made previous stops as an assistant at Liberty, Hawaiii, Florida Atlantic and Mississippi. At the latter, he was also an assistant athletics director focused on player development and recruiting. He has twice been nominated for the Broyles Award, which is given to the nation’s top assistant coach.
His three decades of coaching experience has taken him to Missouri before, when he was an assistant at Central Missouri — then called Central Missouri State — in 1998.
As a player, Batoon spent two years at San Diego Junior College and two years at Long Beach State, playing safety for both schools. He holds degrees in political science and in health and physical education and recreation.
The terms of Batoon’s contract with Mizzou were not immediately available. He’s likely due for a significant raise from the $292,000 he was making at South Alabama, given that MU had awarded Baker a three-year contract extension worth an average of $2 million a year.
With Batoon as their leader, the Jaguars’ defense finished in the top 40 for fewest points allowed per game last season, giving up 21.9 points and 326.8 yards per game — the latter being the 18th-best mark in the country.
Standing out to Mizzou were South Alabama’s stop rate (how often opponents’ drives end in punts and turnovers) and havoc rate (how often players land a tackle for loss, sack, deflected pass, interception or takeaway), which were No. 18 and 30 in the country respectively under Batoon, per the athletics department.
During Batoon’s season with Liberty, the Flames went 10-1 in 2020, finishing ranked in the top 20 with a defense that was 11th in yards allowed per game, 14th in third-down conversions allowed and 22nd in scoring defense.
Batoon enters a Missouri program looking to build off an 11-2 season that ended with a No. 8 ranking and a Cotton Bowl victory over Ohio State. A swath of defensive players from the Tigers’ experienced unit have declared for the NFL draft, meaning Batoon will have to work with a mixture of transfers and players looking to work their way up the depth chart.
Still to be replaced on Mizzou’s coaching staff is edge rushers coach Kevin Peoples, who followed Baker to LSU.