COLUMBIA, Mo. — Corey Batoon’s last stay ’round these parts was a short one.
As the secondary and special teams coordinator at what was then called Central Missouri State, Batoon and his wife only lived in Missouri for six months in 1996. And in the time between that stint in Warrensburg and his move back to lead the Mizzou defense, a few things have changed.
“Well, yeah, that was a long time ago,” Batoon said Tuesday in his first meeting with local reporters. “Drove through here and recruited Ƶ at the time, so kind of knew Columbia and all that stuff. But obviously, this wasn’t what it looked like 27 years ago.”
He gazed around MU’s cushy defensive meeting room in the football team’s South End Zone complex as he spoke, clearly admiring where he’s wound up: as the defensive coordinator of a Missouri team that has its sights set on a spot in the College Football Playoff.
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And yes, the program has evolved a bit since the last time he was here. In 1996, the Tigers went 5-6 with a handful of lopsided losses to Big 12 foes — but a 42-25 win over Kansas. Now, Batoon is leading a team still enjoying the glimmer of an 11-win season, Cotton Bowl victory and top 10 finish.
Mizzou’s offerings are a considerable upgrade from his last stops, at South Alabama and Liberty. Batoon has been around the Southeastern Conference before, working at Ole Miss from 2012 to 2016 — the Rebels hosted both MU and SEMO in 2013 but never played in Missouri while he was coaching there.
But it’s not the shine of an SEC coordinator job that sold him on a move to Mizzou.
“It’s been just the people. I think that’s been the biggest thing,” Batoon said. “You know, buildings are buildings, and facilities are facilities. Everybody in this league has nice stuff. But when you get inside the building, I think that’s what makes it different.”
Beyond his brief tenure at another in-state school, Batoon didn’t have a tie to MU — or even much of a connection to coach Eli Drinkwitz. The two met ahead of the 2012 football season, when Batoon was leaving the Arkansas State staff as Drinkwitz joined it.
They stayed in touch, occasionally bumping into each other within coaching circles. And after Blake Baker’s departure created an opening at defensive coordinator, Drinkwitz gave Batoon a call.
What quickly sold both on the arrangement was “alignment” — the keyword of their pre-spring camp news conferences — among their ideas for how to approach playing defense.
“The mentality and the demeanor of each facet — whether it be offense, defense or special teams — it’s controlled by the head coach, and he wants that to look a certain way,” Batoon said.
He shared Drinkwitz’s vision. That means the Tigers will continue to use a 4-2-5 base defense with four defensive linemen, two linebackers, two cornerbacks, two safeties and a STAR, or nickleback.
Part of Drinkwitz’s pitch to Batoon, though, was a chance to add his own twists to that system.
“Everybody has their own fingerprints when they paint, right?” Drinkwitz said. “Styles. Cory’s going to call the game the way he stylistically sees it.”
Already among the expected shifts to how the Mizzou defense functions is the creation of a “joker” position — a tough-sounding defensive role with a tactical purpose. But beyond antagonizing Batman, what does the joker do in Batoon’s defense?
“We have more of a transition defensive end that goes to the field, and then we have a guy that’s more of a hybrid role,” he said.
Batoon is referring to the concept of boundary and field players, a way to differentiate between which personnel goes on which side of a defensive formation. Boundary players line up on the side of the ball that is closer to a sideline while field players take the opposing wide section. If, from the defense’s perspective, the ball was spotted on the right hash marks, the right defensive end would be the field end, and the left side edge rusher would be the joker.
There’s still plenty to be worked out with the joker setup, and spring practices won’t really be the time for Mizzou to pin that down. The MU coaching staff openly gears spring camp toward individual development, leaving scheme work for the true preseason.
Batoon will still be watching the edge rushers for players he can cast as Mizzou’s joker.
“You always play to your strengths, and so of these opportunities in the spring, you try to figure out who can do what and put them in those positions,” Batoon said. “And so I think that having that opportunity at that position gives you some flexibility, maybe some guys that maybe aren’t size parameters what you want but maybe athletically can do some things, and if you have enough guys that can do that, then it makes sense to go down that road.”
As part of his settling-in process, Batoon has met individually with all of the Tigers’ defensive players, asking about their backgrounds and goals. It’s an approach that quickly acclimated offensive coordinator Kirby Moore into the locker room ahead of last season — and a way players have picked up on the vibe of Batoon, who hails from Hawaii and seemingly has the personality to match.
“A cool dude,” linebacker Chuck Hicks said. “He takes it a little more laid back, he’s going to talk to you a little bit differently. But get on the field with him, he wants the best from you. He’s pushing you, he’s running behind you on the field.”
“He’s a pretty chill guy,” defensive tackle Kristian Williams said. “Intelligent, most definitely that. He just knows ball, he loves ball. Just really trying to get around us and build relationships. And then on top of that, when it comes down to it inside the white lines, you know that he’ll be about business. He’ll raise his voice, you know, just be that guy.”
Establishing a rapport with defensive players is just the start for Batoon.
“It’s about figuring people out, building that trust,” he said, “because from trust comes respect, from respect, you can start building on that.”