Who Is Andy Avalos? What Will He Bring To TCU Football Next Season?

Andy Avalos has been named the new defensive coordinator for the Horned Frogs, and it was the right hire. Breaking down who the new DC is and why he will turn the defense around.

The TCU Horned Frogs will have a new look defense when they open the season next year, and the mastermind behind it will be the new hire, Andy Avalos. 

Welcome to Fort Worth 🐸

- Defensive Coordinator#GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/eVvXh37FGY

— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) December 11, 2023

Avalos was the former Boise State head coach, finishing with a 22-14 record before being let go. There were concerns of a "culture" issue on the team when he was there, but that should not be something for Frog fans to worry about, with Coach Dykes and Coach Kaz leading the culture in the program.

Before becoming the head coach at Boise State, where he played, Avalos took over the play-calling for Oregon in 2019 and 2020. Avalos helped lead the Ducks to back-to-back Pac-12 championships, where his defense allowed 16 points per game in 2019 and 23 points per game in 2020. Oregon led the conference in both seasons with sacks and, in 2019, was a top-ten-scoring defense in the country. 

Fans of the 3-3-5 defense can rejoice slightly, while that is still the base defense that Avalos likes to operate in, just with a slight twist. Avalos is known to dial up a blitz on most of his play calls, with the goal being to force the quarterback to feel pressured and make a mistake, leading to a turnover. 

Avalos is a master of designing plays to get pressure in the backfield, commonly through running different fronts to mask where the blitz will come from. Usually, the 2-4-5 and 1-4-6, commonly only seen in the NFL, will be some personnel Frog Fans can expect on the field next season. While it did not work as well at Boise State, when he had access to the talent he had at Oregon, Avalos and the defense were a thing of beauty. 

The Horned Frogs desperately needed a change on defense after being a bottom-half defense in nearly every statistical category last season. With the Frogs' talent and his ability to forge NFL quality linebackers and defensive linemen, Avalos might cause trouble for the new look Big-12 next season. While there will be growing pains, TCU fans will immediately see more backfield presence from the Frogs. The defense will no longer be a "bend, don't break" mentality but rather a defense that brings pressure to the other team. 

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