ATHENS - Glenn Schumann keeps showing up in coaching rumors, and Georgia keeps getting one of the best defenses in the country out of it.
That’s the tension around the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator right now. Schumann has been linked to head-coaching openings before, and he’s already been on the radar for major jobs. He was a candidate for North Carolina in 2024, got an interview with the Philadelphia Eagles after the 2022 season, and his name has become a familiar one on preseason coaching watch lists.
But this version of the conversation feels different because of what Georgia is putting on the field. Schumann is now the man behind a defense that delivered what may have been the best performance of his tenure in the Bulldogs’ win over Ole Miss.
“He did a good job calling the game, and our kids stuck to the plan,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “The plan was to possess the ball offensively, own the line of scrimmage.
They did that in the first half and then stayed aggressive on defense. The kids bought into that.
There’s a lot of things that went into that game, between walks, disguises, a lot of things that we spent a lot of time on.”
Smart knows the lane Schumann is in. Before becoming Georgia’s head coach, Smart spent seven seasons as Alabama’s defensive coordinator. Schumann, an Alabama graduate, has followed a similar path in terms of profile, but the timing around a possible move doesn’t line up cleanly right now.
The jobs open at the Power 4 level at the moment are Baylor, Maryland and Florida State. NC State is reportedly set to hire Philip Rivers, though that move has not been finalized.
Among those openings, Florida State has been the one most closely tied to Schumann. It makes sense on paper, too.
It’s a place where winning is possible, even with questions about the Seminoles’ standing in the ACC. Schumann has also recruited the Tallahassee area extremely well.
One example is senior linebacker Raylen Wilson, who chose Georgia over his hometown. Wilson has turned into a major piece for the Bulldogs, tied for the team lead in tackles while ranking second in sacks and tackles for loss.
“They’re all looking at me,” Wilson said after Georgia’s win over Ole Miss. “I’m the leader of the LB group.
We all got to lead as a group when we get on the field. Lead the defense and then the team as a whole.”
Florida State’s new athletic director, Jeff Purinton, was introduced this week, and his background only adds another layer to the speculation. Purinton is a Florida State alum, but he spent 15 years at Alabama working with Nick Saban in a variety of administrative roles.
His Alabama timeline overlapped with Schumann’s. Schumann was there as a student assistant from 2008 through 2011, then as a graduate assistant from 2011 through 2014, and later spent two seasons as director of player development and associate director of player personnel. Purinton’s first season at Alabama was 2007.
Since Purinton’s hiring became official, the chatter around Schumann and Florida State has only grown louder.
“No coach that’s still in the season is gonna have conversations,” Purinton said in his introductory news conference. “There have been times at Alabama where if we’re in the playoff, well, Kirby Smart going to Georgia, when Jim McElwain went to Colorado State, they would work kind of part time, go through practices, and then spend time working on their new head coaching role. So I think it’s open now and we’re gonna explore every candidate and hire the best coach for Florida State.”
There’s also recent precedent for coaches staying put through the postseason before making a move. Dan Lanning remained on staff through the College Football Playoff in 2021 when he was hired at Oregon, and Smart did the same at Alabama through the 2015 College Football Playoff.
That was before the transfer portal window opened and closed in January, though, which adds a different wrinkle now.
Inside Georgia’s building, none of that seems to matter much. The players are locked in on the next opponent, Missouri, and not the outside noise.
“The guys, the players, we really don’t get into that,” Quintavius Johnson said. “We don’t be knowing about different type of jobs or anything like that.
But Glenn Schumann is a great defensive coordinator. He teaches us different things every day.
He gives us great game plans going into different games, knowing the different type of offenses that we have to face.”
Schumann is also very well paid for the job he’s doing. He’s making $2.2 million after receiving a contract extension in January.
He was one of Smart’s first hires and remains the only on-field assistant from Smart’s original staff still at Georgia. The results have piled up from there.
His inside linebacker room and the defense as a whole are in the mix for best in the nation. Georgia has won multiple championships, national and SEC, with Schumann on staff.
Three of his linebackers have won the Butkus Award, and Chris Cole is a real candidate to make that four.
At 36, Schumann is still younger than Smart was when Georgia hired him.
For now, though, the job is the job. And according to safety Khalil Barnes, Schumann is exactly where his focus stays.
“Coach Schumann’s all about ball. He really loves it, but it’s not so much about loving ball because of the outcome.
He really enjoys the process,” Barnes said. “He really enjoys having to try to scheme up teams and figure out how to beat them, how to put us in positions to succeed.
He loves seeing his players succeed. And I don’t know, I really enjoy being around him just because, again, he pushes us to levels that sometimes we don’t even know if we can do that.
We don’t know if that might be the best thing for us, but at the end of the day, he has our best interest at heart.”
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