Iowa State Football Announces New Defensive Coordinator

Iowa State has its new defensive coordinator, and it’s a name Cyclone fans are going to get familiar with quickly. Jesse Bobbit is the guy. The program announced his hiring on Tuesday, and he’s stepping into a spot that’s been one of the most stable roles in the Big 12 for the last decade under Jon Heacock.

Bobbit was most recently the defensive coordinator at Washington State and brings a track record that fits what Iowa State wants to do. His defense in Pullman last season gave up just 20.2 points per game, allowed 299.5 total yards per game, and held teams under 175 passing yards per contest. That’s solid work in a conference that’s not exactly known for low-scoring affairs. His unit also allowed just 125.4 rushing yards per game, so it wasn’t just one thing. They were balanced and hard to score on.

Before Washington State, Bobbit worked at South Dakota State, where he coached safeties and linebackers and helped build one of the best FCS defenses in the country. He was a part of that program’s national title run, and Iowa State’s press release made it pretty clear they were drawn to the fact that everywhere Bobbit’s been, the defense has gotten better.

He also played linebacker at SDSU from 2012 to 2016 and started 45 games there. So it’s not like he’s been bouncing around forever. He’s young, but he’s been on staff for multiple championship-level teams, and he’s coached every level of the defense. That fits Iowa State’s model pretty well. They’ve always been about development and system fit over flash, and Bobbit looks like another one of those hires.

Replacing Jon Heacock isn’t a small thing. He’d been there since 2016 and turned Iowa State into one of the best-coached defenses in the Big 12. But Bobbit comes in with a background that makes sense. He knows how to coach physical football, and he’s done it in a couple of different systems. It’s a new era in Ames, and Bobbit’s going to be right at the center of it.