Mizzou names DeMontie Cross new defensive coordinator

Missouri hired DeMontie Cross, a former player and coach for the Tigers in the 1990s, as its defensive coordinator on Friday.

Cross, currently the co-defensive coordinator at TCU, will take over for Barry Odom, who coordinated the Tigers’ defense last season before being promoted to head coach Dec. 4.

Odom and Cross, a free safety and the second-leading tackler in Missouri history with 415 career tackles, played together on Larry Smith’s 1996 MU team.

Cross, who was second-team All-Big Eight in 1995 and second-team All-Big 12 in 1996, later coached outside linebackers during Odom’s final two seasons with the Tigers in 1998-99.

“DeMontie is an outstanding addition to our staff,” Odom said in a release announcing the hire. “He’s really established himself as one of the top defensive minds in college football, and he’s had success at every stop he’s been at over the years. ... We’re proud to have him back here.”

TCU will play Oregon on Jan. 2 in the Alamo Bowl. The Horned Frogs, 10-2, ranked 66th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total defense at 396.7 yards per game and tied for 59th in scoring defense at 26.1 points per game.

Mizzou ranked sixth in scoring defense at 16.2 points per game and ninth in total defense at 302.0 yards per game last season during Odom’s first season after returning to his alma mater.

It’s worth noting that three of the top seven FBS teams in total offense, excluding third-ranked TCU, were in the Big 12, including No. 1 Baylor (604.6) and No. 2 Texas Tech (594.5). Oklahoma ranked seventh.

The top Southeastern Conference team was Mississippi at No. 11, followed by Arkansas at No. 31.

Cross, a St. Louis native, left Missouri in 2000 and was the defensive backs coach at Sam Houston State.

He served as the outside linebackers coach/special-teams coordinator at Iowa State from 2001-05 before jumping to the NFL as a defensive/special teams assistant with the Buffalo Bills from 2006-10.

Cross served as Wisconsin’s special teams coordinator and safeties coach in 2011 and coached linebackers at Kansas in 2012.

He was the Horned Frogs’ linebackers coach in 2013-14 before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator with Chad Glasgow in February.

“I’m so excited to have this opportunity to work with coach Odom and contribute to a place that has given me so much,” Cross said in the release. “Mizzou is in my blood, it’s the place that made me the man and the coach that I am today. ... Coach Odom and I have had a strong bond on and off the field, and I’m excited to come in and support him and his vision in every aspect imaginable.”

Missouri announced Thursday that Josh Heupel had been hired as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach but has not officially announced any other football staff announcements.

Sources previously told The Star that safeties coach Ryan Walters, who came with Odom from Memphis during the offseason, would be retained along with Andy Hill and Cornell Ford.

Hill, who had served as associate head coach/quarterbacks coach the last three seasons, is expected to revert back to coaching wide receivers, a position he filled at MU from 1996-2012.

Ford, who had coached Tigers’ defensive backs since 2001, will move to the offensive side and coach running backs.

Former offensive coordinator Josh Henson, wide receivers coach Pat Washington and offensive line coach A.J. Ricker, who is returning to Illinois, were not retained.

Defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski and running backs coach Brian Jones also are not expected to return and neither is strength and conditioning coach Pat Ivey.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Mizzou names DeMontie Cross new defensive coordinator."