MU staff nears completion with addition of offensive line coach Glen Elarbee

Missouri coach Barry Odom only has one assistant coaching vacancy after announcing Monday that Glen Elarbee had been tapped as his new offensive line coach.

Elarbee spent the last two seasons at Arkansas State, where he served as the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

“I’ve had a chance to coach against Glen in three of the last four seasons, and after every game we played I came away with a lot of respect for how his group played,” Odom said in a release from MU athletics. “He’s been around a lot of very successful offenses that, from my firsthand experience, play with great toughness and attention to detail.”

Odom also touted Elarbee’s recruiting ties in his native Georgia along with Texas.

Last season, the Red Wolves ranked 15th in the country, averaging 231.3 yards rushing.

Arkansas State’s 35 rushing touchdowns were 12th-most nationally and the squad’s 4.95-yard average per carry ranked 30th among 128 teams.

“I'm really grateful for this opportunity,” Elarbee said. “I’ve seen Mizzou firsthand several times at various stops and have always been impressed with the support they have and the environment their fans create.”

The Tigers had only five rushing touchdowns, the second-fewest in the Football Bowl Subdivision, ranked 118th at 3.49 yards per carry and checked in 120th at 115.42 rushing yards per game.

The Red Wolves — who were 12th nationally, averaging 40 points per game — rolled through the Sun Belt Conference unbeaten and finished 9-4 overall after a loss to Louisiana Tech in the New Orleans Bowl.

Arkansas State only managed 93 yards on 45 carries during a 27-20 loss Sept. 12 against Missouri, but that only one of two games Elarbee’s offensive line didn’t pave the way for at least 140 yards on the ground.

Two Red Wolves offensive linemen — tackle Jemar Clark and guard Colton Jackson — earned first-team All-Sun Belt honors and center Robert Mondie was a third-team selection.

Elarbee served as Houston’s offensive line coach in 2013 and served in the same position at Middle Tennessee in 2012.

Before that, he spent 2010 at West Georgia as the offensive line coach before being promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2011. He previously served as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State and LSU among other stops.

LSU won the BCS national title during Elarbee’s one season in Baton Rouge.

Odom is quite familiar with Elarbee, who played offensive line at Middle Tennessee from 1999-2002.

In addition to last fall’s meeting in Jonesboro, Ark., Odom’s Memphis defense matched up with Elarbee’s offensive line in 2012 against Middle Tennessee and 2013 against Houston.

“Obviously, I had a chance to go up against coach Odom several times recently, and I have the utmost respect for what he’s done defensively,” Elarbee said. “I thought each time he was always one of the biggest challenges we faced schematically. Personally, I've gotten to know him on the road recruiting and am really impressed with the kind of person he is. Having a chance to work with a guy like him is a no-brainer, and I’m excited to get up there and get to work with this staff.”

Elarbee and his wife, Holly, have one son, Griffin.

Odom has filled eight of Missouri’s nine full-time staff positions, retaining associate head coach/wide receivers coach Andy Hill, running backs coach Cornell Ford and safeties coach Ryan Walters.

The Tigers announced Josh Heupel as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and DeMontie Cross as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach in mid-December and subsequently added defensive line coach Chris Wilson and cornerbacks coach Greg Brown.

Missouri might add a special teams coordinator or a hybrid position that works with tight ends to round out the staff.

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 3:34 PM with the headline "MU staff nears completion with addition of offensive line coach Glen Elarbee."