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Vanderbilt coach Robbie Caldwell had seen enough.

The Commodores’ offense, puttering along on life support for most of the last two seasons, is getting a makeover -- at least at the top.

Running backs coach Des Kitchings is taking over as offensive coordinator and will call the plays the rest of the season. Jimmy Kiser will go back to coaching quarterbacks.

This is the second change Vanderbilt has made at the top of the offensive chain in the last couple of years. Kiser replaced Ted Cain this offseason as offensive coordinator, although Kiser called most of the plays last season.

More than anything, Caldwell is looking to pump any life he can into an offense that has been held to seven points the last two games. Kitchings, 32, is energetic, well-thought of throughout the program and coaches the most talented position on offense -- the running backs.

Caldwell wasn’t saying whether the Commodores would completely scrap the spread, no-huddle attack they went to at the beginning of last season. The reality is that it’s almost impossible to totally revamp an offense in the middle of the season and start from scratch.

One thing I think you will see under Kitchings, though, is that he’s going to feature running backs Warren Norman and Zac Stacy, the two best playmakers on Vanderbilt’s offense.

Norman had a 40-yard run on the first play of the game last week against South Carolina. He only had five more carries the rest of the way.

The Commodores simply don’t have the pieces in place offensively to effectively run the spread, and that’s been painfully obvious for the better part of the last two seasons. It’s not what quarterback Larry Smith does best, and he also hasn’t had an abundance of receivers to throw to that can take short catches and turn them into big gains.

Vanderbilt has to find a way to sustain some drives. Last in the SEC in scoring offense and total offense, the Commodores are 118^th nationally (out of 120 teams) in time of possession.

Kitchings said it’s imperative that the Commodores are more efficient on first and third downs, starting this Saturday at Arkansas.

“If we are able to do that, then we can stay on the field longer, have more plays, more yardage and more opportunities to score points,” Kitchings said.

With LSU opening spring practice Monday, I thought it might be wise to go over all the coaching changes in the SEC this year.

As usual, it was a revolving door this past offseason. In fact, Auburn was the only school in the league that didn’t have any staff turnover. The final number of head coaches or assistants departing for various reasons was 31.

Some were fired. Others got better gigs, while there were a few that were swayed elsewhere (within the conference) for more money.

Here’s an Eastern Division breakdown of who’s out and who’s in for the 2010 season. We'll do the Western Division a little bit later:

FLORIDA

Who’s out: Associate head coach/defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, defensive coordinator George Edwards, recruiting coordinator/receivers coach Billy Gonzales, cornerbacks coach Vance Bedford and running backs coach Kenny Carter.

Who’s in: Teryl Austin, who spent the last seven seasons as the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive backs coach, is Florida’s new defensive coordinator. He replaces George Edwards, who held the job for less than a month before going back to the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. Edwards replaced Charlie Strong, who left following the season to take the Louisville head job. Stan Drayton returns to coach running backs. He was at Florida earlier this decade before moving on to Tennessee and most recently Syracuse. D.J. Durkin will coach defensive ends and special teams after spending the last three seasons at Stanford. Zach Azzanni will coach receivers. He was previously the assistant head coach/receivers coach at Central Michigan.

GEORGIA

Who’s out: Defensive coordinator/secondary coach Willie Martinez, co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach John Jancek and defensive ends coach Jon Fabris.

Who’s in: Former Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Todd Grantham takes over as Georgia’s defensive coordinator. He was the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive line coach the last two seasons. Scott Lakatos will coach the defensive backs after spending the last six seasons on the Connecticut staff, and Warren Belin will coach linebackers after spending the last eight seasons on the Vanderbilt staff.

KENTUCKY

Who’s out: Head coach Rich Brooks, offensive line coach Jimmy Heggins and defensive line coach Rick Petri.

Who’s in: Joker Phillips, who was already the Wildcats’ coach in waiting, takes over the head coaching reins. Mike Summers will coach the offensive line after serving as assistant head coach/offensive line coach at Arkansas the last two seasons. Former Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin will coach the receivers. Martin was the quarterbacks coach at New Mexico last season. David Turner, who has coached at four different SEC schools, will coach the defensive line. Turner was at Mississippi State the last three seasons.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Who’s out: Offensive line coach/running game coordinator Eric Wolford.

Who’s in: Shawn Elliott replaces Wolford, who left to take the head coaching job at Youngstown State. Elliott has spent his entire coaching career at Appalachian State, including the last nine seasons as offensive line coach.

TENNESSEE

Who’s out: Head coach Lane Kiffin, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, recruiting coordinator/defensive line coach Ed Orgeron, quarterbacks coach David Reaves, receivers coach Frank Wilson, offensive line coach James Cregg, running backs coach/special teams coordinator Eddie Gran and defensive backs coach Willie Mack Garza.

Who’s in: Derek Dooley was hired as the Vols’ head coach after Lane Kiffin left to take the Southern California head job. Justin Wilcox comes over from Boise State to be the defensive coordinator. Charlie Baggett will serve as assistant head coach and coach the receivers. He has 11 years of NFL experience and was on the St. Louis Rams’ staff last season. Harry Hiestand will coach the offensive line. He was the offensive line coach for the Chicago Bears the past five seasons. Darin Hinshaw will coach quarterbacks. He was the receivers coach at Memphis the past three seasons. Terry Joseph will coach the secondary and special tams. He was with Dooley at Louisiana Tech. Eric Russell will coach tight ends and coordinate special teams. He was also at Louisiana Tech with Dooley. Former Tennessee All-SEC performer Chuck Smith will coach the defensive line. He worked as an assistant defensive line coach with the New York Jets last season and has also tutored several defensive linemen over the years. He played professionally for the Atlanta Falcons.

VANDERBILT

Who’s out: Linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Warren Belin.

Who’s in: Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson is still working to replace Belin, who left to join the Georgia staff. Johnson promoted Jimmy Kiser to offensive coordinator, and Kiser will call all of the Commodores’ plays this season. Ted Cain remains on staff as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator.

Celebrating Valentine’s Day is all about spreading the love.

With the Day of Hearts coming up on Sunday, I thought I’d spread a little love throughout the SEC with a plume of happy thoughts.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

ALABAMA: Hey Tide fans, you got Nick Saban running the show. He delivered a national championship in three short years. Something tells me he’s not finishing stocking the Alabama trophy case, either.

ARKANSAS: He thought long and hard about jumping ship to the NFL, but quarterback Ryan Mallett is back for another season and will be even better his second time around in the SEC. He threw 30 touchdown passes last season. Is 40 out of the realm of possibility in 2010?

AUBURN: The No. 4 recruiting class in the country in Gene Chizik’s first full year to recruit serves notice that the Tigers mean business in the Western Division race the next few seasons.

FLORIDA: Judging by this latest recruiting class, Florida is where all the best high school football players want to play, and it doesn’t matter if the head coach is stepping away for good, on temporary leave or really not sure what he’s going to do.

GEORGIA: All those Georgia fans clamoring for Mark Richt to get rid of Willie Martinez the last few years got their wish. With the exception of Rodney Garner, the Bulldogs will have a whole new defensive staff in 2010. Todd Grantham and his 3-4 defense are in the house. Make that the “Dawg” house.

KENTUCKY: A new era opens in Kentucky football this fall. Rich Brooks brought class, respect and improvement to the program. Now Brooks is retired, and Joker Phillips takes his shot at keeping the Wildcats in the bowl equation every year and maybe even taking them to the next level.

LSU: All four of LSU’s losses last season went down to the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. That means it’s due to swing the other way next season. Who knows? Maybe the Tigers find that same karma that was with them the whole way during their 2007 national championship season.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: Dan Mullen, entering his second season as coach, has shaken things up in the Magnolia State. He’s delivering on his promise to make the state of Mississippi his priority in recruiting. He’s 1-0 against arch-rival Ole Miss and told the world after last season that one program in the state was headed in the right direction – the guys who wear maroon.

OLE MISS: The best offseason news for the Rebels was that they held onto Tyrone Nix, who’s one of the best (and most underrated) defensive coordinators in college football. Florida’s Urban Meyer came after him, and there were rumblings that Georgia might have been interested. Wisely, Ole Miss sweetened his deal, and Nix will be back in Oxford for a third season.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Raise your hand if you’ve heard this before, South Carolina fans. But I’m going on record right now. There is no more “Wait until next year.” This IS next year, and with 19 starters returning, the Gamecocks are going to make a legitimate run in the East in 2010.

TENNESSEE: Hey Vol Fans, Lane Kiffin is now three time zones away. That means no more uninformed accusations of another coach cheating. No more crashing cars in the wee hours of the morning. No more sleepless nights for Tennessee compliance director Brad Bertani. And lastly, Kiffin’s replacement, Derek Dooley, seems to get Tennessee.

VANDERBILT: Give Bobby Johnson credit for not sitting pat. The Commodores’ offense simply hasn’t cut it the last two seasons, so Johnson brought in a junior college quarterback (Jordan Rodgers), two 6-4 receivers (Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd) and shook up his offensive staff. Jimmy Kiser is now calling all the offensive plays.

Nobody needs to tell Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson that his offense has been dreadful for much of the past two seasons.

The Commodores were 110^th nationally in total offense last season and failed to score more than 16 points in any of their eight SEC games. Even in 2008 when the Commodores won seven games, including a bowl game, they finished 117^th nationally in total offense.

Johnson knew he had to shake things up, and that’s what he did Thursday in promoting quarterbacks coach Jimmy Kiser to offensive coordinator. Kiser will replace Ted Cain and be in charge of all play-calling.

Cain, who came with Johnson from Furman in 2002, will remain on staff as the tight ends coach and will also oversee special teams.

"After much examination of our staff dynamics, I believe these changes will give us the best combination of leadership and responsibilities for our offensive staff," said Johnson, whose Commodores have scored more than 16 points only twice in their past 14 SEC games dating back to the 2008 season.

A coordinator at North Carolina State from 1997-99 and Memphis in 2001, Kiser's promotion comes a year after he took over responsibility for calling Vanderbilt's offensive plays.

"I've been pleased with Jimmy's play calling," Johnson said. "I now want to give him the responsibility to take charge of the process of determining what plays will be called in all situations. I also feel the quarterback needs to be comfortable with and capable of executing the call. In our offense, the quarterbacks coach would know that better than anyone."

Kiser will continue to work with the Vanderbilt quarterbacks. Des Kitchings, entering his third year on the staff, adds the duties of running game coordinator to his role as running backs coach. Receivers coach Charlie Fisher will become passing game coordinator after sharing those duties with Kiser for the last four years.

The reassignments will not affect Robbie Caldwell, the team's assistant head coach and offensive line coach.

In particular, the Commodores have struggled to generate much of a passing game the past couple of seasons. Quarterback Chris Nickson was hurt for much of his senior season in 2008, and Larry Smith went through the growing pains of being a first-year starter in this league last season before tearing his hamstring and missing the final three games. There was also a huge void at receiver.

The Commodores brought in junior college quarterback Jordan Rodgers to compete with Smith for the starting quarterback job this spring. They're also hopeful that incoming freshman receivers Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd can help add a different dimension to the passing game. Both are big targets at 6-4 and close to 200 pounds.

"I'm excited about the opportunity and excited about continuing to work with a group of great coaches," Kiser said. "All of us will be focused on the same goal, to make sure we are doing everything possible to get better as an offense and give our team the very best chance for victory."