IMO, it's better...more cohesiveness and familiarity with each other and every hire has been a great hire (no O&B glasses).
Debatable. With this last coaching spot, there's certainly a chance for it to be solidly better.
Let's look at each part of this staff.
Chizik's Rockstars (IMO):
1. Malzahn (as an OC)
2. Rocker
3. Trooper
4. Luper
Honorable Mentions:
Grimes was considered a solid up-and-comer, known mostly for his recruiting prowess, which he delivered on. As hard as it is to believe now, Roof at the time made it tingle a bit from his experience at DC and accepting a demotion from a HC position at Duke to come to Auburn as a DC.
Malzahn's Rockstars (IMO):
1. Dameyune Craig
2. Rodney Garner
3. Rich Bisaccia
4. Ellis Johnson
Honorable Mentions:
Melvin Smith is a better honorable mention than the fifth best coach in Chizik's staff, for sure, but he's just under the "Rock Star" moniker, IMO. But he's close. Grimes, you might be able to consider an up-and-comer along the same vein as the previous OLC Grimes. Lashlee is a mere puppet. Losing Yox for Russell seems like a downgrade to me, but I guess we'll see how that goes. Harbison is a good enough recruiter, but Clemson's secondary was teh suxxors. To me it looked like they improved in their bowl game after being coached by the GAs in his absence.
By position:
Malzahn (HC) = Chizik: Both were exceptional coordinators, but unproven as HCs. Malzahn may get a slight edge for at least maintaining the success of his predecessor at a Sunbelt school, as opposed to failing at a Big 12 bottom dweller, but not by much.
Lashlee <<< Malzahn (OC): BUT, Malzahn will be running the show, so who cares, I guess.
Johnson >> Roof: 'Nuff said.
Craig >= Trooper: Slightest of edges to Craig, mostly from the "I've been successful here" angle.
Garner = Rocker: Pretty equal in every way, but while I think Rocker edges Garner in raw coaching talent, meanness (in a good way), and legacy at Auburn, Garner makes up for with recruiting prowess.
Harbison <= Thigpen: Both good recruiters. Both not-so-great coaches. Although, at the time of the hire, Thig's UNC secondary was less shitty than Clemson's has been under Harbison.
Smith > Lolley: Harbison's going to need the help at secondary, just as Thig did. Smith-Harbison Combo >= Thigpen-Lolley Combo.
Bisaccia >> Boulware: Boul did well with some good tools at Auburn, but I expect Bisaccia will improve on an already strong spot, and at the time of the hire certainly has the better resume. Boulware coached STs & TEs, while Bisaccia is coaching STs & RBs. With the last coaching spot still as-yet-unknown, I will use Bisaccia twice here.
Bisaccia >= Luper: Both rock stars at the time of the hire. Bisaccia for being a top assistant in the NFL and Luper for being a top recruiter and an assistant head coach. Also, he specialized specifically in RBs. Slight edge to Bisaccia simply because being the Chargers assistant HC is more impressive than being Oklahoma State's assistant HC. And he won a Super Bowl at Tampa.
JB Grimes >= Jeff Grimes: Both considered "up-and-comers", yet JB has SEC experience having been on staffs at MSU, Ark, A&M, & Missou. But he just came from Arkansas State, and is not particularly known as a great recruiter.
Russell <= Yox: Already addressed, but Yox was an institution. I'm cautiously optimistic that Russell will end up an improvement, since, like Tubs, it appeared that he had gotten stale. But again, we're comparing snapshots in time, so I've got to give the edge to Russell.
Notable GAs:
Burns = T-Will: The Team Player vs. the Hype man. This is the most hypothetical of comparisons since Burns is only rumored to join Gus as a GA, but nothing's solid. There's a remote chance T-Will could take the demotion to come back home, but that would be stupid of him. Both have coaching futures, IMO.
Also of note, we've got the recruiting coordinator at UGA & Florida St. From Mississippi State, we didn't get their recruiting coordinator (Tony Hughes), but we did get the Luper to Hughes's Trooper. That's 3 of our four border states. Strategery. Maybe we'll get a top recruiter from the state of Tennessee as the last coach?
I know, TL;DR, but after writing all that out, I tend to agree that this is a better staff all around. If this last coach is another "Rock Star", or even close, it could be no question.
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