Breaking down defensive coordinator candidates for LSU, Brian Kelly
The LSU Tigers head football coach, Brian Kelly, means business. Following an atrocious year on defense for the Tigers, Kelly conducted a purge of his coaching staff, parting ways with his entire defensive staff. Now, the LSU headman is on a mission to fill all those vacancies and find a new defensive coordinator.
On Wednesday, Andy Staples brought on The Bengal Tigers’ Shea Dixon as a guest on the Andy Staples On3 Podcast to discuss LSU’s options at defensive coordinator and how they will go about filling the other coaching vacancies.
“Certainly, [Bob] Diaco will want to tell us his hat into the ring, considering he has been Kelly’s three times before, and he’s on staff right now,” said Dixon. “I look at others who have some ties: Blake Baker has been brilliant at Missouri. He was coaching here at LSU not long ago, played at Tulane, and met his wife, who played at LSU. He’s a guy who I think is a hot name out there; [he] just got an extension with Missouri.
“You look at Lance Guidry, another guy [who] is from Louisiana, got Louisiana ties, who’s been really great down at Miami as a defensive coordinator. So there’s names you can toss around that make total sense.”
Dixon’s thought process was right on the money as news broke on Wednesday that Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker was a front-runner for the defensive coordinator vacancy. However, the Tigers of the SEC East recently gave their DC a bump in pay. So, acquiring his services might cost LSU a pretty penny. But, should the plan to hire Baker fail, there are several other highly touted defensive minds that the Tigers can potentially hire.
Dixon ponders LSU’s defensive coaches hiring sequence
As the duo continued their conversation, Dixon provided a conundrum of his own to Staples: how should LSU go about the hiring process?
“What I have to think now is that this hire has to be a big splash. And what I also wonder is… when are the Domino’s gonna follow? Who are we hiring? Who are we hiring for DC, D-line, DB, linebacker,” asked Dixon.
“I’ll ask your opinion; do you have to have your DC first? Because A: does that guy get to then help choose who is around him? You don’t wanna hire a D-line coach right now and then in three weeks be like, ‘Oh, I’ve got my DC. He happens to also coach D-line.”
Given the number of coaching vacancies LSU has to fill along the defensive side of the ball, it could pose some challenges when hiring positional coaches. However, according to Staples, regardless of how difficult it is, LSU will likely have to start with finding their defensive coordinator before feeling any other openings.
“If I’m making a splash DC hire, I don’t think that type of person wants the job if you’re going to tell them who their staff is going to be,” said Staples. “You hire that coordinator, and they bring in their staff; that’s the way that usually works. Because if you want someone high profile, if you want someone who’s accomplished, they’re gonna say, ‘This is what I do. I need some of my people.'”
“I would imagine, in the interview process, Brian Kelly’s gonna say, ‘What’s your staff plan? Who are you bringing with you if you get this job?’ And you better have a good answer for that if you want the job.”
Kelly is dead set on bringing a national championship to Baton Rouge, LA. So, LSU fans should anticipate their head coach doing a thorough search when it comes to bringing in the Tigers’ next defensive coordinator.