LSU Football DL coach Bo Davis hired by New Orleans Saints

Brian Kelly and LSU Football were dealt a big blow to the coaching staff on Thursday morning when news surfaced of defensive line coach Bo Davis leaving for the same position with the New Orleans Saints.

Davis will fill the open defensive line coach position in New Orleans, news confirmed by The Bengal Tiger staff after the initial report from Saints beat writer Luke Johnson and the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Davis spent just one season at LSU, his alma mater, after coming to Baton Rouge from Texas where he had incredible success and was viewed as one of the top defensive line coaches in the country. Kelly and LSU made him the highest paid defensive line coach, paying him over $1.25 million in 2024.

“His intensity. I think he cares a lot and if you know anything about coach Bo, he’s going to get it out of you one way or another,” former LSU defensive tackle Gio Paez said in 2024. “When you combine that with a group of individuals who are hungry and hear all this doubt, I think something special is going to come from that.”

Now, LSU is back in the same position it has been in year after year this decade — in need of a new defensive line coach. LSU’s defensive line coaching job has been a revolving door, and this will be the the fourth defensive line coach in four years for Brian Kelly at LSU, making it challenging to get any continuity on the field and in recruiting. Going back even further, LSU will have its eighth different defensive line coach in the last nine seasons.

New Saints head coach Kellen Moore has been intent on getting Louisiana coaches to round out his staff, hiring Louisiana native Terry joseph from Texas and Peter Sirmon, Cal’s defensive coordinator as well.

Davis was last in the NFL when he was the Detroit Lions’ defensive line coach from 2018-2020.

Questions remain at the DT position for LSU

LSU clearly has a huge hole to fill and will be looking to spend big on another big name at the position. Davis was heralded as one of the best in the country for a reason, but the defensive tackle spot was certainly a question entering the year. I wrote about the uncertainty earlier this month:

*From Defensive coaching staff story in early February

“After Bo Davis inherited a mess up front then lost his best defensive tackle before the year even started, there’s an expectation that the defensive tackle spot should be much more dynamic in 2025. Losing Gio Paez and Paris Shand is substantial, but he returns Guillory, Ahmad Breaux, and Dominick McKinley, who have a ton of promise. The run defense for LSU was not up to par last year, which the lack of talent up front certainly played a role in, but now Davis has another offseason to put the pieces together.”

“Davis brought in just one transfer in Sydir Mitchell and four freshmen, so there’s not a ton of expectations for these newcomers to come in and compete for a starting job. Davis doesn’t need to find starters, though, he just needs one or two of them to become reliable behind the aforementioned names. At the same time, Breaux and McKinley need to take another step forward this offseason. Davis is known as a developer more than anything, making three-stars into NFL players and there will be plenty of pressure on that development this season.” – Matthew Brune