Updating LSU's search for a DL coach

LSU head coach Brian Kelly is on the search for a new defensive line coach, and on Thursday, he shared some insight into the process.

This past weekend, former LSU defensive line coach Jamar Cain left the team after one season to take a job with the Denver Broncos.

The move comes in the middle of LSU’s spring practices, and Kelly has turned to a defensive analyst to coach the group for the remainder of the team’s 15 allotted practices.

What’s the timetable on a hire? What is Kelly looking for during his search? How much does a track record of recruiting fit into the puzzle?

Following Thursday’s practice in Baton Rouge, Kelly said there’s a clear vision of what’s to come.

Don’t expect a new hire to come immediately

With Cain’s departure, LSU defensive analyst Gerald Chatman will take over as the interim defensive line coach for the remainder of spring practices.

Kelly previously named former defensive analyst John Jancek as the team’s JACK linebackers coach, and he will move forward with Jancek and Chatman during spring practices.

Chatman most recently served as the defensive line coach at both Tulane and Colorado.

“Coach Chatman, as you know, is a well-credentialed, experienced defensive line coach,” Kelly said on Thursday. “He is obviously coaching the interior defensive linemen during the spring. We feel great about that. Then Coach Jancek is coaching the JACK (linebacker position).

“We will go through the spring, and we are putting together our thoughts on whether we hire within or we go outside (for the hire). All our options are on the table. It’s important that this is a position where we examine all options. We have outstanding coaches here, so we want to get through the spring and go from there.”

LSU DL coach needs traits on Kelly’s wish list

While Kelly won’t make his list of top targets public, he did shed light on what he’s looking for to replace Cain.

At the top of the list: recruiting and developing talent.

“I think if you just look at assembling a staff in the SEC, you look at the position groups that make such an important impact on their team. You are hard-pressed to say the defensive line is not as important as any position,” Kelly said.

“Recruiter and talent-developing has to be at the top of the list. The ability to recruit in the SEC and develop talent has to be 1A and 1B. What does that mean? I think it narrows your pool, from that perspective. Experience then comes into being part of that, right? You can’t be inexperienced and have never been in the SEC or know the recruiting of this landscape and be a qualified candidate. I think just by the nature of me laying out the two most important factors, it kinds of puts you on the path of what that candidate looks like.”

Kelly said the process will include taking a deep dive into each candidate’s history on the recruiting trail, as well as the fit when it comes to blending in with the current staff in Baton Rouge.

“I think one of the criteria would be, certainly, recognizing who they have recruited in the past and the understanding of recruiting to LSU and the SEC,” Kelly said. “So, you are talking to a number of different people that know them or have knowledge of that person. Then my conversations with that person is in terms of the character that is necessary of them to succeed at LSU. 

“We can turn on the film and see a 5-star defensive lineman. That’s easy. There has to be more to it than that. So, having conversations with a defensive line coach who recognizes it is much more than ability. They have to be someone we enjoy being around and want to teach, as well.”