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About a week ago, LSU lost defensive coordinator John Chavis to SEC West rival Texas A&M. Since then, the names of potential replacements have been flying around.
Here are all the rumors and reports since the job opened up:
- Les Miles traveled to Dallas over the weekend to interview candidates. Among them was Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. There were reports from an Oklahoma TV station that Miles planned to offer Stoops the position, but if those reports were true, nothing has come of the offer.
- Defensive line coach Brick Haley, who some speculated would follow John Chavis to Texas A&M, is in the running to be the next defensive coordinator at LSU, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of the Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.).
- Ed Orgeron has floated his own name as a potential candidate. As of yet, it doesn’t appear LSU has contacted the former Ole Miss and Southern California coach. Orgeron’s presence on staff likely would require some shifting around, as he has been a defensive line coach much of his career.
- Miles contacted Clancy Pendergast, a former Southern Cal and NFL defensive coordinator. However, it appears the interest in Pendergrast cooled, partially because Pendergast doesn’t have enough familiarity with the SEC or recruiting experience in the Southeast, per Jim Kleinpeter of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
- In that same report from Kleinpeter, former UAB coach Bill Clark, who led the Blazers to a 6-6 record in 2014 before the program was shut down, and Alabama linebackers coach Kevin Steele have both been floated as candidates.
- LSU reportedly is in talks with Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, per a report from Dellenger, and Shoop will interview for the job. Shoop has some familiarity with the SEC, having served as defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt under James Franklin from 2011-13. Penn State was second in the country in total defense in Shoop’s first year in Happy Valley.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
