Official: Bo Pelini new DC

[Herb]

2 minutes ago, dachsie said:

Who is that?

 

https://247sports.com/college/lsu/Article/LSU-Tigers-football-recruiting-5-star-defensive-lineman-DL-Jordan-Burch-South-Carolina-commit-142674042/

[Hatchertiger]

More confirmation HOLD THAT TIGER!

 

[houtiger]

Orgeron: "Bo has had some of the best defenses in football during his career."

And Bo has some good material to work with next year.  We lose a lot, but the cupboard is not bare.

[Nutriaitch]

1 minute ago, houtiger said:

Orgeron: "Bo has had some of the best defenses in football during his career."

And Bo has some good material to work with next year.  We lose a lot, but the cupboard is not bare.

D-Line was straight NASTY when he was here last time. 

We got some meat returning on that line too

[Herb]

1 minute ago, Nutriaitch said:

D-Line was straight NASTY when he was here last time. 

We got some meat returning on that line too

And hopefully more coming next week.

[Herb]

Irony:

The President of Youngstown State is none other than Jim "Sweater Vest" Tressel, who was Ohio State's HC when Pellini's defense stuck a dagger in the heart of tOSU's hopes for a NAtional Championship that year.

[Hatchertiger]

Bo knows LSU!

Quote

"The opportunity to return to LSU is truly unique," Pelini said. "Culturally, with my prior experience at LSU, I know it is a great fit for me. The chance to work with Coach Orgeron, the ability to take charge of the Tigers defense, is something that I'm extremely excited about. All of that in a place that both my family and I immensely enjoyed when we were there before is very exciting for us. We are very honored and looking forward to this next chapter."

https://247sports.com/college/lsu/Article/LSU-Tigers-football-team-defensive-coordinator-hire-Bo-Pelini-Ed-Orgeron-2020-season-quotes-142813589/

[Fishhead]

1 hour ago, dachsie said:

Who is that?

 

5* DL that LSU finished 2nd for on early signing day, but then he didn't sign. 

He "secretly" visited LSU this weekend, left around lunchtime today. I guarantee who knew about Bo prior to leaving. 

[Fishhead]

Oh, and now that it's official and I don't have to be so vague like I was earlier (L.O.L. )

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!

[Herb]

Bo Pelini tests Phillip Dillard's core muscles during practice Wednesday.

 

(From his Nebraska days.)

[houtiger]

Bo MAY be a guy who is better suited to being a coordinator than a head coach.  We all have some level of ambition, and I'm sure Bo thought he wanted to be a head coach, but there is a LOT that goes with it, and being politically correct is part of it.  Bo's negative comments about fans were said in private and they leaked later, and that got Bo fired.  But now Bo knows, and he may be content coaching a great defense and leave the political correctness to O.  It could work out well for all involved and that is what I hope for.  I would like for nothing better than Bo to lead our defense to another national title.

[LSUDad]

I’m gonna post this one, thoughts? Then I’ll go into more detail. I’ve been kind of busy. Now I’ll be able to go deeper into this story. 
 

You’re Nuts If You Complain About A Bo Pelini Hire At LSU

January 23rd, 2020 MacAoidh

 

Wednesday saw what appeared to be movement in LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron’s quest to fill the defensive coordinator position on his staff left often when Dave Aranda took the head coaching job at Baylor. The inside storyseems to be that current Youngstown State head coach Bo Pelini, who held that job at LSU from 2005-07 before getting the head coaching job at Nebraska and spending seven successful-but-turbulent years in Lincoln, is Orgeron’s choice.

Pelini, of late, is more known for fiery outbursts directed at officials and lacking an appropriate filter in his characterizations of fans and athletic department officials at places where he’s worked. He’s had limited success in his current job, where Pelini has a 33-28 record. In 2016, his second year in Youngstown, Pelini’s Penguins went 8-3 in the regular season and then caught a big run in the FCS playoffs, winning four games before losing to James Madison in the national championship game. Before and since he’s hovered around .500 – 5-6 in 2015, 6-5 in 2017, 4-7 in 2018 and 6-6 after a 4-0 start last year.

From afar, a few things are apparent about Pelini’s time at Youngstown State. First, he seems to have struggled with program management at the FCS level, where there are only 63 scholarships to go around and players are often issued partial, rather than full, scholarships. Pelini’s staff came to a large degree from younger coaches and graduate assistants who had been with him at Nebraska, and he might not have had enough experience around him to facilitate program-building the way it needs to be done at that level. In a signing-day press conference in December the coach talked a great deal about that, stating that the current recruiting class is the first one he’d taken where he truly felt he had his roster in good shape for the long term.

Something else which seems to jump out at a casual viewer seeing Pelini’s Youngstown State tenure is he’s obviously very frustrated at not having the talent around him he’s used to. He’s not a particularly patient coach, and with middling FCS players it’s an almost comic level of frustration.

Pelini has had opportunities to move back to the Power Five as a defensive coordinator, but not the motivation. Until last spring, he had been drawing better than $600,000 per year in buyout money from his Nebraska contract after being fired there despite winning nine or more games in each of his seven years on the job. Pelini also wanted to raise his children in his hometown, where his family and friends were, rather than continuing to drag them around the country amid the vagabond existence of a college football coach. This he’s mostly done; his youngest child, a daughter, is currently a junior in high school.

He’s in a job that pays less than $250,000 a year and the LSU defensive coordinator position has been paying ten times that amount. It’s a great time to make the move.

But from LSU’s perspective, why Pelini?

The answer is simple. He’s one of the great defensive minds in all of football, and his defenses have proven to compete at a championship level.

Pelini’s three years as LSU’s defensive coordinator were the first three years Les Miles was the head coach. LSU went 34-6 during that stretch, and Pelini coached a Top Ten defense in each of those years.

LSU was so dominant defensively during that time that one sports commentator famously called the Tigers “an 800-pound gorilla with a chainsaw for a sausage.” And that perhaps overly-colorful characterization was anything but wrong. After struggling defensively in a 35-31 win at No. 15 Arizona State and a 30-27 home loss to No. 10 Tennessee in which the Tigers, physically and emotionally reeling from the effects of Hurricane Katrina less than a month before, Pelini’s defense went on a massive run. They held Mississippi State to a touchdown in a 37-7 road win, dominated at Vanderbilt 34-6, keyed a 21-17 home win over No. 11 Florida and a 20-17 home win over No. 16 Auburn, led a 56-3 wipeout of North Texas, shut out Appalachian State in a 24-0 victory, played one of the best games by a Tiger defense in school history in a 16-13 win at No. 4 Alabama, blew up Ole Piss 40-7 in a road win and outlasted Arkansas 19-17 in the finale at home.

Georgia hammered a tired LSU club which hadn’t had an open date in 11 weeks in the SEC championship game 34-14, but when the 2005 Tigers were rested again in the Peach Bowl they blew out Miami 40-3 in one of the most dominating bowl performances LSU fans had ever seen.

That year’s LSU team gave up just 14.2 points and 266.8 yards a game, good enough for No. 3 in the nation in both categories. Opponents completed just 47.3 percent of their passes against that defense, and averaged only 3.0 rush yards per game. They posted 37 sacks in 13 games.

There was a lot of talent on that defense, but not a legendary amount. The best player of the bunch was free safety Laron Landry, who was a junior that year and who led the Tigers with 69 tackles and three interceptions. They also had a terrific pair of defensive tackles for the 4-3 front they played in Kyle Williams and Claude Wroten. Defensive end Melvin Oliver, also a senior, had 11 sacks to lead the team. All of those guys went on to play in the NFL; Williams ended up as one of the best defensive linemen the Buffalo Bills ever had. But most of the rest of the defensive starters were good, quality players though not superstars. Cornerback Chevis Jackson played in the NFL, as did Ronnie Prude on the other side (but only briefly). Neither did strong safety Jesse Daniels. Linebacker Cameron Vaughn had a short NFL career, but the others, Ali Highsmith and Ken Hollis, couldn’t crack a roster. Defensive end Chase Pittman also didn’t get much of a pro opportunity.

The 2006 defense was even better. It gave up just 242.8 yards and 12.6 points per game, good enough for 4th and 3rd, respectively, in the national rankings. That was the LSU team which blew out Notre Dame 41-14 in the Sugar Bowl and finished No. 3 in the final AP poll at 11-2. Nobody scored more than 26 points all year on LSU and Pelini’s defense was outstanding against a murderous schedule. The Tigers lost an atrociously-officiated 7-3 game at No. 3 Auburn and a 23-10 game at eventual national champion Florida on a day where zero breaks went the Tigers’ way. But the rest of that season was nothing short of magical for Pelini’s defense. LSU beat No. 8 Tennessee 28-24 on the road, and won a 31-26 game at No. 5 Arkansas in the regular season finale. Opponents not ranked in the Top 10 when LSU played them fared quite poorly – against those teams Pelini’s defense surrendered only 70 points in eight games.

And perhaps the most iconic play of Pelini’s defense at LSU came that year in a 28-14 win over Alabama in Tiger Stadium when Landry came on a delayed blitz to blow up Crimson Tide quarterback Brodie Croyle…

That was something of a carbon copy of a hit Landry had delivered to Croyle the previous year…

That 2006 LSU defense was Landry’s personal playground, as he led LSU with 74 tackles and was third with three interceptions. But that 2006 team’s starting lineup was as nasty as LSU has had on defense: Glenn Dorsey and Charles Alexander at the tackles, Tyson Jackson and Chase Pittman at the ends, Darry Beckwith, Ali Highsmith and Luke Sanders at the linebackers, Jackson and Zenon at the corners and Craig Steltz and Jesse Daniels splitting time opposite Landry at safety.

Then came the 2007 national championship team. Pelini’s defense wasn’t quite as good statistically as they’d been in 2006, largely owing to a rash of injuries in the second half of the season. Still, they finished 17th in scoring defense at 19.9 points a game and third in total defense at 288.9 yards per game. The first five games of the season, which included two tilts against ranked teams (No. 9 Virginia Tech and No. 16 South Carolina), nobody scored more than 16 points in a game. After that there was a lot of hanging on defensively against good teams – the classic 28-24 win over No. 9 Florida, a rough 43-37 overtime loss at the best Kentucky team (then ranked #17) of this century, a dramatic 30-24 win over No. 18 Auburn, a 41-34 win at No. 17 Alabama, a 58-10 blowout of Louisiana Tech, a 41-24 road win over an Ed Orgeron-coached Ole Piss team, and then the 50-48 overtime loss to an Arkansas team with Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis. But LSU then knocked off No. 14 Tennessee 21-14 in the SEC Championship game, which put the Tigers into the national championship game thanks to some fortunate events elsewhere in the country that weekend. And in that game Pelini’s defense shook off an early breakdown or two to knock out Ohio State 38-24.

The 2007 defensive front, with Tyson Jackson and Kirston Pittman at the end and Dorsey and Marlon Favorite at the tackles, might have been the best in school history – at least, when they were all healthy. Steltz had a brilliant senior year at free safety, leading the team with 101 tackles and six interceptions, while Chevis Jackson added five interceptions. Curtis Taylor, the strong safety, went on to play in the NFL, and Zenon was the other corner. The linebackers were the same veterans they’d had – Highsmith, Beckwith and Sanders. In 2007 LSU also had Chad Jones and Danny McCray playing as extra defensive backs, both of whom were NFL talents.

Along the way Pelini’s defense was known for its aggressive, frenetic blitzing 4-3 style. He carried that with him to Nebraska, where with less talent he routinely had some of the better defenses in the country. Here’s a look at his 2009 defense, for example.

Pelini makes for a much different style of defense than Aranda, and not just because LSU would be going back to a 4-3, which Orgeron and defensive line coach Bill Johnson are more comfortable with. Pelini’s defenses bring pressure; Aranda’s were more bend-but-don’t-break and more focused on coverage.

And with an ace cover man like Derek Stingley at one corner, who, no offense to Jackson and Zenon, is light years better than anybody Pelini had to lock down a receiver with, an all-out blitzing defense could be frightening.

LSU’s defensive personnel is well set up for Pelini’s 4-3, by the way. Consider a potential lineup.

At the strongside defensive end position Tyson Jackson and Melvin Oliver played for Pelini at LSU is rising senior Neil Farrell, who has played very well so far. There is a mountain of depth behind Farrell.

At the defensive tackle spot Dorsey and Kyle Williams played is Glen Logan, who is ready for a real breakout senior year.

At the nose tackle position Favorite, Charles Alexander and Claude Wroten played is Tyler Shelvin, who is already better than any of the three other than maybe Wroten. The 2020 LSU team will be deep at this position.

The weakside end spot Chase Pittman and Kirston Pittman played for Pelini will be a major battle, with two seniors in Justin Thomas and Andre Anthony likely battling for first shot.

At the Sam linebacker Luke Sanders played, it would be a decent bet LSU would use sophomore Marcel Brooks, who came on like gangbusters as a pass rusher the second half of the 2019 season.

At the Mike linebacker spot Darry Beckwith and Cameron Vaughn played, it’s probably Damone Clark, who could well be better than either.

At the Will linebacker spot at which Highsmith starred, don’t be surprised if Jacoby Stevens moves down from strong safety. Playing closer to the line will make Stevens a potential difference-maker on that defense.

At the corners Jackson and Zenon played you’ll have Stingley and either sophomore Cordale Flott or freshman stud Elias Ricks, and that’s surely a better pair of cover corners than Pelini had when he was here before.

And at the safeties there might not be a Landry or Steltz, but on the other hand sophomore Mo Hampton and junior Todd Harris are arguably more athletic, and there’s lots of depth.

Kary Vincent is a better playmaker at nickel back than McCray was, and significantly better in coverage.

It’s potentially a defense with more speed, particularly at the linebackers, than he had here – or that he had at Nebraska.

Orgeron coached against Pelini when he was at Ole Piss, and while the Rebels did mount a good fight against LSU in 2006 he generally found himself badly outmatched against him. That was more than enough to convince Orgeron that Pelini was a top-flight defensive coach.

And let’s face it, given that national title he just brought him Ed Orgeron has earned the right to avoid criticism for a credible hire with respect to his defensive coordinator. Particularly given the three great years LSU fans received from Pelini.

It’s said you can never go home again. It wasn’t said by us. If Pelini’s next three years produce a defense anything like his last three years in Baton Rouge, last season’s national championship won’t be the only one Orgeron will celebrate in a mid-January.

[dachsie]

So I have a question and maybe Nootch can pull some stats out for it.

When Bo was at LSU, offenses were different.  How has he done defending these more modern spread offenses that have been evolving the last decade?

[Nutriaitch]

first, offenses weren’t as different as everyone is making them out to be. 

yeah the SEC was a little slow in adapting, but not THAT slow. 

LSU in ‘07 ran a wide open spread. 
Florida was spread option
etc. 

Then Bo went to Nebraska.  The birth place of true air-raid going big time. 
Leach at Texas Tech, Mullet at Okie State, Texas was a national Contender. 
OU was lighting up scoreboards.
Hell even Aggy was scoring points in bunches. 

Nebraska had the #1 scoring Defense in ‘09 and top 10 again in ‘10. 

Then they moved to Big Ten and just straight up didn’t have the right type of athlete to play against Big Ten teams and went backwards. 

Their D was on way back up when he got fired there. 

cant tell you for sure about his time at Youngstown. 
But i do know that he is a VERY well respected defensive mind. 

With the athletes he as available to him here, and being able to once again focus purely on defense, i like his chances. 

I’m hoping he brings the ugly back to our Defense. We were MEAN back then. We went from Boom directly into Bo. 
Both are very aggressive hard hitting, kick your teeth in defenses. 
We haven’t had that since ‘07 and I want it back. 

[Nutriaitch]

also. Bo runs a 4-3 instead of a 3-4. 

so we theoretically can get a lot more pressure with just the line without having to Blitz. 

just imagine having Logan, Shelvin, Apu, and Farrell all on field at same time. 

not sure who the 3 linebackers are yet other than Bo is probably drooling over having Jacoby Stevens in an OLB role. 
Marcel Brooks at other OLB maybe?

Harris is back at one Safety spot
Mo Hampton will take the other. 

Stingley locks down one side and either Ricks /Flott /Ward will be given the opportunity to do the same on the other side. Bo ain’t scared to leave his DBs on an island if they handling their business back there. 

Goddamn! Is it September yet?!!?

[LSUDad]

12 minutes ago, Nutriaitch said:

first, offenses weren’t as different as everyone is making them out to be. 

yeah the SEC was a little slow in adapting, but not THAT slow. 

LSU in ‘07 ran a wide open spread. 
Florida was spread option
etc. 

Then Bo went to Nebraska.  The birth place of true air-raid going big time. 
Leach at Texas Tech, Mullet at Okie State, Texas was a national Contender. 
OU was lighting up scoreboards.
Hell even Aggy was scoring points in bunches. 

Nebraska had the #1 scoring Defense in ‘09 and top 10 again in ‘10. 

Then they moved to Big Ten and just straight up didn’t have the right type of athlete to play against Big Ten teams and went backwards. 

Their D was on way back up when he got fired there. 

cant tell you for sure about his time at Youngstown. 
But i do know that he is a VERY well respected defensive mind. 

With the athletes he as available to him here, and being able to once again focus purely on defense, i like his chances. 

I’m hoping he brings the ugly back to our Defense. We were MEAN back then. We went from Boom directly into Bo. 
Both are very aggressive hard hitting, kick your teeth in defenses. 
We haven’t had that since ‘07 and I want it back. 

So true, look who being hired into the SEC now, HC and Asst. It’s known now, you have to score 35 points or more. LSU and Joe, Joe and Steve made folks see the direction. The SEC was heading that way. 
 

[LSUDad]

4 minutes ago, Nutriaitch said:

 

Goddamn! Is it September yet?!!?

Since the season lasted soooooo long, we have less of an off season. 

[Herb]

Regardless of the offense it faces, all great defenses need to do 3 basic things:

• Pressure the QB
• Close the running lanes
• Shut down the opposing receivers

LSU has been recruiting at an elite level for the past decade+. The last 2 recruiting cycles have been exceptional because Orgeron has been able to dip into JUCO players and the transfer portal to shore up holes.

This recruiting year has been one of the best ever for LSU and its not over yet.

When you have depth like LSU has it makes very good defensive coordinators great...just ask Aranda.

DBU and Cory Raymond Raymond are not going to stop shutting down receivers because Pelini is DC instead of Aranda. Bill Busch's safeties aren't going to stop their hybrid LB/DB existence. The defensive line won't stop attacking the QB. The LBs will plug the rushing lanes.

Nobody in the SEC is running a June Jones type os runNgun offense.

To quote Mister T: 'I pity the fool'.

[Nutriaitch]

oh, and trying to remember which podcast, but i gave Bo some love back in middle of the season

[Nutriaitch]

4 minutes ago, Herb said:

Regardless of the offense it faces, all great defenses need to do 3 basic things:

• Pressure the QB
• Close the running lanes
• Shut down the opposing receivers

LSU has been recruiting at an elite level for the past decade+. The last 2 recruiting cycles have been exceptional because Orgeron has been able to dip into JUCO players and the transfer portal to shore up holes.

This recruiting year has been one of the best ever for LSU and its not over yet.

When you have depth like LSU has it makes very good defensive coordinators great...just ask Aranda.

DBU and Cory Raymond Raymond are not going to stop shutting down receivers because Pelini is DC instead of Aranda. Bill Busch's safeties aren't going to stop their hybrid LB/DB existence. The defensive line won't stop attacking the QB. The LBs will plug the rushing lanes.

Nobody in the SEC is running a June Jones type os runNgun offense.

To quote Mister T: 'I pity the fool'.

if anything? Bo’s style will help the DBs. 

most of HS, i played in a traditional 3-4 mostly zone with elements of man coverage. Lot of bump and run. 
Senior year we get a new DC. he switched to a 4-3 (sometimes a 4-2-5) with a LOT of pressure and blitzing up front. 

pretty much told the secondary “don’t get beat at the line. because that sonofabitch won’t have time to run a route before we put his QBs dick in the dirt”

and he was right. we didn’t have to cover near as long as we had the previous years. Made all of us suddenly look pretty decent b

 

[Fishhead]

12 hours ago, dachsie said:

So I have a question and maybe Nootch can pull some stats out for it.

When Bo was at LSU, offenses were different.  How has he done defending these more modern spread offenses that have been evolving the last decade?

No offense Dachs, but this is the most overblown thing I keep reading everywhere. 

Joe broke records that stood for decades. Does nobody remember Tim Couch, Florida's fun and gun, the fact urban Meyer was at UF when Bo was here? 

Jamar broke a record from the 90s with his 20 TDs. Joe broke Colt Brennan's record for passing TDs...not some recent record. 

The forward pass and even spread concepts are not new. 

They're just kinda new to us lol

[LSUDad]

Do folks remember when Coach O said, “That was my call, on the TD bust! Or something to that effect, I want to say it was against Old Mrs. That’s when folks should have known, Aranda was leaving. O wanted some pressure on the QB. He wanted a different defense. O over road his DC. 
 

Who is the most trusted coach on the staff, who does O trust more? I’m going with within the staff, Steve Ensminger. Bo was the DC at LSU from 2005-2007. Where was Steve during that time, in the SEC, working at Auburn. Steve held these jobs, TE, OC and QB’s coach from 2003-2008. So Steve knew what Bo does. 
 

When I first got with someone outside the staff, but he was getting the same info, I was getting. His reply, those two would clash. Then came the Richard name. But some word, he wasn’t in the running. O’s guy was Bo.

O had went against Bo’s Defense, while he was the head coach at Old Mrs. 
 

He would hold off on the hire,  getting into the recruiting finish line. Able to finish up with himself and asst, hitting the trail hard, what else are they doing in this off season? 

Letting Bo finish up there, allowing Bo to end on a positive note. A better transition. 
 

Ok, who wants to get back to, “Tigers“  “an 800-pound gorilla with a chainsaw for a sausage.” anyone? 
 

Next is the other side of the ball, that one will tell you somewhat, the small change that is coming. 
 

Oh, Bo knows! Still knows how to coach. The speed we have on that side of the ball, fixing to be a really fun game. Since Bo left, the pressure and gang tackling has taken a step back. I said describing Aranda today, bend but don’t break, and Scott puts it in his writeup above. 

[Fishhead]

1 hour ago, Nutriaitch said:

Stingley locks down one side and either Ricks /Flott /Ward will be given the opportunity to do the same on the other side. 

You better learn Radar Jones' name.  I predict a season from him similar to Greedy's RS Frosh year.

[Fishhead]

3 minutes ago, LSUDad said:

 

Next is the other side of the ball, that one will tell you somewhat, the small change that is coming. 
 

 

As soon as ther NFL is done

If that doesn't work out, somebody's likely to have a real short stay in Waco

[Herb]

1 hour ago, Fishhead said:

You better learn Radar Jones' name.

That would be Raydar Jones. Lol.