So the latest line is that Chavis takes over as the defensive coordinator and there will be a press conference on Friday to announce the new defensive staff. That staff will apparently include Ed Orgeron; the Saints' defensive line coach is reportedly coming as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at LSU as well as defensive line coach. Why you'd reassign Josh Henson in the midst of his building the greatest recruiting class in the history of Tiger football is a good question, but supposedly Henson is getting a shot at moving up in the world - word is he's going to take over the special teams for LSU next year, and that's a higher responsibility for a coach which might lead to his eventually getting a shot at being an offensive coordinator.

To go with Chavis and Orgeron, LSU is going to need two more defensive coaches - a secondary coach and a fourth guy who is going to need to be a big-time recruiter. At this time, I don't know who the secondary coach is going to be, but the odds seem to be that the fourth guy is Southern Miss DB's coach Tony Hughes.

I thought Chavis was bringing someone along with him......

Possibly...

Former Tennessee defensive backs coach Larry Slade is a favorite of Chavis', which isn't a surprise given that Slade has been with Chavis since 1999. The Tennessee fans hated Slade with a passion due to the Vol defense having a tendency at times to give up third-and-long conversions, but the numbers on the guy indicate he's a pretty good coach regardless of their griping. Slade has put a large number of his players into the NFL; Gibril Wilson, Deon Grant, Rashad Baker, Jabari Greer, Jonathan Wade and Jason Allen have made it just in the last four years and since 1999 he's had a total of 12 players move on to the pro ranks and nine of those have played in the NFL. Also, in the last three years UT has had 16, 16 and 17 interceptions, indicating the Vols can do a nice job of turning the offense over on a consistent basis - and that's something LSU has been horribly inconsistent with for a long time.

Slade is one option being discussed, but the other is Vance Joseph, the secondary coach with the San Francisco 49ers who appears to be a free agent after the staff shakeup there following Mike Singletary's ascension to full-time head coach. Joseph, a Marrero native who Tiger fans might remember as a relatively high-profile recruit out of Shaw about 15 years ago, was an assistant coach at Colorado for several years but left in 2004 amid the Gary Barnett booze/girls/recruiting scandal there. He spent a year at Bowling Green and then matriculated to San Francisco, and as a pro coach he's developed a solid reputation as a developer of talent. Joseph has resuscitated Mark Roman's career in San Francisco, for one, and served on a defensive staff that finished 13th overall in the NFL this season despite a thoroughly dysfunctional offense.

Right now that's what the staff seems to look like. And if it shakes out that way - either Chavis-Orgeron-Hughes-Slade or Chavis-Orgeron-Hughes-Joseph, what you're going to be getting is a defensive staff with a lot harder edge and a lot more emphasis on discipline than LSU had this year. You're also getting some big-time recruiters in Orgeron and Hughes to offset the loss of Peveto and Earl Lane. And you'll be playing an aggressive 4-3 defense which does a good deal of press man coverage at the line and plays two safeties deep looking for interceptions off batted balls and overthrows. I don't think the days of safeties who look and run like linebackers are going to continue with this group.

And you'll also see much, much better play out of the front seven than you saw this year. Orgeron and Chavis are guys with reputations for maximizing their talent as defensive line and linebacker coaches, respectively, so what you should see is some players who have underachieved so far become what they were recruited to be.

You gotta give Miles a lot of credit for making some awesome moves with the coaching staff. It looks to me like LSU and Bama are going be slugging it out for control of the west for many years to come. Congrats on Chavis, Orgeron, and what will be a fantastic recruiting class. It will be hard to find a team that helped themselves as much this offseason as LSU.

Yep, I have to say Miles has handled this thing well so far.

If he can pull off the win against GT tonight, then he'll be back in my good graces, for sure.

I think Auburn is putting together a pretty good staff too. You have Gus Malzahn, one of the best OCs in the nation with Chizik, a good Defensive minded coach. I think we'll snag Garner from UGA, and that would definitely help.

Good points. Auburn could turn out to be a real surprise.

Ya i think so. But it'll probably take another year.

2008 was a case of losing the war and winning the peace. I'm exited about next season's prospects for LSU, and I wish the best of luck to Auburn, Tennessee, and Mississippi State in their coaching transitions as well.

I hope the new year brings renewed success for all of us!

Larry Slade is going to Louisville to become the DB coach there. It's either Brooks or Caldwell that will join Chavis. Both are DL coaches. Brooks coached the DTs and Caldwell the DEs. And the rumor of O to LSU was just that - a rumor. The same source is reporting him to UT now.

oh yeah, and Coach O is going to knoxville...