LSU Football: Is there a frontrunner to be Tigers’ new defensive coordinator
By Zach Ragan
LSU football will need a new defensive coordinator in 2021.
LSU football will need a new defensive coordinator in 2021 after moving on from Bo Pelini.
Pelini was hired this past winter to replace Dave Aranda, who became the head coach at Baylor.
There have been several names tossed around as potential candidates to replace Pelini, including former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason (which is the candidate I think the Tigers should hire).
After a week of speculation, there appears to be a frontrunner in the search.
Could LSU football steal a defensive coordinator from a rival?
The Tigers need to hire a defensive coordinator with recent SEC experience.
Mason would fit that description.
But so would another coach.
Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who was the head coach at Missouri from 2016-2019.
Odom was hired this past offseason by Sam Pittman to serve as the Razorbacks’ defensive coordinator.
247Sports reported this week that LSU head coach Ed Orgeron “covets” Odom.
Does that mean Odom is the frontrunner? Not necessarily, but it certainly sounds like he’s near the top of the list for Coach O and the Tigers.
The big question, of course, is whether or not Odom would leave Fayetteville after just one season for a lateral move to LSU.
That depends on whether or not Odom feels like being the defensive coordinator at LSU is a better job than being the defensive coordinator at Arkansas.
dark. Next. The perfect OC hire for LSU
I feel like it’s fairly obvious that landing at LSU is the better job. But I’m not Barry Odom.
We’ll see how this unfolds in the coming days/weeks, but it definitely sounds like Odom is a serious candidate to be the Tigers’ next defensive coordinator.