LSU Football: The inevitable happened to the Tigers
By Zach Ragan
LSU football missed on its top defensive coordinator target on Friday.
Marcus Freeman will not be LSU football‘s defensive coordinator in 2021.
That’s because Freeman agreed to become Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator on Friday, replacing Clark Lea who took the head coaching job at Vanderbilt last month.
This isn’t much of a surprise. We’ve been speculating for the last several days that Freeman would pick Notre Dame over LSU because of his ties to the midwest.
Freeman’s high school teammate, Mike Mickens, is also on Notre Dame’s staff.
There was some optimism on Friday afternoon that Freeman would pick LSU after Football Scoop reported that a deal appeared to be on the horizon.
But anyone who follows college football knows nothing is official until it’s official. Reports change hourly and that was the case with Freeman.
Where does LSU football go from here?
Former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason is the guy I wanted LSU to hire. But he went to Auburn this week, so he’s off the list.
The Tigers could circle back to former South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp, who recently turned down Texas. Muschamp coached at LSU in the early 2000s with Nick Saban.
Brad White is reportedly staying at Kentucky, but I think it would be wise for the Tigers to pick up the phone and give him a call. Minds can change when money is involved.
Barry Odom, the defensive coordinator at Arkansas, is a guy that Coach O covets. But Odom is reportedly set to stay at Arkansas.
Again, I think LSU has to pick up the phone and make a pitch.
Odom should be the top target for the Tigers moving forward.