LSU Football’s DC search is starting to feel familiar, but there’s an easy answer

LSU Football head coach Brian Kelly appeared to be close this week to hiring Kentucky’s Brad White as the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator.

But that’s not going to be the case.

Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops announced on Tuesday night that White will be sticking around in Lexington.

The LSU football defensive coordinator search is starting to feel familiar

New coach, same results, right?

Less than a year ago, Ed Orgeron struck out several times while looking for a new defensive coordinator to replace Bo Pelini.

LSU appeared to be close to hiring Marcus Freeman away from Cincinnati and then Ryan Nielsen away from the New Orleans Saints.

Freeman, however, elected to go to Notre Dame to work as Kelly’s defensive coordinator. That move worked out for Freeman, as he’s the replacement for Kelly in South Bend.

Nielsen ended up staying in New Orleans because of a contract issue.

With White staying at Kentucky, I think there’s an easy answer to Kelly’s defensive coordinator search.

Just retain Daronte Jones.

Sure, Jones had a rough start to his tenure at LSU. But once he settled in, the Tigers’ defense played extremely well.

Look at this improvement over the course of the season.

It just makes sense to keep Jones, who was a high school coach in Louisiana in the early 2000s, on staff.

LSU’s defense was clearly on the right track last season, despite a litany of injuries to key players. The Tigers should want to build on that.

In fact, I’d rather LSU hire Jones over White anyway.

Kelly has an easy answer right in front of him. Hopefully he makes the decision to keep Jones in Baton Rouge.