LSU and defensive coordinator Bo Pelini are expected to break up this week, several sources confirmed with the Lawyer, concluding a meeting that lasted only one season.
Several staff changes are expected, including the departure of safety coach Bill Busch and the retirement of defensive line coach Bill Johnson. Cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond, assistant to the staff since 2012, is the only defensive coach left on the staff.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron previously said he would evaluate his entire staff at the end of the season, which ended Saturday with a 53-48 victory over Ole Miss to end with an overall record of 5-5.
The major shock comes just a year after LSU won its fourth national championship and represents the urgency Orgeron has to restore the program’s path to the title fight.
Pelini’s departure was the most awaited in the football program.
The divorce is expected to be costly: Pelini is guaranteed all the income left in his three-year contract of $ 2.3 million, which brings his purchase to about $ 5.2 million.
LSU, like most sports programs, has had a massive financial impact due to the coronavirus pandemic and is expected to lose $ 80 million in revenue this year. Orgeron has received a limited budget to buy its staff, several sources said, and Pelini’s acquisition will take over most of it.
Several times this season, Orgeron has expressed frustration and disappointment with the discipline and schemes of defense, although criticism has often come along with the belief that their overall performance could improve.
Pelini, a 53-year-old Ohio native, arrived in Baton Rouge in January as Orgeron’s replacement for former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, who left the program to become Baylor’s head coach.
Pelini’s engagement represented Orgeron’s desire to move toward the defensive philosophy he preferred: a four-man front that attacked the opposite lands and produced a large number of approaches to losses, sacks, and turnover.
It was Pelini’s second stage at LSU. He coordinated the 2005-07 Tigers defense and left as head coach in Nebraska (2008-14) after LSU won the 2007 BCS National Championship.
Before returning to Baton Rouge, Pelini was head coach at Youngstown State (2015-19), where he led his hometown university at the FCS National Championship Game in 2016. Comfortable in Ohio, Pelini said the LSU culture is “a great fit for me” in a press release when he was hired, and the opportunity to train the Tigers defense again was enough to persuade him to leave home.
Orgeron said during the LSU spring clinic that Pelini was the only coach he talked to about the job. He consulted their joint mentor, Pete Carroll, who told Orgeron that Pelini “has the best defensive mind of any coach I’ve ever coached.”
“We look forward to bringing back to LSU the extraordinary amount of knowledge and expertise to continue to win championships,” Orgeron said in a press release on Pelini’s employment.
Then, the coronavirus pandemic canceled the spring football practice, and Pelini was forced to switch LSU from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 defense through a series of virtual sessions with the players.
LSU returned to team activities in June, and the NCAA extended the pre-season practice by an additional two weeks to partially compensate for practices lost in the spring.
Orgeron said during the pre-season “we’re much better on defense right now than any part of last season,” a quote that led to continued public scrutiny once things went wrong.
Aside from the bright spots against Arkansas and Texas A&M, LSU’s defense recorded statistically historic lows, from the record 623 meters allowed in the Mississippi State Open to the most points Alabama has ever scored against LSU.
Opt-outs, injuries and illness also hit the LSU defense hard. Starting with nickel safety, Kary Vincent and defensive forward Tyler Shelvin both declared themselves for the NFL draft before the start of the season.
American cornerback Derek Stingley missed Mississippi’s game after spending the night in a hospital due to an unknown illness that caused a reaction, and an injury kept Stingley out of the last two games of the season.
Pelini’s scheme was indeed more volatile, ranking second nationally, with 22 forced total turnovers while ranking in the Top 50 in approaches to losses (63, 33) and sacks (24, 32). But the defense was deeply flawed, deprived of broken coverage and recorded school minimums in points allowed per game (34.9) and yards allowed per game (492).
LSU also ranked last in the total number of games taught over 40 meters (14), over 50 meters (6) and over 90 meters (1).