LSU football: Tigers parting ways with DC Bo Pelini

The LSU Tigers paid a price by reaching into the past with defensive coordinator Bo Pelini.

LSU football fans will have to deal with head coach Ed Orgeron having a third defensive coordinator in as many years, as Bo Pelini was fired after only one season back in Baton Rouge.

Admittedly, Orgeron had a tall task replacing many top assistants from his 2019 championship staff. While former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan did well as Joe Brady’s passing game coordinator successor, it was not in the cards for Pelini. The former Youngstown State Penguins head coach bombed in his LSU return as Dave Aranda’s defensive replacement.

LSU quite literally paid dearly for Bo Pelini this time around

Pelini first came to coaching prominence as Les Miles’ defensive coordinator during their first three years in Baton Rouge from 2005 to 2007. LSU won its third national title in program history in 2007, parlaying into Pelini being the Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach from 2008 to 2014. Nebraska has not been the same since canning him. His LSU buyout is now more than Miles’ was.

While LSU recruits too well for the whole program to unravel like the Auburn Tigers did under Gene Chizik, Orgeron is not doing enough to shake that awful SEC West vision out of our minds. History repeats itself all the time in SEC Country, as Auburn’s 2020 coaching search eerily reminds us of what plagued Tennessee three winters ago in 2017. Will 2021 LSU be like 2012 Auburn?

Though a ton of talent either went pro or opted out off the 2019 championship roster, LSU’s biggest on-field issue was defensive ineptitude. While Aranda’s defense was only good, not great in 2019, he had done enough as Orgeron’s top assistant to get the Baylor Bears gig after Matt Rhule left for the Carolina Panthers. Interestingly enough, Rhule hired Brady away from LSU.

LSU will have to figure out who will coordinate its defense now with Pelini firmly out of the picture.

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