Thursday, Ben noted “a slew” of official hires announced by Penn State, although new head coach Bill O’Brien was still in the process of finalizing the contracts for his defensive coordinator and secondary coach.
The operative word there, of course, is “was”.
In another press release, the Nittany Lions announced the previously reported hiring of Ted Roof (pictured) as O’Brien’s defensive coordinator, as well as new secondary coach John Butler. With the flurry of hires, O’Brien has just one position left to fill -- quarterbacks coach.
Roof had been the coordinator at Auburn for three years before leaving after the 2011 season for the same job at UCF. He was with the Knights for a little over a month. O’Brien and Roof had worked together on the Duke coaching staff in the middle of last decade, and the new head coach described the coordinator as one of his closest friends at his introductory news conference.
In 2011, Butler served as South Carolina’s special teams coordinator as well as its linebackers coach.
And, while we’re here and in a related note, the Gamecocks today announced the hiring of the coaches who will replace Butler -- Joe Robinson as the team’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach, and Kirk Botkin as the team’s LBs coach.