With a possible $1 million-plus salary and the cache of coaching one of the most talented roster in the SEC, LSU head coach Les Miles has a lot to offer with his vacant defensive coordinator position.
And he’s going to offer it to..... Mike Stoops?
That’s what Oklahoma City’s News 9 reporter Dean Blevins says. Blevins writes that Miles and Stoops were set to meet at an undisclosed Dallas location at 6 p.m. local time to talk about the job, and that Stoops would likely be offered the job during the interview. “If offered, Stoops would take a couple of days to make the decision whether to leave brother Bob’s staff, where he has served the last three seasons as associate head coach and defensive coordinator,” Blevins writes.
That’s a lot to take in. Let’s break this down a little bit.
If you’re Mike Stoops, you have to know that you’re not the only coach to speak with The Hat about one of the most coveted assistant coaching positions in college football. In fact, Baton Rouge Advocate LSU beat writer Ross Dellenger tweets that Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and former USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast are names Miles has shown interest in. And those are just the ones we know about, and the only ones Miles has presumably reached out to here in just day four of the vacancy.
So, knowing that, you’re going in so confident you’ll be offered the job that you’ve A) already made plans to head home and leave Miles hanging for 48-to-72 hours, and B) leaked your plans to a reporter (or at least allowed someone close to you to leak it to a reporter).
It’s easy to see why Stoops would be interested in the LSU job. A move to Baton Rouge could bump Stoops’ pay significantly - Chavis made $1.3 million in 2014 while Stoops made $850,000, according to USA Today - but it could also provide cover for big brother Bob.Moving to LSU would mean bump in pay for Mike Stoops, but my somewhat educated guess is his jump would be more to take heat off Bob.
— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) January 3, 2015Now, the more pertinent question: why would LSU be interested in Stoops? Since returning to Oklahoma in 2012, the Sooners have ranked 50th, 22nd and 55th in scoring defense. LSU ranked fourth this season under John Chavis.