The reshaping of Bobby Petrino‘s Louisville defensive coaching staff has continued.
Earlier in the day, Mississippi State confirmed that it had hired U of L defensive coordinator Todd Grantham for the same job. The U of L subsequently confirmed that the man Grantham replaced in Starkville, Peter Sirmon, would replace Grantham with the Cardinals, completing what was essentially a coordinator-for-coordinator swap.
Additionally, Petrino announced Wednesday the hiring of Lorenzo Ward as his defensive backs coach. Ward replaces Keith Heyward, who left earlier this month for Willie Taggart‘s staff at Oregon.
Ward had spent the 2016 season as the coordinator at Fresno State. Prior to that, he was on Steve Spurrier‘s South Carolina coaching staff for seven seasons. For four of those seasons, he was the Gamecocks’ coordinator.
Ward and Petrino also have a previous working relationship, with the former working as the secondary coach on the latter’s Arkansas staff.
“Adding a coach with the experience of Lorenzo Ward is very exciting and will be a great addition to the University of Louisville football staff,” Petrino said. “Lorenzo is a guy I’ve known and respected for a long time, and saw the incredible job he did as the defensive coordinator at South Carolina. He does a tremendous job developing players, building relationships, working with a staff, and is one of the top recruiters in the collegiate game. I’m excited he will be joining our staff.”