Over the course of 30 years, I have been to more than my share of press conferences introducing new coaches. Some impress you more than others: the group I met Friday at LSU: defensive coordinator John Chavis, d-line coach Brick Haley, and secondary coach Ron Cooper are an impressive group.
Chavis has a ton of experience: 14 years at an SEC heavyweight (Tennessee) . He knows the league inside and out. And, Chavis says one thing he won't be is a stand around coach. He will find out what his players can and cannot do. Too much confusion was standard operating procedure in the 2008 LSU defense. Chavis was hired to fix that.
Ron Cooper is a former college head coach. I think he will be a very solid recruiter, as will defensive line coach Brick Haley. Haley comes the Bears, so he has NFL experience, always a good thing. Both Haley and Cooper talked about discipline. They appear to be good fits.
LSU opened the checkbook for all three. As poor as LSU's quarterback play was for most of the season, the most shocking aspect of '08 was the collapse of a once proud LSU defense.
I think Les Miles is on the way to a fix.
Ed Daniels
Baton Rouge, LA