re: Why didn’t Kelly put this effort into the defensive staff from day 1?

you're getting downvoted but you're right. he nailed the offensive staff with solidified coaches but on defense he hired a bunch of question marks and unproven guys. weird

He whiffed the first go round on defensive coaches, and by his corrective actions, seems to get that he needed to up the quality from the standpoint of on field coaching and recruiting.

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Steeples and Cooks? He knew Cooks wasn’t ND or OU-quality. He suddenly became LSU/SEC quality? Steeples, great guy, but first major position job is CB at LSU? Pay Matt House $2m and make him a DC with his lack of success at this level as a DC and having not coordinated at all for several years? He mailed in the first go round Total redemption this time, but the money and time wasted with the first round make no sense given his reputation for detail.

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No one is saying those were good hires. Cain was decent. House had an SEC track record and was supposedly recommended to him by Brad White, who he approached first. Cooks and Steeples were always puzzling.

But here’s the thing you are missing- time. When a coach takes a new job now, they are under the gun to get at least a shell of the staff assembled to finish ESD recruiting. There is no time, so many either try to pull from their existing staffs or stick with guys they know, have some relationship with, or are recommended to them by someone they trust.

Kelly’s situation showing up here was nothing like the process we just went through. He took his time this time because he could. It’s a totally different ballgame when you are an incumbent coach.

Also think about the situations of the assistants. Kelly would have needed Baker and Peeples right away to begin recruiting two years ago. If they were in the same position as this season, getting ready for their current team to play in a NY6 Bowl, which is a huge thing for Mizzou, do you think they would have left? Maybe, but it’s not a sure thing. Being able to wait until after the bowls makes it easier for coaches to make decisions without feeling like they are abandoning their teams.

I’m not saying Kelly shouldn’t have done better the first time around or doesn’t deserve criticism for the defensive staff not working. However, I just don’t think the situations line up at all.

In the game of why, you leave out the most important events. D-line coach leaves for the NFL in late Feb. The hired replacement has a stroke weeks before fall camp. The starting safety, and arguably the best secondary leader is hospitalized with a brain tumor. The portal defensive backs that were brought in for this year, that were all highly touted coming in, were absolute duds and terrible for the locker room. And multiple injuries followed, as is somewhat normal, but the timing just added to the chaos. These are not excuses. They are reasons. And we still won 9 regular season games and a bowl game.

So don’t give us the whining about how CBK shoulda done something beforehand.

Ridiculous!

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Laugh- maybe from irony; but Baker was a position coach on LSU's first losing season in over 20 years. Kelly was looking to revamp the staff, he's not going to promote the existing LB coach to DC at that moment.

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hat would you and anyone else said two years ago if Kelly walked in the door and made Baker the DC

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Who said anything about making Baker DC?

When Baker got a new job, was it at DC?

Hell, was that job even LBs coach?

It had gotten so bad in the ops building that it's not that much of an exaggeration to say they even purged the janitors. Brad Davis was kept on not only because of his qualifications, but he had only been there about 4 months when they made the decision on Coach O.

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Why didn’t Kelly put this effort into the defensive staff from day 1?

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But, he did put forth the effort and brought in a guy with high praises from none other than the vaunted Honey Badger.

It didn't pan out...

Baker was originally hired as safety coach at Mizzou. The DC left late and Miller got the interim DC tag. Kelly liked Cooks to redeem himself after firing him at ND and him getting fired at OU.
It’s not like Kelly wasn’t operating with a AD who loves overpaying. He more than doubled the incompetent House’s salary. He could have made a list of proven DC’s making $1m at the time and would leave for $1.5m and Woody would’ve offered them $2m as a counter-offer.

Because he is a retard. This is the equivalent of a CEO letting a director go then in a year bringing them back on as a VP.