re: The case for Blake Baker as LB coach -

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1. Louisiana ties out the wazoo:
- LB at Tulane
- La Tech safeties coach (2014)
- La Tech DC/LB coach (2015-2018)
- Married a woman from Mandeville

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He also has Houston, TX ties as well (born/raised in Houston and coached at a high school there), which is key as no one on the current staff really has any strong or natural ties to Houston. As everyone knows, that is a key historical recruiting ground for LSU.

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2. He has run a complete D1 defense himself. He improved it at La Tech the last 3 years, his last year ending up with the 39th ranked scoring defense in the country in 2018. That was up from the 90s 3 years prior. He also had the 23rd ranked scoring defense in 2019 at Miami before falling back in 2020 (pandemic year, I’ll forgive him and it only fell to 51st).

But remember, we’d just be hiring him for LB – not DC.

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This is another reason I like him for the hire and think LSU is big on him. While he won't be DC or the primary DC, I could see them making him something like "Def. Run Game Coordinator" to justify higher salary and a role in assisting Jones with overall defensive scheme and game planning.

I'm sure LSU would make it clear that Jones is the DC and has the final say on scheme and is obvious play caller; but as he has no experience on D1 level and hasn't called defenses in 10+ years, Baker would be a solid sounding board and safety valve for him. Think of it sort of like how Ensminger was the stability and safety valve for bringing in Brady.