Les Miles has declared there will not be any coaching changes until after the Peach Bowl (I refuse to call it by the name of the corporate sponsor. It's the Peach Bowl). Now, the Advocate is reporting Peveto is one of the finalists for the Northwestern state head job. Let's face it, if he gets it, it's good news for everybody.
Once again, there's two ways to look at it, depending on how optomistic you're feeling. On the one hand, this isn't a decision you want to rush. We all know there needs to be a change, but having made that decision, you don't just go out and pick a guy. On the other hand, by waiting, LSU is going to miss out on certain candidates. We have effectively taken oursleves out of the running for some of the bigger names.
Koenning has already gone to K-state. DeWayne Walker is rumored to be taking just about every head coaching job on the planet. While Clemson's been a top defensive team, I'm going to ask the question: what's so great about Walker? Here's the resume:
1998-2000 NE Patriots DB coach
2001 USC DB coach
2002-2003 NY Giants DB coach
2004-2005 WSH Redskins DB coach
2006-2007 UCLA Defensive Co-ordinator
The Patriots weren't very good when he was the coach there. Neither was the defense. the 2002 Giants had a good pass defense, and the 2003 Ginats had a terrible one. Washington's defense during his tenure was decidedly average. UCLA's program is a mess right now, but I don't really find myself raving about the UCLA defense. I'm sure he's a good coach, but how did this guy become the second coming? If we hire him, great. If we don't, it doesn't look like we missed out on Buddy Ryan.
I'm not saying this to say Walker is a horrible coach. He's a good coach. But there are a lot of coaching candidates out there and LSU doesn't need to hire the name cnadidate generating the most buzz. i don't care about headlines now, I care about the headlines during the season. And I don't want to see headlines about LSU's defense getting torched.
The search so far has been measured. There haven't been too many ridiculous names thrown out there, as most of the candidates seem like guys LSU could get and would do a good job. I don't care too much about who they get, so long as he turns out to be the right guy. I do like that the process so far has no displayed panic. Panic is always bad.