Purdue Hires OC, Two Others

Purdue head football coach Danny Hope announced Monday the hiring of Donn Landholm as the Boilermakers’ defensive coordinator. The appointment is the culmination of a national search over the last five weeks. Hope also announced that Mark Hagen will coach the linebackers and Terrell Williams the defensive line. Lou Anarumo will continue as defensive backs coach. Landholm, who has been coaching for 30 years, comes to Purdue from Eastern Kentucky, where he has been the last 12 seasons, including five under Hope. Landholm was linebackers coach from 1997 to 2004, defensive coordinator from 2005 to 2007 and linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator in 2008. Hope was the head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2003 to 2007. – PurdueSports.com

Boise, Petersen Contract Talks Iced

Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier doesn’t expect to sign football coach Chris Petersen to a contract extension this winter, he said Monday. Petersen is 35-4 in three seasons at Boise State with final rankings of No. 5 in 2006 and No. 11 in 2008. “I think at this point we’re just going to leave it as it is and then deal with it in the future,” Bleymaier said. “He seems to be fine with it. … Obviously we want to keep Coach Pete around and have every intention of doing so.” Petersen is entering the third year of a five-year contract that will pay him at least $1,112,650 in 2009. The contract, which has several bonus clauses and automatic raises based on wins, paid him $892,500 in 2007 and $1,090,833 in 2008. The contract’s original base pay was $850,000 per year. – Idaho Statesman

Rams, Chargers, Panthers Make Staff Hires

Rams

The St. Louis Rams confirmed they have hired Paul Ferraro, who spent the past three seasons as the Vikings special teams coordinator. The Rams said Ferraro will work on their defensive coaching staff but it’s believed he will work with the linebackers. – Star Tribune

Chargers

The Chargers are finalizing details of a contract for Rob Chudzinski to coach their tight ends and also be assistant head coach, sources said yesterday. The hiring, sources said, is designed to free up some of coach Norv Turner’s time and attention. Chudzinski, the Chargers’ tight ends coach in 2005 and 2006 before becoming the Cleveland Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2007, will have immense input in the game plan and assist Turner in game-day decisions. – Union-Tribune

Panthers

The Carolina Panthers began piecing together their defensive coaching staff Monday, naming Ron Meeks their defensive coordinator. Meeks, who helped Indianapolis to the 2006 Super Bowl championship as the Colts’ defensive coordinator, replaces Mike Trgovac, who resigned last week after the Panthers’ defense struggled through the second half of a season which ended with a lopsided playoff loss against Arizona. Meeks, 54, was on the market when he, too, resigned last week after Colts coach Tony Dungy retired. It was uncertain whether new Colts coach Jim Caldwell would have retained Meeks. – Charlotte Observer

Former Nebraska QB Frost Hired as WR Coach at Oregon

Turns out the Ducks interviewed two national champion quarterbacks for an assistant coaching job, and on Monday they hired one of them. Scott Frost, who began his college career at Stanford and led Nebraska to the 1997 national title, has been hired to coach Oregon’s receivers. He replaces Robin Pflugrad, who was not retained after three seasons as part of the Ducks’ plan for offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to ultimately replace Mike Bellotti has head coach. – Register Guard

Whipple Hired as OC at Miami

Mark Whipple, who helped Ben Roethlisberger win his first Super Bowl and coached Massachusetts to a Division I-AA national championship in 1998, was hired Tuesday as Miami’s new offensive coordinator. Whipple, 51, most recently was an offensive assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, who were in this year’s NFC championship game. He accepted the Miami job on Monday, and the hiring process was complete Tuesday morning. His first task will focus on recruiting: Signing day is Feb. 4, meaning Whipple will have about a week to get to know the players Miami is targeting. – Miami Herald

Bullough Promoted to DC at UCLA; Lake Hired to Coach DB’s

UCLA linebacker coach Chuck Bullough has been promoted to defensive coordinator. He takes over for DeWayne Walker, who left the Bruins to become the head coach at New Mexico State. Prior to his three years as an assistant in Westwood, Bullough had a brief stint at Western Michigan. From 1999-2003, he spent time coaching every single defensive position group and special teams for the Chicago Bears. It was also announced on Monday that former UCLA All-American and NFL Pro Bowler Carnell Lake was hired to coach the Bruins’ secondary. Lake hasn’t had major coaching experience before, but with 12 years of NFL experience his credentials as a player are exceptional. – Los Angeles Times

Raiders’ Coaching Searches Continue…

No other team in the NFL with a head-coaching vacancy after the season has used this approach: interview coordinators, hire or fire assistants, etc., before naming a head coach. Everyone else hired a coach first, then gave him a say in who would be doing what on the staff. … So, why are the Raiders spending so much time interviewing coordinators and assistants before they hire a head coach? Because they won’t say, here are a few leading theories: For starters, Tom Cable has been considered the front-runner ever since he finished the season with consecutive victories while winning three of the last six. Two team sources think Davis is taking his sweet time, simply to make sure no one more desirable becomes available, before making it official. Cable certainly is acting as if the job is his. He represented the Raiders at last week’s Senior Bowl, scouting players and meeting with prospective coaches. If he isn’t trying to line up a job elsewhere, he must know something. Another possibility is that Davis could be waiting until after the Super Bowl so he can interview members of the two participating teams, the Cardinals and Steelers. – San Francisco Chronicle

Jags Hire Five Assistants

The Jaguars made it official Saturday night that they’ve filled their two coordinator posts when they confirmed the hiring of Mel Tucker as the new defensive coordinator and made the surprise announcement that Russ Purnell will be the special-teams coach. The Jaguars also filled three more spots on their assistant coaching staff by hiring Charlie Jackson as the defensive line assistant, Luke Richesson as strength coach and Johnny Cox as quality control coach. Tucker will become the team’s third defensive coordinator in the last three seasons. Tucker will become the fourth defensive coordinator coach Jack Del Rio has hired since becoming head coach in 2003. Purnell was fired earlier this month by the Colts’ new head coach, Jim Caldwell. He was hired by former coach Tony Dungy in 2002. – Florida Times-Union

Titans’ QB Coach a Hot Commodity

Titans quarterbacks coach Craig Johnson has been granted permission to interview for the offensive coordinator’s job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to sources familiar with the situation. Johnson just finished his ninth season with the Titans, his seventh as quarterbacks coach. Also, the Titans have granted permission to the Detroit Lions to talk to Titans defensive assistant/quality control coach Matt Burke. – Tennessean

Why Garner Stayed at Georgia

Rodney Garner makes these points very clear: He loves the University of Georgia, he loves Mark Richt and he loves his job. But the Bulldogs’ man of many hats — he is defensive line coach, recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach — may one day leave anyway. Salaries are rising quickly in college football. And Georgia’s not anteing up. Two weeks ago, Garner was offered a three-year contract worth $400,000 per year to join Lane Kiffin’s staff at Tennessee. He turned it down to remain at Georgia, where he has a one-year deal that pays him $263,301, including supplements and bonuses. The Bulldogs offered Garner “a very minimal increase” for staying, he said. “I’m staying for a man, not for money,” Garner said, referring to his close relationship with Richt. “But I turned down a significant amount of money to do so. My family and friends think I’m crazy. I’m serious, they think I’m nuts. At some point, it’s going to get to the point that I have to think about securing my future.” – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

« Previous Page — Next Page »