LSU head coach Ed Orgeron will have to continue his search for a new defense coordinator.
On Monday, the NFL Network’s Jane Slater and other news agents reported New Orleans Saints’ defensive coach Ryan Nielsen Head coach Sean Payton said he was ready to take on the defense coordinator in Baton Rouge. Sources confirmed the same with the Geaux247 staff.
But then a problem arose, while Slater later reported that the Saints were not currently releasing Nielsen, as the franchise had disputed “whether the language of Nielsen’s contract would support the move to the university ranks.”
By Tuesday morning, Orgeron was on 104.5 ESPN’s Off the Bench with T-Bob Hebert to share the latest from LSU’s end.
“We’re still working on it,” Orgeron said. “He is a primary candidate. I obviously love Ryan. He is a brilliant, young, energetic coach and he is highly recommended. But there are still a few things to work out if he can still come to LSU, and those things are not final yet. ‘
Bruce Feldman reported Tuesday afternoon that Nielsen would stay with the Saints and not take on the defense coordinator, and sources told Geaux247 staff that the Saints would not release Nielsen from his contract.
Nielsen was Orgeron’s most recent target to replace Bo Pelini, who spent one season as defense coordinator under Orgeron. Baylor head coach Dave Aranda was previously LSU’s defense coordinator ahead of Pelini’s 2020 season in Baton Rouge.
Nielsen, a graduate of Southern Cal, played a defensive line under Orgeron in the late 1990s and in the 2000s. His first job in university coaching was as a graduate assistant at Orgeron at USC in 2002, and he worked from there to the coaching rank. In 2005, Orgeron Nielsen was named his defensive coach at Ole Miss, and the two spent three seasons together at Oxford. From 2013-2016, Nielsen was the defense / recruiting coordinator / coordinator of the game at North Carolina State, and this is where his rise to fame gained a new impetus. After being famous for the Broyles Award, Saints’ head coach Sean Payton grabbed Nielsen as the team’s defensive coach in 2017, and his results were impressive over four seasons with the team.
Now Payton and Co have put the emphasis on Orgeron’s effort to lure in the talented Saints assistant.
For the Tigers, there are three more hires on the defensive side of football.
Orgeron must find a defensive coordinator and then serve on the defensive line or linebacker, as well as a new safety coach.
Stay tuned to Geaux247 and 247Sports for more information on this evolving story.