Utah hires John Pease as defensive coordinator

More than a month after Kalani Sitake left Utah for Oregon State, the Utes finally have a new defensive coordinator.

Among a handful of other changes to his staff, head coach Kyle Whittingham announced Monday morning that John Pease has agreed to come out of retirement to run the Utes' defense.

Pease is a Utah alum who last coached from 2009-2010, when he came out of his first retirement to coach the Utes’ defensive line for two seasons. Before joining Utah’s staff, Pease was a defensive assistant in the NFL from 1986-2005, including a two-year stint as defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2001-02 after being Jacksonville’s d-line coach from 1995-2000.

He also served as defensive line coach with the New Orleans Saints from 1986-1994 and 2004-05.

Before his time in the NFL, Pease was an assistant at Washington, Utah and Long Beach State. He also coached Utah’s linebackers in 1977.

Additionally, Whittingham announced that Dennis Erickson was promoted from running backs coach to assistant head coach, though he will keep his running backs coach duties. Erickson, the former head coach at Miami, Oregon State and Arizona State, among others, is entering his third season as a Utah assistant.

Elsewhere, Whittingham promoted quarterbacks coach Aaron Roderick and offensive line coach Jim Harding to co-offensive coordinators and gave safeties coach Morgan Scalley added duties as special teams’ coordinator.

Finally, the Utes hired Weber State’s Justin Ena to coach linebackers. Ena was Weber State’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach last season after spending six seasons at Southern Utah, including four as defensive coordinator.

Whittingham still needs to round out his staff by hiring a tight ends coach.

The Utes went 9-4 in 2014.

For more Utah news, visit Utezone.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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