Sources: Cincinnati's Mike Denbrock expected to join LSU's staff as offensive coordinator
The LSU football staff is continuing to come together in the upcoming days as sources told Yahoo Sports that Cincinnati offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock is expected to join Brian Kelly’s staff in Baton Rouge.
LSU is also expected to add former Louisiana Tech offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to coach quarterbacks and former Oklahoma assistant Jamar Cain, who was committed to join Lincoln Riley at USC, as the defensive line coach.
The hiring of Denbrock as offensive coordinator reunites him with Kelly, as the two first worked together in the late 1980s at Grand Valley State. Denbrock also spent seven years on the Notre Dame staff with Kelly, including offensive coordinator in 2014, and he also coached tight ends, wide receivers and worked as the associate head coach.
Denbrock is expected to install and call the same offense that Brian Kelly ran at Notre Dame, which made Denbrock’s familiarity an attractive option. Denbrock has been Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator during Luke Fickell’s entire tenure, and the Bearcats consistently improved over five seasons and entered Friday's College Football Playoff semifinal ranked No. 10 in scoring offense (38.8 ppg).
Denbrock, 57, also coaches the Bearcats’ tight ends, and Cincinnati has one of the country’s top tandems in future NFL draft picks Josh Whyle and Leonard Taylor. He has also worked at Stanford and Washington.
Sloan, 35, served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Louisiana Tech the past two seasons and was on Skip Holtz’s staff starting in 2013. He spent the past seven years as the associate head coach and was named interim coach after Holtz’s firing earlier this year.
Sloan served as a primary recruiter at Louisiana during his tenure, and his familiarity with the state was attractive to LSU. Sloan’s hire helps address the need for local recruiters on Kelly’s staff.
LSU is also adding Cain as the school’s defensive line coach, according to sources. Cain was recently added to Riley’s staff at USC, although never formally announced because he coached in Oklahoma’s bowl game. Prior to his two seasons at Oklahoma, Cain coached at Arizona State, Fresno State and North Dakota State.
Cain is considered one of the country’s most dynamic recruiters and helped develop star OU defensive linemen Ronnie Perkins and Nik Bonitto. Cain will also add the title as defensive run game coordinator at LSU.
