After one poor season, LSU and defensive coordinator Bo Pelini have “mutually agreed to part ways” as part of a defensive overhaul, the Tigers announced on Monday night.
“While this year has been challenging in many ways, the decision to return to LSU — a place that I love with many wonderful memories — is something that I’m thankful for. However, after meeting with Coach O and discussing the future of the program, we have mutually decided that it’s best we part ways,” Pelini said in a statement released by LSU.
It is also expected that safeties coach Bill Busch will be let go while defensive line coach Bill Johnson will retire.
The major shakeup comes just a year after LSU won its fourth national championship, and it represents the urgency Orgeron has to restore the program’s path toward contending for a national title.
This was Pelini’s second stint as LSU’s defensive coordinator with the first coming from 2005-07 under coach Les Miles. Pelini then left to become the coach at Nebraska but was fired after seven seasons in 2014.