Texas Football: 5 best candidates to be next defensive coordinator

While the Texas football program begins the coaching search to replace both their coordinators, who would be the best option for defensive play calling?

In the midst of all the coaching changes that the Texas football program went through on Dec. 1, the first domino to fall was the firing of third-year defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.

A poor season from Texas on the defensive side of the ball is what led to the firing of Orlando in the first place. Since Orlando was figured to be one of the better assistant coaches of all the Power Five programs in the nation heading into the 2019 campaign, this was a big turnaround to led to his departure.

Texas ranked at No. 75 among all FBS programs in the entire country in points per game allowed (28.9) and gave up more than 300 passing yards per game and around 450 yards total. None of those marks were solid considering the strides that Texas was expected to make on the defensive side of the ball this season.

Whatever defensive coordinator lands on the Forty Acres to replace the departed Orlando could find himself in a good situation with a plethora of young talent. Head Texas football coach Tom Herman recruited well of late, landing two top three ranked signing classes in a row for the last two cycles.

The new defensive coordinator will have studs like safety Caden Sterns, nickelback B.J. Foster, and linebacker Joe Ossai to build their schemes around. It shouldn’t be that hard to come up with better defensive efficiency with all that talent on hand than finishing the regular season outside of the top 55 (thanks to Football Outsiders advanced stats).

Here’s a look into the five best potential hires that the Texas Longhorns football program could make in the wake of the firing of Todd Orlando.