Report: Cooper, Haley to join LSU staff

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jan 6, 2009 - UPDATED: 6:25 a.m.

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John Chavis has already hit the ground recruiting and won’t be back in Baton Rouge full time until next week.

That doesn’t mean he’ll be that far behind because all indications are that the new LSU defensive coordinator’s staff is already taking shape.

The school officially unveiled Chavis as the Tigers new defensive coordinator Monday, but LSU officials weren’t ready to announce any other changes.

However, Brick Haley wandered down a hallway in plain view of reporters assembled to speak to Les Miles on Monday.

And South Carolina assistant head coach Ron Cooper told a reporter from the Columbia State he accepted an offer to coach the Tigers secondary.

Miles artfully dodged questions about those two men, but also did not deny their hirings.

Cooper said he interviewed with Miles last weekend. He said he was offered a three-year contract worth $300,000 a year. He was making $175,000 annually at USC.

A veteran of nine seasons as a head coach, Cooper was the youngest black head coach in major college football history when he took over at Eastern Michigan as a 30-year-old in 1993. He spent two seasons there, three at Louisville and four at Alabama A&M.

In 2000, Cooper guided the Bulldogs to the SWAC Championship Game. He was 22-23 in his A&M tenure.

A native of Huntsville, Ala., Cooper has strong ties to College Football Hall of Famer Lou Holtz.

Cooper was a graduate assistant under Holtz at Minnesota and later joined his Notre Dame staff in 1991-92. Holtz hired him at South Carolina as a defensive backs coach in 2004.

He remained with the Gamecocks when Steve Spurrier took over the next year, serving as outside linebackers and special teams coach in 2005 and safeties coach the last two falls.