BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - LSU has promoted linebackers coach Will Muschamp to defensive coordinator, replacing Gary Gibbs who left the Tigers for the Dallas Cowboys. <br>
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Muschamp will be replaced as linebackers coach by Kirk Doll, a former assistant at Texas A&M and Notre Dame. Doll was considering a job at Texas Christian University before accepting the post with LSU on Friday. <br>
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``Will is one of the brightest young coaches that I've been around in a long time,'' coach Nick Saban said in a press statement released Monday by LSU. <br>
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At 30, Muschamp is the youngest member of LSU's staff. He was defensive coordinator at Valdosta State in 2000 before moving to LSU before the 2001 season. <br>
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``His enthusiasm and knowledge of the game was something I felt we couldn't pass up,'' Saban said. ``He's been a coordinator before, he understands our system and I think it's a great fit.'' <br>
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Muschamp said he appreciated the opportunity. <br>
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``It's a great honor to be a coach at LSU and I'm very excited about what we're building here,'' Muschamp said. <br>
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Doll said Monday that he unofficially accepted the linebackers coaching job at TCU last week with the understanding that he was going to interview with LSU and an NFL team he would not identify. <br>
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``This situation at LSU is something I really wanted to do,'' Doll said. ``I told the NFL team thanks but no thanks.'' <br>
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Doll, 50, has coached at Texas City High School, Iowa State, Tulsa, Arizona State, Texas A&M and Notre Dame. <br>
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Muschamp will be the fourth defensive coordinator under Saban. John Thompson was on the payroll for only a month before leaving for Arkansas in January 2000. He later moved to Florida. <br>
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Phil Elmassian left LSU for West Virginia after the 2000 season, but has since left that staff. Gibbs, a former head coach at Oklahoma, held the job for one season before going to the Cowboys to coach linebackers.
