Brick Haley hired as Missouri’s new defensive line coach

Missouri announced today that Barry Odom has hired Brick Haley to replace Jackie Shipp as the Tigers’ defensive line coach.

This move makes quite a bit of sense. Haley’s name circulated this time last year, when Odom was originally forming his staff. Oscar Gamble connected Brick Haley with Mizzou last December when Odom was looking for Craig Kuligowski’s replacement.

Brick Haley, 49, Defensive line coach at the University of Texas. Haley has been a defensive line coach at LSU and Mississippi State and has experience in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. Previously, Haley worked for six seasons (2009-14) at LSU, coaching nine defensive linemen selected in the NFL Draft, including a pair of first-round picks in Michael Brockers and Barkevious Mingo. LSU's streak of years with at least one defensive lineman picked in the draft is 11. If there's a program who's defensive line success Mizzou wants to emulate, it is LSU.

He got a raise to remain on Charlie Strong’s Texas staff, and Odom eventually hired Chris Wilson, then Shipp. (Texas A&M also tried to pull Haley away from Strong last year.)

Odom fired Shipp the week before the Arkansas game, and Haley was not retained when Tom Herman replaced Strong at Texas. It was a match made in heaven.

Haley has been around the block a couple of times. An Alabama A&M graduate, served as defensive line coach at Austin Peay and Troy State for six years, spent a year each at Houston and Clemson, and got his first big break as Baylor defensive coordinator in 1999.

When he couldn’t save Kevin Steele’s crumbling tenure in Waco, he moved on to spend two years as Georgia Tech’s linebackers coach (2002-03), then settled in to life as a career defensive line coach. He spent three years in that role at Mississippi State (2004-06), three with the Chicago Bears (2007-09), and six with LSU (2009-14) before landing with Strong and Texas in 2015. And now he returns to the SEC.

Haley’s experience as a defensive line coach is certainly a draw, but it isn’t the only one. He was instrumental in Texas landing four highly-touted prospects from Louisiana in the 2016 recruiting class. One of them — outside linebacker Malcolm Roach — was a freshman standout this fall, recording eight tackles for loss.

Haley held his own as a recruiter for LSU, too. We’ll see what kind of connections he is able to maintain as a key recruiter for a school with less of a blueblood name. Regardless ... welcome, Coach. Try to stay longer than the last two guys.