Let's Give Cosh a Chance, Everyone

Everyone's heard by now about USF's latest addition to the coaching staff. Chris Cosh comes all the way over from Kansas State to accept the defensive coordinator position with the Bulls. Many fans were expecting former USF DC (currently at Iowa State) Wally Burnham to be getting a call, but that didn't happen. Another option was Florida State's Greg Hudson, but he didn't get a call either. In fact, it turns out that Cosh was the only guy who interviewed for the job.

If you judge the hire by looking at Kansas State fans' twitter timelines, you'd wonder why the hell this guy is gettin $325,000 per year for a two year contract. Here are just a couple examples of what KSU fans are saying:

So what makes this guy right for the job here? There's a slim chance that he's a better DC than Snyder, but is he even a good one? I'm going to tell you guys exactly what I've been telling myself for the past day: Let's be patient and actually see him on the field. I know it's an unusual transition, and I don't know why anyone would want someone who was a defensive coach in the Big XII, but he didn't get all these jobs for no reason. Cosh has been a coach for BCS-level teams since 1991. He coached with Skip Holtz under Lou at South Carolina before getting the job at Kansas State.

In his first year as DC at KSU, Cosh's defense rose from 117th nationally up to 39th in 2009. Before coming back to Manhattan, Cosh was the linebackers coach and defensive coordinator at Maryland, where in 2008 they ranked 24th in the country in scoring defense and 33rd in pass defense, and showed significant improvements in QB pressure.

In his early career, Cosh served as the linebackers coach at Illinois, where he coached Dana Howard and Kevin Hardy to win the 1994 and 1995 Butkus Awards, respectively. At South Carolina, he coached Pro Bowler John Abraham and All-American Lance Laury. Kalimba Edwards was a finalist for the 2001 Butkus and Lombardi Awards.

So it might not be all bad. Cosh has had jobs at BCS schools for almost 20 years, so there's obviously something in him that the people upstairs at these schools are seeing. He's placed a good number of guys in the NFL, and his players have been recognized nationally. I know it might not seem like it was the best decision for the job, but hey, let's give him a shot.

He better be a good recruiter though.