CSU defensive coordinator search in flux after losing candidate to Raiders

CSU’s search for a defensive coordinator took an unexpected twist Thursday, with reports that Derrick Ansley had accepted a job with the Oakland Raiders and John Jancek would join Mike Bobo’s staff with the Rams.

Neither of those hires, first reported by FootballScoop, were formally announced. Multiple reports out of both Alabama, where Ansley spent the past two seasons as Alabama’s defensive backs coach, and Oakland, had Ansley going to the Raiders as the defensive secondary coach under new head coach Jon Gruden instead of joining Bobo's staff as defensive coordinator.

Jancek, 49, was the defensive coordinator at Tennessee from 2013-15 under then-coach Butch Jones, and the Volunteers improved statistically in each of his three seasons – climbing from No. 94 nationally in total defense in 2013 to No. 37 in 2015. They went from No. 90 in scoring defense in 2013 to No. 19 in 2015.

Jancek spent the 2016 season as the safeties coach at South Florida and this past fall worked as a consultant at Kentucky. He and Bobo worked together at Georgia from 2005-09, with Jancek serving as the Bulldogs’ linebackers coach and taking on the added role of co-defensive coordinator in 2009. Bobo was Georgia’s quarterbacks coach from 2001-06 and the offensive coordinator from 2007-14.

Jancek was a defensive coordinator at Cincinnati from 2010-12.

Ansley reportedly had “agreed in principle” Monday to become the Rams’ defensive coordinator following that night’s national championship game, FootballScoop reported and the Coloradoan confirmed through a source close to the program.

The appeal of the CSU job is that coach Mike Bobo plans to let his defensive coordinator hire his own position coaches, so Ansley could have built his staff as he chose. There was already a report that George Helow, a defensive quality control assistant for the Rams this past season and a graduate assistant in 2016, would move into one of those four positions under Ansley.

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But that was before Gruden, an ESPN analyst for the past eight years, was hired Tuesday to a 10-year contract, said to be worth nearly $100 million, to coach the Raiders. Ansley, 36, interviewed with the Raiders on Wednesday and accepted it, FootballScoop reported Thursday.

ESPN’s Adam Shefter reported that Gruden’s deal with the Raiders included the ability to offer his assistants four-year contracts since the team will be spending the next two years in Oakland before moving to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

Colorado's legislature amended a state law that had limited the number of multi-year contracts CSU and the University of Colorado could offer last spring to exempt employees whose positions are funded by revenue from auxiliary activities, such as college athletics. So Bobo, in theory, could offer up to a five-year contract to a prospective assistant, although the money pledged would count toward the $3-million-a-year salary pool for up to 20 staff members spelled out in the contract extension he agreed to last month. No current CSU assistant coaches have multi-year contracts.

During an introductory news conference Wednesday in Oakland, Gruden said he had hired Paul Guenther as the Raiders defensive coordinator. Guenther held the same role with the Cincinnati Bengals for the past three seasons. Gruden also announced his offensive and special-teams coordinators, Los Angeles Rams quarterbacks coach Greg Olson and Dallas Cowboys special-teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, respectively, but did not announce the hiring of Ansley or any other position coaches.

Ansley could not be reached for comment, and CSU wasn’t able to comment on whether or not he ever was offered a job. The Rams have yet to confirm the hiring of Dave Johnson as their offensive line coach, a move that was first reported Dec. 31. Johnson, who worked alongside Bobo at Georgia for seven seasons from 2001-07, has been Ohio’s offensive line coach for the past four seasons and was co-offensive coordinator in 2017.

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The timing is awkward for recruiting, given that a new contact period allowing coaches to make in-home visits with prospects begins Friday.

CSU has eight scholarships still available for the 2018 signing class after signing 17 in the new early period. The regular signing period begins Feb. 7.

Ansley was rated the No. 15 recruiter among assistant coaches in the country by 247Sports.

Helow and Sean Richardson, a graduate assistant for the Rams this past season, have been certified as a coach who can recruit for the Rams, Bobo said last month, and will likely be on the road Friday, along with Bobo, quarterbacks coach Ronnie Letson, receivers coach Alvis Whitted, running backs coach Bryan Applewhite, tight ends coach Joe Cox and, possibly, Johnson.

Cox interviewed recently for a job at Tennessee, FootballScoop reported Thursday. Will Friend, CSU’s offensive line coach and offensive coordinator for the past three seasons, and Terry Fair, the Rams’ cornerbacks coach for the past three seasons, both left in early December to join new coach Jeremy Pruitt’s staff at Tennessee.

Marty English, CSU’s linebackers coach for the past six seasons and defensive coordinator for the past two, was planning to retire after the Dec. 16 New Mexico Bowl, Bobo said before the game. Defensive line coach Ricky Logo and special-teams coordinator Jamie Bryant were let go after the bowl game, the coach said.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310) and 10:45 a.m. Saturdays on Denver’s ESPN radio (AM 1600).

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