CORVALLIS -- While Tim Tibesar was recruiting this past December for Wisconsin, he made a detour in Los Angeles to meet with Oregon State football coach Jonathan Smith.

Now the OSU defensive coordinator, Tibesar had been recommended to Smith as a candidate through their mutual connections and they met over the course of two days.

The four-time defensive coordinator, who had spent the past three seasons as the outside linebackers coach of one of the nation's elite defenses, soon agreed to try to rebuild one of the worst in Division I football.

The hiring was announced on Dec. 18, only two days before the new early signing day on Dec. 20, and 12 days before the Badgers beat Miami in the Orange Bowl.

Tibesar was coaching that night, helping engineer the capstone to a 13-1 season before he became the highest-paid member of Jonathan Smith's first coaching staff.

"Coach Smith was on board with that right from the beginning," Tibesar said. "We had a great season going at Wisconsin and I felt like I owed it to the players and the rest of the coaching staff to try to finish things there."

Smith's connections to Tibesar were also on the sideline that night.

Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst was Smith's quarterback coach at Oregon State from 1997-98 and the offensive coordinator when Smith returned. And Wisconsin defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield was Smith's teammate from 1997-98.

Wisconsin improved to 34-7 over the past three seasons under Chryst with the Orange Bowl win and Tibesar has been on staff throughout the run, which began after Gary Andersen left for Oregon State.

Tibesar was the position coach for current NFL linebackers T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh Steelers), Joe Schobert (Cleveland Browns) and Vince Biegel (Green Bay Packers). Last season, with all three in the professional ranks, the Badgers finished second nationally in total defense and third in scoring defense.

Tibesar will continue coaching outside linebackers and bring his knowledge base from Wisconsin and his other tenures as a defensive coordinator -- three at the college level (North Dakota from 2004-05, Kansas State from 2007-08 and Purdue in 2012) and one with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League from 2009-11. He also coached linebackers for the Chicago Bears in 2013.

The Beavers continue to use a 3-4 base defense with a nickel package under Tibesar, who said the scheme would be multiple but that specifics would be more limited until spring practice in April.

"The biggest thing is this spring we got to be able to identify who our playmakers are and find out a way to get as many of those guys on the field as possible," he said.

Tibesar will have some staff familiarity around him. It will be his third time with safeties coach Greg Burns, who was Tibesar's defensive backs coach at Kansas State in 2007 and Purdue in 2012.

Tibesar said he spoke with several different defensive back coaches for the position. Former interim head coach Cory Hall was not one of them.

"Never met him and don't know him," Tibesar said. "I don't know Coach Hall at all."

Hall, the two-year OSU cornerbacks coach who took over after Gary Andersen resigned six games into the season, earned widespread approval from players but finished his tenure 0-6 and with a 69-10 loss at Oregon. Smith told The Oregonian/OregonLive in December that his defensive coordinator would have some input into his defensive staff.

While Tibesar and Burns have history, he will be developing new relationships with the other members of the defensive staff: inside linebackers coach Trent Bray and defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa.

Bray, most recently the linebackers coach at Oregon State (2012-14) and Nebraska (2015-17), was an OSU linebacker from 2002-05 and became the school's sixth-leading tackler. Smith was a graduate assistant from 2002-03.

Suiaunoa, most recently the defensive coordinator at Hawaii, coached with Smith at Montana in 2011.

With Tibesar on board for recruitment in January, the Beavers on signing day addressed what Smith and Tibesar emphasized as top needs: defensive line and outside linebacker.

While at Wisconsin, Tibesar became familiar with incoming nose guard and Minnesota native Ronald Audette. Audette had committed to North Dakota for the early signing period in December, but a scholarship offer from Smith got him to reopen his commitment and he signed last week.

The signature player of the Beavers' signing day, Matthew Tago, will be in Tibesar's meeting room.

"He has all the skills that we're looking for to play outside linebacker," Tibesar said of Tago, who was also a high school quarterback. "He's tall and long and very, very athletic."

After losing leading tackler and team captain Manase Hungalu, the Beavers will have a young core in place for Tibesar to design in his first defense since coaching under a rotating cast of highly successful coordinators at Wisconsin.

Dave Aranda left after the 2015 season for LSU, where he became the highest-paid assistant football coach in the nation, according to USA Today. Justin Wilcox took over in 2016 before California hired him as its head coach.

Prior to the 2017 season, Chryst promoted defensive backs coach, Wisconsin alum and 10-year NFL veteran Jim Leonhard to coordinator. Leonhard went on to be named one of five finalists for the Frank Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top assistant football coach. Leonhard heavily praised Tibesar after his departure for Corvallis was announced.

"I've been fortunate to work with coordinators who give you a chance to have a voice in the room," Tibesar said. "Even though I wasn't a coordinator, I feel like I've been able to have some impact on putting together the game plan, putting together the playbook."

Tibesar reportedly twice interviewed for the position before Chryst went a different direction. Now he'll face a task with a higher degree of difficulty: reforming a defense that last season gave up 43.0 points per game, more than all but two teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

-- Danny Moran