Sean Isabella

sisabella@thenewsstar.com

Louisiana Tech has hit its yearly tradition of losing three assistant coaches.

After previously bidding farewell offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tony Petersen, who left for East Carolina last month, the Bulldogs will be without two more assistants for the 2016 season.

Louisiana Tech running backs coach Jabbar Juluke is leaving the Bulldogs to take the same position at Texas Tech and cornerbacks coach/special teams coordinator Ronnie Bradford is leaving for a job at USC.

Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated first reported the moves Wednesday morning. USC announced Bradford's hiring Wednesday night.

The news comes after the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas reported late Tuesday that Texas Tech "has started the hiring process" with Juluke and that Juluke is a leading candidate for the position.

Juluke, who earned $110,000 this past year, up from $84,000 in 2014, could potentially double his salary with a move to Texas Tech. Former Red Raiders running backs coach Mike Jinks made $215,000 in 2015 before he left to take the head job at Bowling Green.

Bradford also made $110,000 in 2015 up $20,000 from his salary the previous year.

Tech raises the floor with football assistant salaries

“His 17 years of experience in the NFL as both a player and a coach jumped out to us immediately," USC coach Clay Helton said in a release. "I am very impressed with his ability to coach technique and fundamentals at the defensive back position. He is a true technician."

The respective interest with Juluke and Bradford began last week — Juluke had an initial interview at Texas Tech — and heated up over the weekend at the annual coaches convention in San Antonio where they were both interviewed.

Bradford's decision to leave is based off a relationship with new USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast. They worked together at Kansas City (2009) and at California (2010).

In 2013, Tech lost assistants Kim Dameron, Jeff Koonz and Stan Eggan and watched Manny Diaz, Matt Moore and Oscar Giles leave in 2014.

Rattay: Coaching QBs at Tech a 'dream of mine'

In an interview with The News-Star last week, Tech coach Skip Holtz hinted that the Bulldogs would be dealt with more staff changes after Petersen left, saying that he didn't want to name an offensive coordinator until coaching search season settled down.

Now he'll have to find a total of three coaches with Tech's big recruiting weekend coming up in a few days. He previously promoted Tim Rattay to quarterbacks coach in December.

Juluke previously served as a high school coach at Edna Karr for nine years and won a Class 4A state championship in 2012 before joining the Bulldogs' staff.

The New Orleans native has developed a reputation as a strong recruiter in Louisiana and Arkansas. He also helped groom Bulldogs running back Kenneth Dixon into one of the top running backs in the country.

Dixon was already a rising star prior to Juluke coming to Ruston three years ago, but Dixon has publicly stated how Juluke influenced his growth. Dixon ended his career second all-time on the NCAA career touchdown list with various school records to his name.

Wossman running back Ladarrius Thomas is among the current prospects Juluke recruited to play at Tech.

Just last year, Juluke helped land O'Shea Dugas, Jaqwis Dancy, Javonte Woodard, Jordan Bradford, Theron Williams and Brandon Brinson as part of the 2015 signing class. Dugas was the biggest get of them all as the true freshman started all but one game for the Bulldogs at left guard and was named to the 247sports.com Freshman All-America team.

Wednesday's departure leaves just Joe Sloan, Tech's receivers coach/recruiting coordinator, and Rattay as the only members of Holt'z first staff.

One notable side story with the moves is a 2016 matchup between Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, on Sept. 17. Juluke will face his former colleagues and players just like former defensive coordinator Manny Diaz did when Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State played in 2015.