Utah State loses defensive coordinator Todd Orlando to Houston

Utah State has become a prime source for teams looking for coaches. Aggies defensive coordinator Todd Orlando has become the latest coach to be pulled away. Coach Orlando agreed to take the same position with the University of Houston after the Cougars failed to keep their own defensive coordinators. Contract details have not been released but it is believed the move comes with an increased salary.

T. Orlando to Houston from USU is lateral move at best on CFB landscape. Money prob better, but not the job itself. Impatience may cost him

— Jared Eborn (@jaredeborn) January 6, 2015

On the surface this seems to be a lateral move for Orlando. Utah State has an already established defense returning many starters and also will be getting back NFL prospect Kyler Fackrell. it is hard to believe that repeating another strong season on that side of the ball wouldn't have gotten Orlando some interest from power five schools. The Aggies will need to move quickly on both coordinator spots as the pool of coaches is only becoming smaller.

Orlando spent two seasons as Utah State's defensive coordinator and in that time the Aggies had the best defense in 2013 and in 2014 had the second best defense even though there were injuries to multiple starters. Nationally the Aggies  ranked seventh in scoring defense (17.1 points) in 2013 and 12th (19.7) in 2014. The Aggies also were second nationally in tackles for loss (114) and fourth most sacks (49).

Utah State now needs a new defensive coordinator and an offensive coordinator since Kevin McGiven left to be the quarterbacks coach at Oregon State with his former boss Gary Andersen.