Houston hires Utah State's Todd Orlando to be defensive coordinator
Utah State defensive coordinator Todd Orlando has accepted the same position at Houston under new head coach Tom Herman.
Orlando, 43, had spent the last two seasons as Utah State’s defensive coordinator. His unit is 12th in the FBS this season in scoring defense (19.7 points per game) and 30th in total defense (356.1 yards per game).
Orlando was Herman's top defensive coordinator target. Earlier Monday, Cougars defensive coordinator David Gibbs left to take the the same position at Texas Tech.
Prior to Utah State, Orlando served as defensive coordinator for two seasons at Florida International. He was also defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Connecticut from 2005-10.
A Pittsburgh native, Orlando also coached linebackers for the Huskies from 1999-04. He got his start in college coaching linebackers at Penn from 1996-98. He played linebacker at Wisconsin from 1990-94.
Houston hired Herman, who remains Ohio State’s offensive coordinator for Monday’s national championship game, last month to replace fired coach Tony Levine.
Herman won the Broyles Award this season as the nation's top assistant and his dynamic spread-option offenses in his three seasons with the Buckeyes have been among the nation’s best, breaking numerous school records.
