Since it's the last big elephant in the room for Leach's hiring, I thought it would be interesting to hear some potential candidates for our Defensive Coordinator role. A lot of these guys run 3-4s, which I know we have talked about way too much over the last couple years, but with Leach checking out the NY Jets practices and such, I wouldn't be surprised to see him transition the Cougar D into a 3-4 base or some type of hybrid/multiple formations scheme.

I'll start with a few wishlist names:

Tim DeRuyter - DC at Texas A&M and Interim Head Coach. Runs a 3-4, consistently has his defense near the top nationally. I don't see this ever happening, but a man can dream, right?!

Joe Barry - LB Coach at USC. He falls in the Tony Dungy/Monte Kiffin coaching trees. Very familiar with a 3-4 defense. EDIT: 4-3 / Tampa Cover 2.

Ruffin McNeill - Head Coach ECU. He transitioned ECU into a 3-4 defense, worked under Leach. With what he's making at ECU and being the head man, he probably would view this as a step backwards, but you never know what he's thinking and the pull Leach might have with him.

David Bailiff - HC Rice. He's on the hot seat over there, only making 500k or so. He's the former TCU DC who had quite a few successful defenses. I think he's under the Mack Brown coaching tree.

Others:

Greg McMackin - Fired Hawaii coach. Familiar with Leach. His defensive background is superb and he's known as an excellent recruiter. Coached for Seahawks, Miami Hurricanes and some others. Wasn't getting it done as a head man for Hawaii, plus has some controversy around him. He seems to be a 4-3 guy, so if Leach is wanting to experiment with the 3-4, not sure how that would work?

Jerry Glanville - He's old and not sure he has the desire to hit recruiting like he should, but he has a great coaching background and might be looking to get back into college ball. Not sure he would go for being asecond in charge either. He is a 3-4 guy though and has some NFL-name recognition to him.

DeWayne Walker - Former UCLA DC, great recruiter with California ties. Currently Head Coach at New Mexico State who's struggling.

Chris Tormey - Has a solid background, great recruiter, already on staff. Downside is he's part of the former regime and I don't see Leach keeping any hold-overs.

Who are some others out there? Who would you like to see come to Pullman?