Breaking Down UCLA Football's Potential Defensive Coordinator Candidates

From internal options to big swings and dark horses, here are the biggest contenders for the Bruins to pursue this offseason.

After four long years, the Bruins have an opening at defensive coordinator

Jerry Azzinaro stepped down and resigned from his role leading UCLA football's defense on Wednesday, becoming the fifth coach to leave the program in the past month. Technically speaking, with coach Chip Kelly still not having signed an extension to lock him into his position moving forward, it isn't 100% confirmed who will be in charge of making these hires.

But under the assumption Kelly returns and the status quo remains, here are the five most notable candidates to take over for Azzinaro this offseason.

Clancy Pendergast, UCLA

As it turns out, there already happens to be an experienced Power Five defensive coordinator on the staff in Westwood.

Pendergast bounced around from Mississippi State to USC, Oklahoma and the Dallas Cowboys throughout the 1990s, then he earned his first defensive coordinator gig with the Arizona Cardinals in 2004. Pendergast stayed there for four years, coaching in Super Bowl XLII in 2008 before taking the defensive coordinator job with the Kansas City Chiefs.

After three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Cal, Pendergast returned to USC for one year, only to become the linebackers coach for the San Francisco 49ers in 2015. Pendergast then had his third stint with the Trojans as their defensive coordinator from 2016 to 2019.

All of that experience is certainly hard to come by, but it isn't exactly the most welcoming experience.

A decade ago, during his four years in Berkeley and one-year stop at USC, Pendergast put together some of the best defenses out west. But in his most recent go-round at USC, the Trojans' defense fell off big time and he was run out of town.

Having Pendergast as a defensive analyst this past year must have been helpful, but to promote him to a position he failed at as recently as 2019 would be an interesting decision to say the least. Bruin Report Online reported Pendergast is not truly in contention for the job, so perhaps Kelly and the rest of the decision-makers in Westwood know to avoid giving Pendergast a promotion.

Brian Norwood, UCLA

The other internal option the Bruins could turn to is Norwood, who already revamped their defense when he arrived in 2020.

Norwood already holds the title of assistant head coach, and he has been a defensive coordinator at Baylor, Tulsa, Kansas State and Navy over the past decade, so he has a solid amount of pedigree to his name. On top of that, he brought his signature 4-2-5 formation to Westwood a few years ago and helped the unit become more aggressive and better at finishing tackles for loss and sacks in the process.

Even with key pieces like defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia, striker Qwuantrezz Knight and safety Quentin Lake leaving, UCLA's personnel is still tailored to fit the 4-2-5 system.

However, like Pendergast, Norwood's defenses were far from world-beaters when he was the man in charge.

Baylor finished in the bottom half of the Big 12 in each of the three years Norwood ran their defense and two of his three Tulsa defenses finished in the bottom of the country in scoring. Norwood's stops at Kansas State and Navy went considerably better, but as defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator at UCLA, the Bruins have put up some of the worst passing defense numbers in the nation.

To take a real step forward, it feels like UCLA needs some fresh blood. Even though Norwood is a schematic fit, it seems unlikely he's the guy who can take this defense to the next level.

Jimmy Lake, Washington

It isn't very often that a Power Five head coach is out there on the market as a candidate for a coordinator job, but a string of interesting circumstances have put Lake in that exact position.

Lake was the head coach at Washington the past two seasons, and after a successful debut year in 2020, his second campaign went much worse on and off the field. Going 4-8 was bad enough to get him booted out of Seattle, especially considering the Huskies were a dark horse College Football Playoff contenders to start the year and lost at home to FCS program Montana in September.

On top of that, Lake was caught striking players on the sidelines during games, and other accusations came out about him being physical and aggressive around team facilities as well. Those are certainly red flags for any teams looking to hire him, if nothing else from a PR perspective, but if UCLA overlooks them, he is almost everything they're looking for in a defensive coordinator.

Lake was Washington's defensive coordinator under head coach Chris Peterson from 2016 to 2019, where he shined as one of the best recruiters on the West Coast. His defenses ranked No. 8, No. 5, No. 5 and No. 15 in scoring nationally over those four years as he learned under Pederson, producing NFL talent and going to three New Year's Six Bowls in the process.

Even when he made the move to head coach, both of his defenses finished top 40 in the nation in scoring defense despite all the losing.

Lake knows how to run a defense, so even if he came up in a 2-4-5 system compared to the Bruins' 4-2-5, the two formations are similar enough where they could manage to make the transition relatively smoothly. If he can prove to rise above his prior mistakes, Lake stands out as an elite option for UCLA.

Gary Patterson, TCU

If candidates like Lake are a rarity, ones like Patterson only come around once in a generation.

Patterson is a legend down at TCU, as he was the man who led them from Conference USA to the Mountain West to the Big 12. Not too many coaches get to see through their team's journey up the ladder all the way to the Power Five level, but Patterson did just that over the course of his 21-year tenure, plus another three as defensive coordinator.

Patterson's last three seasons in Fort Worth didn't go so great, as he went 16-18 without a single bowl appearance since 2019. However, considering the Horned Frogs hadn't finished in the final AP Top 25 in 40 years before he arrived, then he led them to 12 of such finishes with 19 bowl appearances during his tenure, he has earned a bit of a cushion.

TCU hasn't had a scoring defense finish in the bottom half of the FBS since 2004, and Patterson had spearheaded several top-10 defenses over the last two decades.

Patterson and TCU butted heads this past fall, leading to their best coach in program history bowing out midseason.

If that kind of ego can't be contained, maybe he isn't right for a coordinator job. But for Patterson to go back to his roots and try and team up with an offensive-minded coach like Kelly to prove his best days aren't behind him, UCLA would be an amazing landing spot for one of the best coaches of the century.

TJ Rushing, Texas A&M

The first two internal options are traditional picks for those who think Kelly wants to keep things the same moving forward, and the other two are shoot-for-the-stars big names that have been thrown out by just as many fans and pundits.

How about a real dark horse?

Rushing has spent the last two seasons as the defensive backs coach at Texas A&M, and he previously held the same position at Memphis and Arizona State. So right off the bat, Rushing has both Pac-12 and SEC experience, even if it isn't as a coordinator.

Growing up in Oklahoma before playing his college ball at Stanford, Rushing is a guy who can bridge UCLA's current recruiting footprint in California with an additional space in the South.

In his short time at A&M, Rushing has already earned a commitment from five-star cornerback Denver Harris and three four-star defensive backs out of Texas and Georgia. Going back to his days at Arizona State, Rushing earned commitments from three-and-four-star defensive backs from California, Arizona and Nevada.

After four years of having a lethargic, nonexistent recruiter in Azzinaro leading the defense, Rushing would be a nice change of pace in that sense. Rushing isn't just a recruiter, though, and he has made moves on the field as well.

The Aggies had the No. 3 scoring defense in the country and No. 2 pass defense in the SEC this past season, and they have two safeties that are NFL-bound this spring.

Rushing went to A&M to coach under Jimbo Fisher, who is still in charge in College Station. However, Mike Elko was the defensive coordinator above Rushing the past two years, and Elko left to be the new head coach at Duke.

With DJ Durkin coming in to take Elko's spot, there is room for other moves on that defensive staff.

According to On3, Rushing turned down a defensive coordinator offer from a Mountain West school last offseason. If a Pac-12 program like UCLA approached him, maybe that could be the difference.

The Bruins have already added Washington's Ikaika Malloe as their next outside linebackers coach. If they want to add another young up-and-comer who excels at recruiting to their defensive staff, pursuing Rushing would be a great way to do so.

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