LSU coach Lane Kiffin announces that defensive coordinator Blake Baker will remain with the Tigers

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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker, a former Tulane player who was widely seen as a top candidate to take over the Green Wave after Jon Sumrall leaves for Florida, will instead remain with the Tigers, coach Lane Kiffin said in a social media post on Friday night.

Baker “is going nowhere!!!!” Kiffin posted on his X account.

Baker, hired by former LSU coach Brian Kelly, has led the defense the past two seasons and has been one of the highest-paid assistants in college football at $2.5 million annually. Now he's expected to receive a raise under Kiffin, who agreed last Sunday — in the midst of an 11-win season at Ole Miss — to accept a seven-year, $90 million contract to coach at LSU.

LSU ranked 15th in scoring defense this season, allowing 18.3 points per game.

Kiffin's announcement that the 43-year-old Baker will remain on LSU's staff comes on the heels of the Tigers landing a pair of highly rated recruits at defensive tackle: Lamar Brown and Deuce Geralds.

Baker was a defensive coordinator at Missouri before taking he same post at LSU, where he'd also served as a linebackers coach under Ed Orgeron in 2021. Baker also has been a defensive coordinator at Miami and Louisiana Tech. ___

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