Arizona football: Wildcats to hire former Nevada defensive coordinator Scott Boone as linebackers coach

Boone has been Nevada’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach for the past three seasons

The Arizona Wildcats are set to add Nevada Wolf Pack defensive coordinator Scott Boone as their new linebacker coach, according to FootballScoop.com.

Boone, 57, has been Nevada’s defensive coordinator for the past three seasons. In his first two seasons in Reno, Boone improved Nevada’s scoring defense, and in 2015 the Wolf Pack were 15th in the nation in turnover margin.

Before Boone was at Nevada, he was at William and Mary for ten seasons, spending three of them as the school’s defensive coordinator.

In 2013, Boone was a finalist for the FCS Coordinator of the Year award.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that Boone has known Rich Rodriguez since the early 1990s when Boone was an assistant coach at Wabash College and Rodriguez was at the helm at Glenview State.

In addition to being a defensive coordinator, Boone has been a linebackers coach for the past six seasons.

Nevada fired head coach Brian Polian after the 2016 season and brought in Jay Norvell, who did not retain Boone.

Marcel Yates coached Arizona’s linebackers this past season, but the defensive coordinator will shift to coaching defensive backs this season, filling the void that was left by Donte Williams, who left for Nebraska.

From a recruiting standpoint, Boone and the Wolf Pack had several offers out to current Arizona commits, according to Zack Rosenblatt of the Arizona Daily Star, including Tony Fields, Austin Faoliu, Malik Hausman, Kurtis Brown, Xavier Bell, and Scott Young, so this hire could help prevent them from flipping, given that there is presumably a pre-existing relationship.

At William and Mary, Boone was responsible for the program’s recruiting efforts in northern Virginia, the Philadelphia-metropolitan area, and southern New Jersey.

The UA hasn’t officially announced the hire.

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