Southern coach Dawson Odums set to hire three coaches

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  Six weeks after being named Southern’s new head football coach, Dawson Odums seems to have a handle on who will make up his first coaching staff.

Odums said Tuesday he has offered jobs to three new assistants and is waiting for the university to approve their hiring.

Chennis Berry is in line to coach the offensive line, Lorick Atkinson the linebackers and Chris Coleman the wide receivers.

Those three additions would bring the number of Southern assistants to eight.

Odums, who served as Southern’s interim coach for the final nine games of the 2012 season, said the only other hire he plans to make is a video coordinator.

“Other than that, that’s going to pretty much be it, and we’re going to see if we can’t go win some football games,” Odums said.

Odums said he is undecided on which of the eight assistants would serve as his offensive and defensive coordinators, but indicated both sides of the ball could have co-coordinators. The former Southern defensive coordinator said he will help coach the defense but will not again serve as a coordinator.

Five assistants return from last year’s staff.

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