It was first known last week that Portland State added a new assistant coach, Richard Seigler, to its football staff. Since then, I’ve been wondering if anyone was going to write anything about the hire.

I like new PSU head coach Nigel Burton a lot. Seems like a very solid, intelligent and hard-working guy. I wish him the best. But Seigler has quite a past and I’m surprised the Vikings didn’t get out in front of the story immediately when they hired the former Oregon State linebacker. But there has been no mention of his past at all anywhere that I can find.

There is more on Seigler here and it should be noted that he eventually beat the rap. In fact, he may have been the victim of a very unfortunate circumstance in which he was accused of an unseemly crime that he didn’t commit. But this messy story was big at the time — come on, an NFL linebacker being accused of living off the earnings of a prostitute? — and the sad thing about tales like this is that people often remember the accusations a lot longer than they do the end result of a trial.

All that said, it was interesting to see the quote from Burton in the official Portland State press release about the hiring of Seigler:

“Our staff had a chance to watch Richard work our camps this summer. He showed great enthusiasm, rapport with the kids and a great deal of detail and knowledge,” Burton said. “In addition, I think he is a great story for our kids to emulate in that he was one of the last guys to receive a scholarship at Oregon State his senior year of high school. He went on to become one of the greatest linebackers in the history of the program, as well as winning a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

That part about “a great story for our kids to emulate” strikes me as an interesting thing to say, given the circumstances.

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Nevada, where new Portland State head football coach Nigel Burton was the defensive coordinator, ranked just 88th in the country in total defense last season, allowing nearly 400 yards per game. Nevada also ranked 113th in pass efficiency defense.

Now part of that, I assume, is because Nevada’s high-powered offense — that “pistol” thing with the tailback deep behind the quarterback, who is in the shotgun formation — scores quickly and keeps the defense on the field a lot.

My understanding is that Burton is planning on bringing that offense with him to Portland State.

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I’m getting a bit of second-guessing lately about my sources and some things I’ve said that are going on. And certainly I have never claimed to get them all correct.

But I had this one right last week. After all these years in the business, I don’t go out on too many limbs without knowing how strong the tree is.

Doubt this blog at your own risk.

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I believe it’s Nigel Burton, defensive coordinator at Nevada — who is considered a hot property and dynamite recruiter. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s named in the next two or three days.

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