I’ll start this off by saying I doubt Lafleur is looking to change OCs given his reluctance to change a struggling DC for this long, and I would have no issues with them keeping Stenavich, this is just an interesting thought experiment.
I think Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith would be a great OC for us, and here are my reasons why:
When he took over Oregon State in 2018 they were 7-29 in their past three seasons. He has since built that up into a #15 ranked bowl-winning team last year and currently a #10 ranked team this year. It shows he can develop teams and with how young the Packers are I think that would be a huge plus for us.
He has a good offensive mind as an ex-QB himself, and has done a lot of good work with DJ Uiagalelei after his time as QB for Clemson. I think DJ has some similarities to Love and Smith would be able to coach him well.
Not as big of a deal, but he’d be reunited with Luke Musgraves and would probably find ways to scheme him up well like he did at Oregon State.
And most importantly, with Oregon State being one of the only two PAC-12 teams to not be invited to a different conference next year, they’re in a limbo state. Who knows how many people will transfer away or simply not commit there since they aren’t in one of the big conferences. Now Smith is an OrSt alum himself, so he might stay loyal to the school (and a top 10 finish for them this year could potentially win them a bid into a big conference), but if he thinks the program is going to fall off because of the lack of a conference, he might be itching for a job at a bigger school or in the NFL.
Again, I’d say chances are low and I won’t be mad keeping Stenavich around, but this crossed my mind this morning and I felt like sharing!