Who do we hire? Oh, I'm not feeling up to look at which teams have produced top linebackers in the past few years... I know that Stanford and Tennessee have sent some guys to the NFL in the last half-decade... How do we get them? Money.
Not sure "linebackers to the NFL" is really how I'd build my candidate list. But, since you're lazy I'll humor you and help ya out...
Last 4 years...first 4 rounds
TOP TEAMS BY LB's IN NFL
USC (6)
PENN STATE (4)
FLORIDA STATE (2)
MIAMI (2)
MISSOURI (2)
OHIO STATE (2)
SOUTH FLORIDA (2)
WISCONSIN (2)
TOP COACHES BY LB's IN NFL
Ken Norton Jr (USC) - Currently with the Seahawks
Ron Vanderlinden (Penn State since 2001) - No Salary Info
Chuck Amato (Florida State) - Currently unemployed after battling cancer. Plans to return in 2011
Micheal Barrow (Miami) - Not sure if still on Miami staff.
Dave Steckel (Missouri) - Salary $400,000+-
Luke Fickell (Ohio State) - Salary $300,000+-
David Blackwell (South Florida - really only his 1st year) - MIA
Dave Doeren (Wisconsin) - Salaray $300,000+-
SUMMARY
About 30 linebacker coaches have sent players to the NFL in the first 4 rounds. Ekeler currently makes around $200,000. To get a top tier linebacker coach, they'll need to be making right around $400,000 I would assume. That means that Carl/Watson need at least a $200,000 raise to ensure our coordinators are making more. Then we'd need to give raises for the other staff that has put in their time because politically paying a new guy $200,000 more than everyone else would be an issue. Figure about $50-100,000 for each of the other 6 coaches to at least give them something. That puts the cost of this new top tier linebacker coach right around $1,200,000 a year more than current levels, conservatively.
The only 2 on the board that have put linebackers into the NFL in large numbers are USC/Penn State. Norton won't be leaving the Seahawks any time soon, and I don't see Vanderlinden moving to another Big10 team after 10 years at Penn State. Steckel is firmly at Missouri, and Fickell won't be leaving Ohio State. Same goes for Doeren.
That leaves you with David Blackwell, Micheal Barrow, and Chuck Amato. Out of the 3, I like Chuck Amato. He was at Florida State competing against Osborne through the 90's, and has a fair amount of head coaching experience at NC State. He wants back into coaching, it's just a question of how damaging the cancer was, but all indications point to him wanting to come back for 2011.
DATA
2010
Alabama
Missouri
TCU
Penn State
Florida
Iowa
Washington
Penn State
Georgia
USC
Nortwestern
Ohio State
North Carolina
Wisconsin
2009
Wake Forest
USC (4)
Ohio State
Virginia
Western Illinois
Wisconsin
South Florida
2008
USC
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Colorado
Miami
Penn State
Michigan
Georgia Tech
UNLV
Virginia Tech
BYU
Purdue
2007
Ole Miss
Florida State
Miami
Penn State
Michigan
Hampton
New Mexico
Florida State
Nebraska
Stanford
Clemson
South Florida
Missouri
Brown
Florida International
Pittsburg