Even though signing day was quickly approaching, UT head football coach Derek Dooley took as much time as he felt necessary to find a good fit at defensive coordinator, eventually settling on Boise State's Justin Wilcox yesterday.

While some coaches look for experience and records when making hires, Dooley was more concerned with character.

"There were a thousand coaches that wanted the job," said Dooley. "And finding the right person who was going to fit was more important to me than some resume hire.

"What really sold me on Justin was the three hours I spent eyeball-to-eyeball with him. He believes in the same things I believe. He's got a great personality, he's very humble, he wants to grow professionally. I'm happy to have him. I'm very thrilled."

Dooley ensured his defensive recruits that he was intent on making the right decision, not the quick one.

"I wasn't going to rush into a hire and then two weeks later regret it because we were concerned with this year's recruiting class," said Dooley.

"I told the players: I can go hire a guy right now that has 15 or 20 years of coordinator experience in the NFL, but that's not really fair to you. What's important to me is that I get the right coach that fits on this staff that's going to support you; that I want him to support you. That's why I took my time on it."

Even though Dooley was looking at Wilcox's personality, his on-the-field resume isn't too shabby.

The Broncos defense finished ranked No. 14 nationally in both scoring defense and total defense last season with Wilcox running the defense, allowing an average 300.2 yards and 17.1 points per game and coming up with dominating performances in the Boise's' biggest games.

The unit held a TCU offense that averaged 38.3 points and 239.5 rushing yards per game to just 36 yards on the ground and 10 points in Boise's 17-10 win in the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl last month.

Wilcox and Dooley faced each other in Western Athletic Conference play while Dooley was head coach at Louisiana Tech from 2007-2009. Boise State won all three games, including a 38-3 victory in 2008.

"I've watched every game he ever coached," Dooley said. "The best resume for a coach is the film. When you just watch the film and you watch how his players play: the effort, the toughness, the discipline, the multiple schematic issues, it was good. I always was impressed with him.

"When I'm looking for a coach, I think you have to have two critical components. One is the obvious: he's got to be very good with Xs and Os, have a history of good coaching. More importantly, to me, you've got to be a good person who believes in what I believe in coaching, in how we're going to develop these young men, how we're going to support them, how we're going to coach them."