Daron Roberts, who was the Detroit Lions' assistant secondary coach, has been hired by the West Virginia football program. He will serve as the Mountaineers' special teams coordinator and inside wide receivers coach.
Roberts was hired by the Lions in 2009. He came to Detroit with Gunther Cunningham, working at Kansas City from 2007-08. With the Chiefs he was a defensive quality control assistant in 2008 and a volunteer the year before. He was also an assistant coach at a high school in Kansas City in 2007, so he's made quite the jump in only a few years.
Roberts is far from the only assistant coach going from the NFL to college football. Earlier in the year before the lockout even began assistants were leaving for the college ranks. Some situations just worked out better, such as Charlie Weis leaving the Chiefs to go to Florida. Greg Mattison left the Ravens to go to Michigan in part because he's got family here, for example.
Roberts leaving the Lions is first and foremost about getting a chance to be a special teams coordinator and inside receivers coach rather than be merely an assistant secondary coach. Even so, I'm sure the lockout helped play into his decision. Like all coaches, I'd imagine he would rather be doing coaching than waiting to find out when the lockout will end.