Utah State assistant Frank Maile moving on to Vanderbilt

Less than a week away from Utah State's start of spring camp, the Aggies are in the market for a new defensive line coach.

Frank Maile has accepted the same position at Vanderbilt and will be a part of a new coaching staff for the Commodores. The Tribune has confirmed an earlier report from 247 Sports reporting the move.

The Aggies will have to replace an Aggie alum who coached several all-conference linemen and made big tracks on the recruiting trail with in-state and Polynesian recruits. Maile played a big role in overseeing much of the high school recruiting in the state of Utah, and he was key in what the coaching staff calls the "Polynesian Pipeline."

Utah State is very familiar with Vanderbilt in recruiting, bumping heads with the Commodores over several recruits, including USU signees Gasetoto Schuster and Mo Uasike. It likely won't be the last the Aggies will see of the Commodores either, with Vanderbilt gaining Maile's recruiting ties.

Still, the Aggies got a lot of value from Maile: For six years - first as a graduate assistant, then as line coach - he was an asset to Utah State. In the last two years alone, five of his linemen earned all conference honors: Al Lapuaho, Connor Williams, Jordan Nielsen, A.J. Patiali'i and B.J. Larsen. Two of them return this spring.

It may be worth noting that Maile was the first assistant to be confirmed to stay on staff last spring.

Although his late departure is a bit of a surprise, the Aggies coaching staff has remained remarkably intact from a team that went 9-5 and won the Poinsettia Bowl in Matt Wells' first year. The only other position coach they've had to replace is linebackers coach Kevin Clune, and the Aggies have already brought in former Arizona State assistant Joe Lorig.

Kyle Goonkgoon@sltrib.comTwitter: @kylegoon