John Pagano is the new Chargers' defensive coordinator. His contract is signed.
— Christopher Smith (@SDchargersdude) January 5, 2012
There you have it. The long, exhausting (roughly 6 hour) search for a new Defensive Coordinator for the San Diego Chargers is over. After interviewing ever possible candidate that they could find, the Chargers decided to promote from within. John Pagano abandons his post as the team's Linebackers Coach and will start assembling/disassembling his defensive coaching staff immediately.
John is the brother of Baltimore Ravens' Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano and has been thought of as a "Defensice Coordinator in waiting" since coming to San Diego in 2002. He also has served as the team's Defensive Quality Control Coach, which isn't a bad thing to have as your resume when you become the Defensive Coordinator.
The firing of Greg Manusky and promotion of John Pagano was seemingly the only way that Pagano was going to stay in San Diego with the Chargers. A few days ago he was offered the job of Defensive Coordinator with Jim Mora Jr's UCLA Bruins and it was thought that he was going to take it. Obviously, the Chargers didn't want to lose him and did what had to be done to make sure that they didn't.
For a very detailed history/analysis of John Pagano, check out this post on Bruins Nation that was written when they thought Pagano was a sure thing to go to UCLA.