Clayton White, who worked as North Carolina State's co-special teams coordinator and safeties coach, was named as Western Kentucky's new defensive coordinator Thursday by head coach Mike Sanford. White previously coached one season at WKU under then-head coach Willie Taggart. (North Carolina State photo)

Clayton White left a pretty good situation to come to Western Kentucky.

The Hilltoppers’ new defensive coordinator spent the last four seasons coordinating special teams and coaching safeties at his alma mater, North Carolina State.

White, a North Carolina native, lived in between Raleigh, where he coached at N.C. State, and Durham, where his wife Kelly was a physical therapist for sports teams at Duke.

White was happy living in a place he knew and coaching at a school where he was a standout linebacker from 1998-2000.

But then new WKU coach Mike Sanford called and offered White the chance to be a D-coordinator for the first time in his career. It was a chance the 39-year-old couldn’t turn down.

“It was not an easy family decision, I’ll just say that,” White told the Daily News on Tuesday in a phone interview. “But we’ve been in it together. We’ve been married for 10 years, together for 16.

“We know why we’ve been coaching college football, for these opportunities.”

White is one of a series of coaching hires the school has announced in the last week. Other announced additions to Sanford’s first staff include offensive assistants Ryan Mahaffey, Mike Sanford Sr. and Steve Spurrier Jr., and defensive coaches Jami DeBerry and Jimmy Lindsey.

White and Sanford have a long history together that dates to their time at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh.

Sanford worked with Cardinal quarterbacks from 2007-08, while White was the program’s defensive backs coach from 2007-09. White coached Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman during his time at Stanford.

Sanford and White then worked together at WKU in 2010 as coaches under another former Stanford assistant, Willie Taggart.

“Mike’s been one of those young coaches that when you first met him, it was just a matter of when he was going to be a head coach,” White said. “It wasn’t if.

“It’s always nice to come work at a place you know with someone familiar.”

After working the 2010 season at WKU, White coached at Connecticut from 2011-12 before working the last four years at N.C. State. Most of his coaching career has been spent working with special teams and coaching defensive backs.

White’s new job with the Hilltoppers allows him to lead a defense for the first time. He inherits a defense that led Conference USA in 2016 in opponent points per game (24.6) and opponent yards per play (5.2) under previous coordinator Nick Holt.

“Everyone I talked to about WKU said, ‘That’s a gold mine. That’s a great place. You can get players. The support is great,’ “ White said. “It was just a great opportunity and there wasn’t anything negative about coming back to the Hill.

“It’s a pretty exciting experience and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it and get started.”

One of White’s first priorities will be performing a full evaluation of his roster’s returning talent. Graduating starters Omarius Bryant (defensive tackle), Nick Dawson-Brents (defensive end), Keith Brown (linebacker) and Branden Leston (safety) are among the players who must be replaced.

White hasn’t yet been able to delve too deeply into the roster, but said he got the chance last month to watch film of WKU’s September loss to Vanderbilt while he and his fellow N.C. State coaches were preparing to face the Commodores in the Independence Bowl.

White said his evaluations of WKU’s personnel will influence the type of system he uses.

But White said developing a culture of toughness and togetherness is more important to him than Xs and Os.

“The main thing about defense is it’s a team sport,” White said. “… The most important thing is you’ve got to get your players to buy into what you’re selling.

“The culture and mindset has to be in unison and on the same page at the same time. Everybody’s got to be in it for the same reasons.”

— Follow sports reporter Brad Stephens on Twitter @BradBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.