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Brian Kelly continued to round out his coaching staff naming Frank Wilson associate coach, Jake Flint as strength and conditioning coach, and Brian Polian as Special Teams coordinator.
Wilson is a name very familiar to most, as he previously served as LSU’s running back coach under Les Miles. But even more so than that, Wilson is maybe the single greatest recruiter in the state of Louisiana. He is credited with landing some of the biggest recruits in LSU history including Leonard Fournette, Jarvis Landry, Tyrann Mathieu and dozens more. He previously served as head coach of McNeese State. Wilson was officially hired as “associate head coach” but it is to be determined which group he will be coaching; unofficially Wilson will serve the role Mickey Joseph had as the New Orleans area ace recruiter When he left LSU, Wilson was the head coach at UTSA for four seasons and spent the past two seasons as the head coach at McNeese.
Wait this is probably the most important key to LSU, when I tell you the best running back coach I’ve had on all levels, I’ll be back in Death Valley more……… https://t.co/4dzioCBa4i
— 7⃣ Leonard Fournette (@_fournette) December 7, 2021
Frank Wilson @FrankWilson28
— Jarvis Juice Landry (@God_Son80) December 7, 2021
I’m happy for coach and his family!! Also I am happy for our fans and the great state of Louisiana because I know he will not let some of this state best talents leave! He will also find a few diamonds in the rough that you may have never heard of. He’s one of the best! https://t.co/Rpyt5kTjjy
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) December 7, 2021
Flint and Polian come to Baton Rouge after previously working with Kelly in South Bend.
Flint was the No. 2 man in the Notre Dame Strength & Conditioning program. Kelly had initially tried to hire Flint’s superior, Matt Balis but Balis opted to remain at Notre Dame.
Polian now takes over running LSU’s special teams from Greg McMahon who announced his retirement Tuesday. He has previous work experience at Stanford, Michigan State, and Texas a&M along with his time with Notre Dame. It’s big shoes to fill as McMahon really helped turn LSU’s special teams unit around after an uncharacteristically poor 2017 season. Among other things, McMahon found Cole Tracy and Avery Atkins, recruited Cade York and Quentin Skinner, and turned Zach Von Rosenberg into an All-SEC punter.