Complete Defensive Staff Overhaul

[LSUDad]

LSU has hired Missouri analyst Jake Olsen to join Brian Kelly’s coaching staff, as reported by The Bengal Tigeron Tuesday. Olsen is expected to be safeties coach, per sources, and as 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported on Thursday.

Olsen’s been on LSU’s staff since Blake Baker was hired away from Missouri to be the new defensive coordinator, sources said. Olsen spent the past two seasons working under Baker as analyst before coming to Baton Rouge.

Baker’s group finished ranked 38th in total defense and 41st in scoring defense, allowing 347.2 yards and 22.3 points per game this season. Olsen assisted with the safeties, which Baker coached in Columbia as well.

[LSUDad]

More:

 

LSU just hired Corey Raymond as defensive backs coach while also having Kevin Peoples as defensive ends coach and Bo Davis as defensive line coach.

Baker’s staff at LSU is filled with coaches he’s worked with in the past and has a prior relationship with as well as filled with experience in Louisiana. After LSU’s defensive struggles in 2022, a staff with familiarity with each other could only help install Baker’s scheme.

[LSUDad]

Football Hires Jake Olsen, Formally Announces Corey Raymond and Kevin Peoples Additions

Brian Kelly’s defensive staff is set

By Zach Junda@ZacharyJunda  Jan 18, 2024,

 

Brian Kelly’s overhaul of the defensive staff is complete.

After dipping into the Mizzou well twice to bring in Blake Baker as defensive coordinator and Kevin Peoples as edge rushers coach, Brian Kelly also brought in former Missouri analyst Jake Olsen to coach the LSU safeties.

Stop me when you’ve heard this before, but Jake Olsen has ties to Louisiana. In past lives, Olsen has coached at LSU, ULM, and Northwestern State. 

With the addition of Olsen, Brian Kelly’s defensive staff is now complete: Blake Baker is the defensive coordinator/linebackers coach, Bo Davis is the defensive line coach, Kevin Peoples is the edge coach, Corey Raymond is the DBs coach, and Olsen is of course coaching safeties. All of these men, aside from Peoples, have previously coached at LSU before, and Raymond and Davis are also former LSU players. More importantly than that, all four of the defensive assistants have also worked with Blake Baker before. We call that “synergy.”

Thursday evening LSU also officially announced that Raymond and Peoples are part of the coaching staff. This has been known for a few days now, but Thursday the school finally put the official tweet out.

With all of the defensive positions filled, LSU only has room for one more on-field assistant. We’re still waiting to see who the offensive coordinator will be, but on the offensive side of the ball Joe Sloan is the quarterbacks coach, Frank Wilson is the running backs coach, Cortez Hankton is the wide receivers coach, and Brad Davis is the offensive line coach. Brian Kelly will likely use this final space on an on-field tight ends coach, but what does that mean for special teams? Can Kelly really forsake an on-field special teams coordinator after the disaster that was 2022?

Edited January 19 by LSUDad

[LSUDad]

This staff has hit the ground running. They have extended offers, visited prospects, letting the kids know, what they plan to do on the defensive side of the ball. Looking at roster management. Just to let you know, The spring transfer portal officially opens on Saturday, April 15, 2024, and closes on Sunday, April 30, 2024. 

[houtiger]

6 hours ago, LSUDad said:

 The spring transfer portal officially opens on Saturday, April 15, 2024, and closes on Sunday, April 30, 2024. 

I guess spring practice will run March 1 - April 8th or there about.  then kids will get their practice grades, some will want to hit the portal, and LSU will look over the portal and see who we want.

[LSUDad]

UFL paying for some of the staff: 

 

The deal are contingent on background check and approval by the LSU board of supervisors, which next meets Feb. 23.

Upon his return to LSU, Corey Raymond agreed to a two-year contract with a team option for 2026. LSU will pay him $200,000 his first season, a sum offset by his buyout from Florida after he was fired last November as part of a staff overhaul.

After that, Raymond will make $755,000 per year, which equaled his reported salary with the Gators. LSU will have the option to keep Raymond on staff in 2026. He is the only coach with an option year in his deal. After that, Raymond will make $755,000 per year, which equaled his reported salary with the Gators. LSU will have the option to keep Raymond on staff in 2026. He is the only coach with an option year in his deal.

[LSUDad]

Will drop this one here. 
 

 

[LSUDad]

John Jancek, LSU’s defensive line coach last season, is no longer on staff. Jancek was retained when Brian Kelly fired four defensive coaches last month, but he did not have a clear role going forward.

[LSUDad]

LSU assistant Bob Diaco named senior defensive analyst

Will Rosenblatt

Sat, Feb 10, 2024 at 10:30 AM CST·1 min read

LSU assistant coach Bob Diaco will remain with the program, returning to his analyst role.

Diaco was originally hired as a defensive analyst last spring, but after defensive line coach Jimmy Lindsey stepped away with a health issue, Diaco took an on-field role, working with outside linebackers and special teams.

After LSU’s staff shakeup, Diaco is the lone defensive assistant from 2023 to return. It’s not a surprise given his ties to LSU head coach Brian Kelly.

Diaco was a member of Kelly’s staff at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame.

In 2012, he won the Broyles Award while serving as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. His work as DC in South Bend earned him a head coaching opportunity with UConn, where he worked until 2016.

Before joining LSU, Diaco worked at Louisiana Tech in 2019, where he replaced current LSU DC Blake Baker after he took the DC job at Miami.