Brian Stewart Polian (born December 22, 1974) is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach and former player. He is the

special teams coordinator In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

for

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. He is the former

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Nevada Wolf Pack football The Nevada Wolf Pack football program represents the University of Nevada, Reno (commonly referred to as "Nevada" in athletics) in college football. The Wolf Pack competes in the Mountain West Conference at the Football Bowl Subdivision level of ...

team. He is the son of former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) executive

Bill Polian William Patrick Polian Jr. (born December 8, 1942) is an American football executive. He rose to league prominence as the General Manager of the Buffalo Bills, building a team that participated in four straight Super Bowls—the most consecutive ...

Early life

Born in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, Polian graduated from Saint Francis High School in

Athol Springs, New York Athol Springs is a hamlet in the town of Hamburg in Erie County, New York, United States. Notable people The family of feminist activist Katharine Martha Houghton Hepburn owned property in Athol Springs. Athol Springs is the birthplace of retire ...

, near Buffalo, in 1993. He attended

John Carroll University John Carroll University is a private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio. It is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution accompanied by the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business. John Carroll has an enrollment of 3, ...

near

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, where he played on the football team as a linebacker from 1993 to 1996. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1997.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Polian began his coaching career in 1997 as a graduate assistant at

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. In 1998, he was the tight ends and offensive line assistant at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. In 1999 and 2000, Polian was a defensive graduate assistant at Baylor under

Kevin Steele Kevin Steele (born March 17, 1958) is an American football coach and former player, currently serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of Miami. Steele has previously worked as defensive coordinator at Auburn, LSU, Clemson, and coa ...

. Polian graduated from Baylor with a master's degree in 2000. Polian returned to Buffalo in 2001 as running backs coach and special teams coordinator, serving until 2003 all under coach

Jim Hofher Jim Hofher (born October 12, 1957) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Cornell University from 1990 to 1997 and at the University at Buffalo from 2001 to 2005, compiling a career college footb ...

. In 2004, he was assistant coach at the same positions at

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

under

George O'Leary George Joseph O'Leary (born August 17, 1946) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1994 to 2001 and the UCF Knights from 2004 to 2015 ...

. From 2005 to 2009, Polian was special teams coordinator at Notre Dame under

Charlie Weis Charles Joseph Weis Sr. (born March 30, 1956) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in ...

. He also served as defensive backs coach in 2005, linebackers coach in 2006, and inside linebackers coach in 2007. Notre Dame made three bowl appearances during Polian's tenure, including a win in the 2008 Hawaii Bowl. He then was special teams coordinator and safeties coach at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

from 2010 to 2011 and was also recruiting coordinator in 2011. Part of

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh (; born December 23, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He play ...

's staff in 2010, Polian remained at Stanford under succeeding coach David Shaw. Stanford won the

2011 Orange Bowl The 2011 Discover Orange Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Stanford Cardinal on Monday, January 3, 2011, at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Stanford defeated Virginia Tech 40–12 ...

after the 2010 season. In 2012, Polian was special teams coordinator and tight ends coach under

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University of ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, which won the

2013 Cotton Bowl Classic The 2013 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season American college football bowl game held on January 4, 2013 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas in the United States. The 77th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic began at 7:00 p.m. Centr ...

that season.

Nevada

On January 11, 2013, the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

hired Polian as football head coach. On November 27, 2016, Nevada parted ways with Polian, effectively resulting in him being fired from Nevada.

Notre Dame

On December 16, 2016, Polian was hired to return to Notre Dame once again as

, this time under Brian Kelly.

LSU

On December 7, 2021, Polian was hired by LSU as the

, under Brian Kelly.

Head coaching record

References

External links

LSU profile

Notre Dame profile

Nevada profile

Stanford profile

John Carroll profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polian, Brian 1974 births Living people American football linebackers Baylor Bears football coaches Baylor University alumni Buffalo Bulls football coaches John Carroll Blue Streaks football players LSU Tigers football coaches Michigan State Spartans football coaches Nevada Wolf Pack football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Texas A&M Aggies football coaches UCF Knights football coaches Sportspeople from Erie County, New York Sportspeople from the Bronx Players of American football from New York City Coaches of American football from New York (state)