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

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, 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. 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 18 ...

. In 1999 and 2000, Polian was a defensive graduate assistant at Baylor under Kevin Steele. 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 under George O'Leary. 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 ...

. 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 from 2010 to 2011 and was also recruiting coordinator in 2011. Part of Jim Harbaugh's staff in 2010, Polian remained at Stanford under succeeding coach David Shaw. Stanford won the 2011 Orange Bowl 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 o ...

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 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)