If the measure is that of who a coach surrounds himself, Brian Kelly at LSU keeps making major moves.
Now Kelly’s adding a former two-time Southeastern Conference defensive coordinator to his staff – and a blast from Kelly’s own past as well.
Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell FootballScoop that Kelly has brought in John Jancek, the former University of Georgia and University of Tennessee defensive coordinator, for a key senior defensive analyst role on Matt House’s LSU Tigers’ defensive staff.
Most recently an analyst on Georgia’s national-title winning squad, Jancek has a history with Kelly that stretches to their days together at Grand Valley State – where Kelly first rose to coaching prominence and to the highest levels in NCAA Division II football. It’s also where Jancek first began to cultivate his own reputation as a keen defensive assistant.
The move to add Jancek, who like Cortez Hankins, another key hire made by Kelly off the Georgia staff, continues Kelly’s spate of strong staff moves in the past few weeks. House, an NFL assistant who previously worked with Jancek at the University of Kentucky, will join the Tigers at the conclusion of the Kansas City Chiefs’ season.
Earlier this week, LSU also added Corey Phillips in a prominent personnel role, with Kelly snagging Phillips away from North Carolina State and also, with personnel head Will Redmond wasting no time, hiring Phillips as Phillips was pursued by other Power 5 programs, most notably the University of Tennessee.
Jancek was architect of strong defensive units at the University of Cincinnati and then Tennessee, both key positions in which Jancek aided Butch Jones’ climb in the coaching ranks last decade, and Jancek also earlier had teamed with Willie Martinez to run some strong Georgia defenses for Mark Richt.
It was Jancek’s defensive units that helped the Vols to New Year’s Day bowl wins against Iowa and Northwestern less than a decade ago, when Jancek also coached future NFL Draft picks Derek Barnett, Rashaan Gaulden, Emmanuel Moseley, Kendal Vickers and Jalen Reeves-Maybin, among others.
Jancek also had helped run defenses for Mike Bobo at Colorado State. But it’s Jancek’s rich SEC experience, the Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee stops chief in his decades-long career, that makes his addition to Kelly’s LSU staff such a significant move.