LSU Coach Brian Kelly Details What Tigers' Defensive Principles Will Be

This isn't the first time Brian Kelly has transitioned to a new program.

One of those early key steps Kelly wanted to accomplish was building out a well versed coaching staff and it took time. When the final piece to the on field coaching puzzle was addressed, Kelly didn't want to run all of the new hires out to the media right out of the gate.

Because as he takes on this new challenge of life in the SEC West, Kelly wants those relationships with his staff to be well developed. With seven additions that Kelly had no previous working relationship with, it was important to not only hit the ground running but start building chemistry with this group.

"We needed to spend some time together, get a chance to know each other, certainly philosophically, the things we do on a day to day basis," Kelly said. "We spent some time and certainly got to know what our charge is and that is develop our players."

There were three key phases that Kelly wanted the coaching staff to get into sync, starting with player development, something that Kelly said is at the core of who he is as a coach. The prevailing theme with this staff according to Kelly is that all have coordinator experience, they've all won and many have won at the SEC level.

The Tigers are bringing in Matt House as defensive coordinator, Kerry Cooks and Robert Steeples to run the secondary, Jamar Cain to lead the defensive line and Brian Polian as special teams and recruiting coordinator. All five were introduced to the media and LSU fanbase on Wednesday and there are multiple traits Kelly likes in each.

"When we talk about our defense, the theme is experience, winning and the ability to recruit, communicate, motivate and develop our players," Kelly said. "That's really the prevailing theme across the board.

"As I looked at assembling a staff, we're in the SEC and the toughest division. You need experienced coaches, coaches that know what winning is about and you need to recruit. If you check those three boxes, those are the things I was looking for."

Kelly is certainly an offensive minded coach but is looking for much of the same schematic mindset that isn't too different from what is seen across college football. Multiplicity and versatility with the looks defenses give offenses is such a crucial part in having success on that side of the ball and that's what Kelly is truly in search of.

"We're going to be able to give you multiple looks, obviously keep the personnel as constant as possible and make it difficult for offenses to know what they're gonna get from down to down," Kelly said. "If you're constantly moving personnel in and out of the game, multiple packages, makes it more of a game for the offense."

Naturally there wasn't much time in the early weeks with the staff as the main focus and priority was putting together a 2022 class. As Kelly spoke on Wednesday, LSU has only just begun meeting as a staff in terms of putting together the offense, defense and special teams playbooks and all of the terminology that comes along with it.

Those will continue to be the next immediate steps now that the dust has settled on the coaching positions as well as the roster Kelly and his team have put together. With a month until the start of spring camp, there's plenty to do but first and foremost for Kelly is getting to know more and more about the makeup of this team.

"We're not ready to play. If we had to play tomorrow we're not ready yet but we will be ready," Kelly said. "It's going to be a process for us. I like the fact that at this time, there's a want to. They recognize and they are aware of what they've done the last two years. Cumulatively it's been .500 and that's not good enough. There is a desire to want to change that. We've got a lot of things to work on to be the championship program we want to be."