Les Miles goes to LSU roots to hire Ben Iannacchione

Les Miles moved fast filling his open strength and conditioning position.

Miles went back to the LSU tree to land his next strength coach. Just minutes ago, the program announced Ben Iannacchione will be the next strength and conditioning coach at Kansas.

Miles is very familiar with Iannacchione, who was on his staff at LSU two different times. He served as an assistant in 2011-2012 then took over as the head strength coach at Youngstown State. He then returned to be the associate director of the strength program at LSU before leaving to be the head of sports performance at Wyoming.

The people at Wyoming raved about what Iannacchione did with the Cowboys football team when he oversaw their strength program.

An interesting story that gained Iannacchione some publicity came when one of his former players Leonard Fournette left the Jacksonville Jaguars to train with him. After Fournette’s season in 2018 he packed up and headed for Wyoming because he felt Iannacchione could help get him back in shape.

During an interview about Fournette, Iannacchione said he does things the way he learned at LSU. Fournette was coming off a disappointing season and wanted to get back in the shape that made him a fourth overall pick. He trusted Iannacchione could do that.

Iannacchione learned under legendary strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt at LSU. It was Moffitt who gave Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl a great recommendation to hire Iannacchione.

One person familiar with Iannacchione described him as a mix of being young and able to relate with players along with “very intense.” He also has a strong reputation of being well versed in the science part of strength and conditioning.

I think this is a solid hire for the Jayhawks. The key part is Miles knows Iannacchione and Iannacchione knows what to expect from Miles. They are familiar with each other and will be on the same page when Iannacchione land in Lawrence.

It is important the head coach and strength coach know each other and are aligned in what needs to be done. Iannacchione is someone Miles trusts because of their past relationship. This isn’t like starting over with someone you have never met. That should make for a quick transition.

Iannacchione played his college football at Boise State where he was an offensive lineman for Chris Peterson.