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Here's why an SEC football coach just left to take an AD job... in D-III

I talked with Brian Polian about why he's going to John Carroll...and why he's doing it now.

Good morning, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.

Brian Polian has been nearly everywhere in major college football.

He’s been a head coach at the FBS level (Nevada). He’s been an assistant for power programs like Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Stanford, and LSU. He’s worked under several of the most respected and accomplished head coaches in college football, like Jim Harbaugh and Brian Kelly. And even though he’s been in coaching for the last 25 years, he’s still not even 50 years old.

Polian was moved to an off-the-field role at LSU after previously serving as their special teams coordinator. If he had wanted to, he almost assuredly could have found another assistant coaching role in college football, or perhaps, the NFL.

But he decided to do something different, something you rarely see experienced FBS coaches do before they turn 50. He decided to go to D-III.

On May 2, Polian was announced as the new athletic director at his alma mater, John Carroll, a small, Jesuit school just outside of Cleveland. The Blue Streaks play in the Ohio Athletic Conference, at the D-III level.

Why did he do it? And why now?

I asked him.

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