LSU Defensive Coordinator Matt House Using Past SEC, NFL Experience to Advantage

Tigers have plenty to work out in terms of scheme but first step is getting to know players strengths, tendencies

Matt House is a winner. That's the first thing you should know about the Tigers' defensive coordinator who comes to Baton Rouge after a three-year stint with the Kansas City Chiefs as linebackers coach.

During that run, no NFL team won more games than the Chiefs, that also included back-to-back Super Bowl trips with one win for House. But it's not just his most recent stint with Kansas City that drew Brian Kelly to hiring House as the LSU defensive coordinator.

It was his past experience as a collegiate coordinator, most recently in the SEC at Kentucky that was the driving force to Kelly pursuing and attaining a coach in House who's had success at many stops along his coaching career. 

"What drew me to Matt was coordinator experience," Kelly said. "Here's a man who has multiple coordinator roles and more importantly in the SEC. That was something I was looking for. He's coached all of the positions as well and I can appreciate somebody who's had to coach all of those positions. He can fix the defense and he's won at the highest level, he's a winning football coach, a great teacher."

"Talent will only get you so far. You look at winning at that level, the locker room, the leaders within each group, the standard, the consistency it takes to win," House said. "Those are the things that when you win at that level that come through. It's the teams that bond together and play to a standard that win."

These are some of the ideals that House hopes to implement and be a part of bringing back a winning culture within the LSU program. 

LSU is still figuring out what kinds of schemes and situations it wants to implement defensively come fall. A lot of it has to do with getting to know the players on and off the field, learning their tendencies, strengths as players and mapping out the best possible ways to put them in successful situations. 

There's no question Kelly and House want to be versatile with this defensive group but what this winter and spring will really show this coaching staff is which players handle certain positions and situations the best. In his short time around Kelly the last few weeks, it's clear to House that there will be autonomy on everyone's part to do their job. 

"He's gonna empower people to do their job. The thing we're doing right now is more than putting the plan together. It's getting the guys to buy in to the habits and focus to do the right things day in and day out," House said. "When we do get on the grass and execute the plan, we can be consistent in our execution."

He enjoys the schemes, the building of a defense, putting together a plan, really all of the qualifications that come with being a defensive coordinator. But in the end what House missed most about coaching at the college level is the relationships. As a father of four, he missed being able to show his kids the people he was interacting with on a day to day basis. 

There was a hunger to come back to the college ranks and House couldn't be more excited about helping to get this defense and program back to a championship level.

"It's a premier institution. I'm really just scratching the surface of getting to know our players. Coach [Kelly] has put together a great staff, it's been awesome to be in the room with coach [Kerry] Cooks, coach [Jamar] Cain and coach [Robert] Steeples. Our players are hungry to learn but we're in the process of developing the traits it's gonna take to be successful."