Ben Olson is in his first season on the McNeese coaching staff and will tackle the duties as the defensive line coach.
Olson spent the 2018 season as the defensive line coach at Yale where the Bulldogs ranked 41st in the Football Championship Subdivision in sacks per game at 2.3. They also averaged six tackles per loss and 163 rushing yards allowed per game last season.
Olson worked as a graduate assistant at Syracuse and an outside linebackers coach at Colgate, in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Olson, who earned a full scholarship to play football at Eastern Illinois University, began his coaching career at his alma mater. He moved into the position of undergraduate assistant and was still there in 2012 when current Syracuse coach Dino Babers was named head coach at EIU.
Division III Rose-Hulman in Indiana hired Olson to coach linebackers for the 2013 campaign. The Engineers went 7-3 and won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Olson then rejoined Babers for two successful seasons at Bowling Green in 2014 and 2015 before following his head coach to Syracuse for the 2016 season.
The Morris, Ill., native earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology and Sports Studies from Eastern Illinois. He then worked toward a Master of Science degree in Leisure and Tourism at Bowling Green before switching over to Instructional Design Development and Education at Syracuse.
