LSU’s new offensive coordinator Jake Peetz made it clear when he met with members of the local media Wednesday that family is very important to him.
So important, that if it weren’t for his family, Peetz likely wouldn’t be in Baton Rouge.
Aside from the fact that he wouldn’t take a job if his wife didn’t sign off, the former Carolina Panthers quarterback said family ties to Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron prompted him to give the LSU position more consideration.
“Coach Orgeron coached one of my wife's brothers, actually, at Ole Miss…” he said.
“…her brother George (Helow), who is a special teams coordinator at Maryland for Mike Locksley, who I worked with at Alabama, he loves coach O. He always spoke about coach O. My wife is loved her experiences with coach O. When I came up here, I felt that.”
Peetz also said that he realized LSU presented a unique coaching opportunity, with its talent and atmosphere and that Panthers’ offensive coordinator Joe Brady spoke highly of his time in Baton Rouge.
“Had it not been such a special place, like LSU with Coach Orgeron and all those people I talked about as well, as having great players, you know, this wouldn't have been something that I would have entertained,” he said. “But we're very excited to be coming down here.”
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Peetz said he’s looking forward to getting to work with the Tigers’ talented roster and that his goal will be to maximize players individual strengths in the LSU offense.
“We have great playmakers here and that's our job as coaches and that's my responsibility as the offensive coordinator, to make sure that those young men are prepared and that they're on the field to attack the defense and whatever that looks like,” he said.
Peetz said that he first needs to build trust with the team.
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“Without trust, there is no relationship,” he said. “We can't ask these guys to go do these things, we can't be demanding them in a positive way and really challenge them unless they feel that we believe in them, so it's not just studying the film. That's part of it, but getting face-to-face with these guys.”
Peetz added that he wants players to feel like they’re part his family.
“They can't be family if they don't feel comfortable coming over to my house, or if I'm not bringing my family around them,” he said. ”Because when we build that, then we're going to be able to get into the football. Then we have trust. Then we have belief and then we can really we can magnify what these guys do.
“And I think, that's what you saw. again, in the 2019 season is that there was great trust commitment and belief. “