BATON ROUGE — Rick Trickett and Phil Elmassian will no longer be a part of the LSU coaching staff as both coaches are leaving to pursue other opportunities, head coach Nick Saban announced on Monday.
Trickett, LSU’s assistant head coach and offensive line coach, will serve in the same capacity at West Virginia. Elmassian’s next coaching position is expected to be announced on Tuesday.
“We’re certainly going to miss both Rick and Phil,” Saban said. “Both guys are outstanding coaches and they both contributed to the success of our team this year. Being from West Virginia, I can certainly understand Rick wanting to move back home to be closer to his family and friends.
“Both coaches have good personal and professional reasons for pursuing other opportunities and I wish them both well. With the type of season that we had this year I’m certain that we’ll be able to attract some quality coaches who will improve our staff in the future.”
Trickett, who is a native of Morgantown, W.Va., previously coached at West Virginia from 1976-79.
“In 27 years of coaching, this is the toughest decision that I’ve had to make,” Trickett said. “I had to look at this as a business decision and it’s also going home for me. My mom lives just eight miles from where I’ll be working.
“We love LSU and we love Baton Rouge and the year we spent here was a great one. Every person in the coaching profession ought to be able to coach at least one year at LSU and be able to call Tiger Stadium home. The other reason it’s so tough to leave is because of what Coach Saban is building here.”
“The experience that I had at LSU with Coach Saban was everything that I expected,” Elmassian said. “I came to LSU because of Nick Saban. I have great respect for him and what he’s doing here at LSU. I’ve just been presented with an opportunity that I could not pass up.”