I edited this down for space considerations, but seems to me many of you never even bothered to read this before making negative comments! "not much to back him up other than knowing Bo"
? He has more than 2 DECADES of college coaching besides his "Bo" experience!
Brian Crist, who has coached in a pair of FCS National Championship Games, is in his fourth season as the Penguins’ wide receivers coach. Crist has coached on the collegiate level for nearly 25 years, more than half of which been at the FCS level.
In 2016, Crist's wide receiver group helped the Penguins get to their first National Championship Game since 1999 this past season.
Crist served as the director of player personnel on Coach Bo Pelini’s staff at Nebraska in 2014. Crist was responsible for the development of the student mentoring program, in addition to coordinating the football team’s Life Skills outreach programs and community service efforts.
Before going to Nebraska, Crist spent the 2013 campaign coaching the wide receivers at Bridgewater College in Virginia.
A seasoned FCS coach, he spent 10 seasons at UMass during two different coaching stops. Highlighting his tenure with the Minutemen was winning the FCS National Championship in 1998.
He was a member of the staff 1996-2001 and 2007-10 in Amherst, working with UMass’s quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends and special teams units. UMass won Atlantic 10 titles in 1998 and 1999 while earning a CAA Championship in 2007. The program appeared in the FCS playoffs three times, and, advanced to at least the quarterfinals every time it reached the postseason.
In 1998, the Minutemen defeated McNeese State, Lehigh, Northwestern State before knocking off Georgia Southern 55-43 in the National Championship Game in Chattanooga. The squad posted a 12-3 record and won the Atlantic 10 title. Prior to their impressive postseason run, UMass had not won an FCS playoff game since 1978 and had not advanced to the postseason since 1990.
The next year the program claimed its second consecutive A-10 crown and advanced to the FCS quarterfinals to cap a 9-4 campaign.
Upon his return to UMass in 2007, the program again reached the FCS quarterfinals, won the inaugural Colonial Athletic Association title and finished with a 10-3 record, including a 7-1 league mark. In his second stint coaching the Minutemen wide receivers, Crist coached New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz.
In 2007, UMass had two 1,000-yard receivers in the same season for the first time in history with J.J. Moore and Rasheed Rancher. In 2008, Cruz, an All-American, led the CAA in receptions with 71 and hauled in catches for 1,064 yards, the most per game in the league (88.7). All-CAA pick Jeremy Horne narrowly missed the 1,000-yard plateau with 895. The 2010 season saw another dynamic receiving duo as Anthony Nelson and Julian Talley continued to develop into one of the Minutemen's most gifted wideouts.Both earned all-conference accolades as the pair combined for over 100 receptions. Nelson recorded 830 yards and four touchdowns, while Talley was just behind with 747 yards and a team-best six touchdown catches.
In 1998, Crist helped Kerry Taylor develop into one of the nation's top tight ends, with Taylor catching 74 passes for 854yards and earning first team All-America honors. In 1999,Crist guided Sean Higgins to a season where he caught 51 passes for 615 yards and was named a first team All-American. Crist coached both wide receivers and tight ends during his first two seasons and helped revive the UMass passing game that ranked last in the nation in 1995.
In between stints with the Minutemen, Crist spent five years working with the wide receivers at Louisiana-Lafayette from 2002-06. In his final two seasons, Crist served as the Ragin’Cajuns passing game coordinator.
During his time with Louisiana-Lafayette, he helped guide the program to the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Championship. He also aided in leading the Ragin' Cajuns to back-to-back six-win seasons,the first time in over 10 years for the team to do so. He coached the school's second all-time leading receiver in yards and receptions. He tutored three of the top seven leading receivers in school history as well as working with all-conference receivers in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
His first coaching position was as an offensive graduate assistant at Virginia Tech in 1994 and 1995. In 1995, he helped Virginia Tech post a 10-2 record and claim a piece of the Big East Conference regular-season championship for Head Coach Frank Beamer.The Hokies went on to record a 28-10 victory over Texas in the Nokia Sugar Bowl on New Year's Eve and concluded the season ranked 10th in the final Associated Press national poll.
Crist earned his bachelor’s degree in economics with math from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia in 1994.
