By Stephen Featherston, Louisiana Tech Director of Strategic Communications
RUSTON — Louisiana Tech head football coach Sonny Cumbie has appointed Luke Olson as the team’s new Defensive Coordinator.
Olson brings over a decade of defensive coaching experience at the FBS level to Ruston, including two seasons as a defensive coordinator.
Familiar with Conference-USA, Olson joins LA Tech from Jax State, where he served as the defensive coordinator during the 2024 season. The Gamecocks finished with a 9-5 (7-1 CUSA) record on their way to winning the CUSA Championship.
“I’m excited to work with Luke Olson as our DC!” stated Cumbie. “Fresh off a CUSA championship as a coordinator, he knows what it takes to win at the highest level in our league. We’re looking forward to having Luke, Keisha, Lane, Wells, and Worth as Bulldogs and making a difference in our community and program.”
His 2024 defense was headlined by safety Fred Perry who earned All-CUSA First Team honors after registering 110 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Olson also coached linebacker Reginald Hughes who earned First Team honors, along with three players on the All-CUSA Second Team. Olson’s Gamecock defense finished sixth in the league in points allowed per game (26.1) and fifth in yards allowed (393.0).
Olson came to Jax State from TCU, where he was a senior defensive analyst during the 2023 season after an 11-year stint on staff at Tulsa. He served as the Hurricane Defensive Coordinator in 2022.
A Tulsa native, Olson started his coaching career with the Golden Hurricane in 2012 as a graduate assistant and worked his way up before being named the defensive coordinator in 2022.
Olson’s 2022 Tulsa defense saw three players earn All-ACC honors, highlighted by linebacker Justin Wright and defensive lineman Anthony Goodlow on the second team. The Golden Hurricane defense allowed 33.08 points per game and 414.3 yards per outing. Wright led the team with 101 tackles and 10.5 tackles for loss from his linebacker position.
He spent the 2012 season as a graduate assistant working with the defensive line, when that unit ranked among the nation’s leaders for quarterback sacks, while his defensive linemen totaled 32 of the team’s 53 sacks.
Olson then assisted with the team’s cornerbacks in 2013 and 2014 and spent four years as defensive quality control coach before becoming the nickel safeties coach in 2018.
The 2021 Tulsa defense ranked among the top-5 in the American Athletic Conference for scoring defense, rush defense, total defense and interceptions. The Hurricane held the opposition to 369.8 yards per game to rank 56th among 130 teams nationally for total defense. The nickel safety position accounted for 81 tackles, four pass breakups and one forced fumble in 2021.
Tulsa’s 2020 defense was ranked second in The American for total defense, scoring defense, rushing defense, pass defense and pass defense efficiency. Tulsa also ranked among the nation’s best defenses for a variety of statistical categories. The nickel safety position was responsible for 72 tackles, five pass breakups and four forced fumbles in the 2020 season. In 2019, the position totaled 81 total tackles, three pass break-ups, three forced fumbles and one interception.
After transitioning to a 3-3-5 alignment, the Hurricane finished the 2018 season with the nation’s 8th best pass defense, while also allowing opponents 120+ yards less in total offense than a year earlier. In 2016, the Tulsa defense held opponents to 10 points and 110.1 yards fewer than in the 2015 season. Tulsa’s defense also forced 21 turnovers with 15 of those takeaways leading to 101 points in the 2016 campaign.
During his time at Tulsa, the Golden Hurricane earned trips to five bowl games, including the 2012 AutoZone Liberty Bowl, the 2015 Camping World Independence Bowl, the 2016 Miami Beach Bowl, the 2020 Armed Forces Bowl and the 2022 Myrtle Beach Bowl. Olson also helped lead the Hurricane to two conference championship games. They won the 2012 Conference USA Championship with a 11-3 record and a 7-1 mark in league play.
Olson was a four-year starter at safety and linebacker for SNU from 2008-11. He was an Academic all-Central States Football League (CSFL) selection each year, while earning all-conference accolades in 2009.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Southern Nazarene in 2012, while receiving a master’s degree from Tulsa in Methods in Education Research in 2014. Olson and his wife, Keisha, have three sons – Lane, Wells and Worth.
