COACHES
Support Staff Dr. Sam Nader Assistant AD/Football Operations
The longest standing member of the LSU football staff, Sam Nader enters his 45th year with the program in 2019. Nader is LSU’s Assistant Athletic Director for Football Operations, a position he was elevated to during the summer of 2000. During his time at LSU, Nader has been part of two national championships, six SEC titles and 31 bowl games. Nader is responsible for overseeing all of the day-to-day administrative duties for the LSU football team. In March 2019, he was named to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Hall of Champions. Nader joined the LSU staff as a graduate assistant in 1975 and was hired by head coach Charles McClendon as a full-time assistant coach in 1977. He was named recruiting coordinator in 1980 and served in that role through the 1993 season. When the NCAA eliminated the recruiting coordinator’s position, Nader assumed the position of administrative assistant for football operations in 1994 and remained in that role, where he handled a myriad of responsibilities for the LSU football program, until his promotion to assistant athletic director in 2000. Nader was a quarterback for the Auburn Tigers from 1963-67. From 1968-69, he served as assistant coach at Jordan High School in Columbus, Georgia, and was promoted to head coach and athletics director in 1970. He served in that capacity until 1974. In his role as recruiting coordinator, Nader spearheaded the recruiting efforts of 32 players who developed into All-SEC First-Team players, plus seven who became All-Americans. Nader is married to the former Ann Gardner of Montgomery, Alabama, and they have three children, Breaux, Lauren and John Ryan, and five granddaughters, Brooks Claire, Mary Holland, Grace Ann, and Sarah Jane, who are the daughters of Breaux and his wife Holland, and Alyssa, who is the daughter of John Ryan.
Sharon Lewis
Assistant AD/Football Recruiting and Alumni Relations
Sharon Lewis enters her 18th season with the LSU football program this year, serving as the Assistant Athletic Director of Football Recruiting and Alumni Relations. Lewis joined the LSU football program in 2002 as coordinator for recruiting. She was elevated to her current role during the spring of 2007, becoming the first female in the Southeastern Conference to hold the title of Assistant Athletic Director for Football Recruiting. Lewis has played a large part in LSU’s continued recruiting success. Her role with the football department is to direct all official and unofficial recruiting visits with duties including but not limited to travel arrangements, accommodations, meals, tours, compliance documentation and expense reports as well as managing the recruiting interns. Lewis also oversees all special events associated with recruiting, such as pregame and postgame events, dinners, banquets and social outings for official visits. Additionally, she manages student workers to help with the day-today recruiting tasks and planned activities Her role also involves fostering and maintaining good relationships with former Tigers. She is the President of LSU’s National L-Club, the school’s letterwinner organization. Lewis has been a part of LSU Athletics for many years as she was an All-SEC heptathlete and high jumper for LSU’s national championship women’s track and field program and worked as a student assistant in recruiting during her undergraduate days in Baton Rouge. The multi-skilled Lewis began her career in athletics working for Career Sports International, where she coordinated recruiting efforts and implemented personal development plans for clients. She also spent four years working for the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio as the sponsorship coordinator and assistant to the executive director. A native of San Antonio, Lewis earned her bachelor’s degree from LSU in 1991 and added a master’s degree from Southern University in 2003. She has a son, Sean.
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2019 FOOTBALL MEDIA GUIDE
Kevin Faulk
Director of Player Development
SUPER BOWL CHAMPION Kevin Faulk, the leading rusher in LSU history and three-time Super Bowl Champion, is in his second year on the football staff as director of player development. Faulk joined the LSU football staff in January of 2018. As LSU’s Director of Player Development, Faulk works with LSU’s football student-athletes on their academic direction, social development and overall quality of life with the goal of enhancing their development in the classroom, the community and on the football field. Faulk, who is the school’s all-time leader in rushing yards (4,557) and rushing TDs (46), starred in the backfield for the Tigers from 1995-98, helping LSU to three bowl appearances over that span. Faulk earned All-America honors from the Associated Press in 1996. Faulk holds a total of 12 school records, which includes three bowl game records. Among his other LSU marks include: rushing TDs in a game (5 vs. Kentucky, 1998); rushing yards in a bowl game (234 vs. Michigan State, 1995 Independence Bowl); all-purpose yards in a game (376 vs. Houston, 1996); touchdowns in a career (53); and 100-yard games in a career (22). Faulk capped his record-setting LSU career as the SEC’s all-time leader in allpurpose yards with 6,833. He still ranks third in SEC history in rushing yards and rushing TDs. Drafted in the second round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, Faulk spent his entire 13-year NFL career with that franchise. Faulk appeared in five Super Bowls with the Patriots, winning the title three times. Faulk scored 33 touchdowns (16 rushing, 15 receiving, 2 kickoff returns) during his career with the Patriots and he holds the franchise record for all-purpose yards (12,349) and kickoff return yards (4,098). A native of Carencro, Louisiana, Faulk retired from the NFL on October 9, 2012 and was elected into the Patriots Hall of Fame on May 18, 2016. Faulk is a member of the Patriots All-Decade Team for the 2000s and was named to the franchise’s 50th Anniversary team as a return specialist. Faulk is also a member of the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame as well as the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Faulk graduated from LSU in December of 1998 with a kinesiology degree. He served as an assistant football coach at Carencro, his high school alma mater, following his retirement from the NFL before joining the LSU staff.
Derek Ponamsky Special Assistant to the Head Coach
Derek Ponamsky joined the LSU football staff in September 2016 as Special Assistant to Head Coach Ed Orgeron. Ponamsky’s primary responsibilities include assisting Orgeron in the day to day organization and operation of his schedule as well as serving as the liaison to the administration. Prior to being hired by Orgeron at LSU, Ponamsky hosted a daily radio show for six years on ESPN Radio in Baton Rouge and worked on the pregame and postgame shows for LSU football on the LSU Sports Radio Network. Ponamsky, a native of Chalmette, Louisiana, attended LSU and has been involved with Louisiana Special Olympics, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Baton Rouge and Autism Speaks. Ponamsky and his wife Leanne have a daughter, Alys.