photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas fullback Ben Miles, left, and linebacker Dru Prox go head-to-head in the Jayhawk drill during practice on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.

Kansas football has a new strength coach.

Kansas Team Health and KU coach Les Miles announced Thursday that Ben Iannacchione has been named director of sports performance for the KU football program.

Iannacchione (pronounced on-uh-KEY-own-E) comes to Kansas after serving as the director of sports performance for Wyoming football since 2018. He replaces Zac Woodfin, who left KU for Missouri last month, and is reuniting with Miles, whom he worked with at LSU under Tommy Moffitt.

“I am excited to welcome Ben and his family to Kansas,” Miles said in a news release. “I certainly enjoyed my time working with him in the past and look forward to reuniting as we continue to move our program forward.”

Iannacchione began his LSU career as an intern in 2011 and 2012, training incoming freshmen football players and assisting with the training of varsity football players and working with the women’s volleyball and soccer teams at LSU.

In 2012, he was elevated to a full-time assistant strength and condition position for the Tigers and was directly responsible for the strength and conditioning training of LSU’s offensive linemen. He also was the head strength and conditioning coach for the LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving program from 2012-15.

In addition to his stops at Wyoming and LSU, Iannacchione worked as the head strength and conditioning coach at Youngstown State in 2015.

“I am blessed to have the opportunity to come to (a) school like Kansas and work with coach Miles again,” Iannacchione said in the release. “It is truly an honor to be a member of his staff. I am excited to get to Lawrence and get to work.”

As a player, Iannacchione was a two-year letter winner at Boise State on the offensive line in 2007 and 2008, where he was a member of Boise State’s 2007 Fiesta Bowl Championship Team.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Iannacchione earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from Boise State in 2008. He received his master’s certification in sports counseling from California University of Pennsylvania in 2010 and completed his master’s degree in kinesiology from LSU in 2012.

Iannacchione and his wife, Renee, have two sons, Salvatore and Sonny.