BRIAN KMITTA
Strength & Conditioning Coach / 7th Year
Brian Kmitta joined the Nebraska Athletic Department staff as an assistant strength coach in 2009. Kmitta serves as the strength and
conditioning coach for track and field and volleyball.
Originally from South Bend, Ind., Kmitta graduated from Anderson University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in physical
education in 2004. His final year in college, Kmitta worked as a student assistant for the football team’s offensive line, and as strength
and conditioning coach.
After graduation, Kmitta served as assistant running backs coach and strength and conditioning coach at Anderson. He then spent a
year at the University of Louisville as an intern strength and conditioning coach, before coming to Nebraska as an intern in the strength
and conditioning program in 2006.
Brian and his wife, Sarah, welcomed the birth of a son, Brian III, on Sept. 18, 2013.
JOLENE EMRICSON
Athletic Trainer / 14th Year
Jolene Emricson is in her 14th season as the athletic trainer for the Nebraska volleyball team in 2015. In her role, she evaluates and
treats injuries as well as oversees rehabilitation programs for the Husker volleyball team and supervises the athletic training needs of
the NU softball team.
Before arriving in Lincoln, Emricson spent one year as the athletic trainer for the men’s lacrosse team at the University of Denver, where
she also assisted with the men’s ice hockey team.
Emricson, who is from Colorado Springs, Colo., earned a bachelor of arts degree from Metropolitan State College of Denver in human
performance and sport with a concentration in athletic training. While at Metro State, Emricson worked with the women’s soccer, women’s
basketball and baseball programs.
She received her master’s degree in education from the University of Nebraska in May of 2004.
DENNIS LEBLANC
Senior Associate A.D./Academics / 28th Year
Dennis Leblanc was named Nebraska’s Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academics in 2007, after being promoted from Associate
Athletic Director for Academic Programs and Student Services. He was named an associate athletic director in 1998 and has directed the
academic program since 1993. Leblanc, who has been with the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes since 1987, joined the
Nebraska Athletic Department in 1983 as a member of the track and field staff.
Under Leblanc’s leadership, Nebraska has become the national leader in CoSIDA Academic All-Americans for football and all sports, NCAA
Today’s Top Ten Award honorees and recipients of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Postgraduate Scholarship. Since he
joined the academic staff in 1987, 244 of Nebraska’s 320 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans have been honored, while NU has claimed 14 of
its 17 NCAA’s Today Top Ten Award recipients. More than 2,700 Husker student-athletes have earned their degrees.
Over the past decade, Nebraska’s academic support program for student-athletes has received outstanding reviews from the NCAA
Certification Review Team and the Nebraska Faculty Intercollegiate Athletic Committee. In 2012, Nebraska’s program became one of only
21 programs nationally to be certified by the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletes (N4A) for meeting the established
standards of service for student-athletes as outlined by the N4A.
Leblanc is a member of the N4A, and in 2002 he received its prestigious Lan Hewlett Award presented to an athletic administrator in recognition of distinguished performance
in providing personal, academic and professional guidance to student-athletes.
Leblanc was presented the Chancellor’s Award for Exemplary Service to Students at the 2004 University of Nebraska Honors Convocation