UAB Assistant Coach List

Head Coach

Garrick McGee

Hometown:     Tulsa, OK

Coaching Experience:

            1991-1992       QB                                          Arizona State

            1993                QB                                          Northeastern Oklahoma A&M

            1994-1995       QB                                          Oklahoma

            1996                DB Coach                               Langston (OK)

            1997-1998       QB/WR Coach/STC               Langston (OK)

            1999                WR Coach                              Northern Iowa

            2000-2001       Off. QC                                  Jacksonville Jaguars

            2002                WR Coach                              Toledo

            2003                WR Coach                              UNLV

            2004-2005       WR Coach                              Northwestern

            2006-2007       OC/QB Coach                         Northwestern

            2008-2009       QB Coach                               Arkansas

            2010-2011       OC/QB Coach                         Arkansas

            2012-               Head Coach                            UAB

Garrick McGee was named UAB’s next head coach yesterday.  McGee has little ties to the state of Alabama, but has worked for Bobby Petrino for four seasons who knows how to recruit the state.  McGee didn’t call the plays for Arkansas the past couple seasons but did so while OC at Northwestern.  He has experience running a spread offense (like they used at Northwestern) and has been fantastic bringing along Arkansas QB Tyler Wilson this season in a pro offense.  He has recruited Oklahoma very well the past few seasons while at Arkansas so expect him to hit that state very hard this year while trying to pull out a respectable recruiting class.  He is an excellent offensive mind who will most likely hire a veteran defensive coordinator who has the ability to control that side of the ball completely.  McGee has been mentioned in the head coaching search at Florida Atlantic and at one point was considered the favorite to land that job.  I like this hire; however, UAB is really limited by being associated with the University of Alabama and it is an uphill battle for McGee.

Chris Hedden, former OC/WR Coach Toledo and Akron assistant

·         Coached RB’s for Northern Iowa in 1998 and 1999 when Garrick McGee was WR Coach

·         Coached TE’s at Toledo while McGee was WR coach in 2002

·         Ohio native who has spent entire coaching career in Ohio

Jay Niemann, DC/S Coach Northern Illinois

·         Coached with McGee at Northern Iowa in 1999

·         Spent seven seasons as head coach at D-III Iowa school Simpson

·         Has been DC at Drake, Northern Iowa, and now Northern Illinois

Paul Haynes, Co-DC/S Coach Ohio State

·         Coached with McGee on the 2001 Jacksonville Jaguars coaching staff when they were both quality control assistants

·         He also coached at Northern Iowa under Mike Dunbar

·         Doesn’t seem to be a part of Urban Meyer’s new staff at Ohio State

·         Columbus, OH native who will probably end up on a Big 10 coaching staff

Doug Downing, RB Coach/RC Eastern Michigan

·         Worked with McGee at Toledo where he served as RB Coach for eight seasons under Tom Amstutz

·         Ohio native who has coached at Western Illinois, Purdue, and Missouri State

Joe Gilbert, OL Coach Illinois

·         Veteran OL coach who was at Toledo when McGee was

·         Has worked under Paul Petrino at Illinois the past two seasons

·         Also coached at Maine, Central Florida, Illinois, and Houston

Rob Spence, OC/QB Coach Bethune-Cookman

·         Former Syracuse, Clemson, and Toledo OC who worked with McGee at Toledo

·         Ran some high powered offenses at Toledo and Clemson

·         Bethune-Cookman went 8-3 this year averaging 34 points a game, FWIW

Paul Randolph, Assoc. HC/Co-DC/DL Coach Pittsburgh

·         Former assistant at Toledo under Amstutz even though didn’t work with McGee directly

·         Top recruiter who spent time at Alabama where he was named to the Rivals top 25 recruiters list

·         Georgia native has spent time at Tulsa, Alabama, Rice, and West Virginia

Randall McCray, S Coach Pittsburgh

·         North Carolina native who spent time at Toledo under Amstutz

·         Has worked at Wisconsin and Middle Tennesse State (DC), he is in his first year at Pittsburgh

David Walkosky, LB Coach Calgary Stampeders

·         Former Toledo assistant working with McGee

·         Close friend to Paul Randolph from their time at Tennessee-Martin

·         Has also worked at Washington State

Dennis Winston, LB Coach Arkansas Pine-Bluff

·         Former Toledo assistant who is from Arkansas and currently coaches linebackers for Arkansas Pine Bluff

·         Excellent LB who had solid career in NFL

Steve Johns, ILB Coach/STC Navy

·         Worked with McGee at UNLV in 2003

·         Spent most of his coaching career on the west coast but has been on the Navy staff for four seasons

Greg Colby, Head Coach Millersville (PA)

·         Was DC at Northwestern while McGee worked as OC.

·         Longtime Big 10 assistant coach

Chip Long, TE Coach Illinois

·         Alabama native who played at North Alabama

·         Spent two seasons as GA at Louisville under Petrino before following him to Arkansas

·         Has spent the last two seasons as TE Coach at Illinois under Paul Petrino

Jeff Brohm, QB Coach Illinois

·         Longtime Louisville assistant who worked under Petrino at Louisville

·         Has excellent recruiting ties to the state of Florida and is highly regarded as excellent offensive mind

Richard Owens, Offensive Graduate Assistant (TE) Arkansas

·         Florida native who played TE for Petrino at Louisville

·         Played for Rams, Vikings, and Jets before spending the last two seasons as graduate assistant working with TE’s at Arkansas

Brandon Sharp, Defensive Graduate Assistant (DB) Arkansas

·         Jacksonville native who played for Petrino at Louisville and spent this last season as GA at Arkansas

Marty Biagi, Assistant Coach Arkansas Pine Bluff

·         Former offensive and defensive graduate assistant at Arkansas working mainly with special teams

·         Former punter at Marshall (2005-2007)

Courtney Sanders, DL Coach Missouri State

·         Former defensive graduate assistant at Arkansas in 2008 working under Petrino

Kevin Wolthausen, DL Coach Las Vegas Locomotives (UFL)

·         Veteran assistant who was coach at Oklahoma while McGee played there in 1994

·         Worked under Bobby Petrino at Louisville from 2003-2006 and with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007

·         Has also worked at Arizona State, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Eastern Michigan

Mike Cassity, DB Coach Marshall

·         Worked as Bobby Petrino’s defensive coordinator at Louisville from 2004-2006

·         Was named Rivals top 25 recruiters while at Louisville

·         Veteran DC and defensive coach who has worked at Oklahoma State, Baylor, Wisconsin, Illinois, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, East Carolina and Kentucky (alma mater)

Mike Gillhamer, DB Coach Illinois

·         Another Petrino disciple who was his DC in 2003 at Louisville

·         He worked with the plethora of other Illinois coaches on the staff this season after spending the previous seven seasons working for the Carolina Panthers

·         Veteran defensive guy who is most likely the type of coach McGee will look to when he decides on a defensive coordinator in the next couple weeks

Washington State Assistant Coach List

Not only do I feel Washington State got the best candidate for their position, I think Leach picked a great destination for his next head coaching stop.  Leach will score points and win games in Pullman and will consistently put people in the stands with his exciting offense.  Here are a list of obvious assistant coach candidates that Leach is probably targeting.  I believe that Jim Mastro, Robert Anae, Eric Russell, and Mike Fanoga make perfect sense and are the most likely to be a part of this new staff at Washington State.

Brian Mitchell, DC/DB Coach East Carolina

·         Waco, TX native who played cornerback for BYU from 1987-1990

·         After a couple of seasons in the NFL, Mitchell spent 11 seasons as an assistant at BYU

·         Mitchell spent four seasons under Leach at Texas Tech as CB coach

·         He has spent the last two seasons as DC at East Carolina under former Texas Tech DC Ruffin McNeill

Lincoln Riley, OC/QB Coach East Carolina

·         Texas native who spent four seasons as a student assistant under Leach at Texas Tech

·         He then served as offensive graduate assistant then inside receivers coach for two seasons before being named OC/QB coach at East Carolina

·         In his first season as OC, he engineered a top 20 offense in the nation

Clay McGuire, RB Coach/STC East Carolina

·         Crane, TX native who played H-back in Texas Tech’s offense from 2000-2003

·         Former GA at Texas Tech and special teams coordinator as well

·         2^nd season as RB Coach/STC at East Carolina

Brandon Jones, OL Coach East Carolina

·         Jones grew up in Texas, but moved to Oregon while in high school

·         Jones played in 22 games at center for Texas Tech from 2002-2005

·         Offensive graduate assistant working with the offensive line in 2007 and 2008 for Texas Tech

·         Jones spent 2009 as offensive line coach at Sam Houston State before accepting OL Coaching job at East Carolina where he is in his second season

Dennis Simmons, OR Coach East Carolina

·         Memphis, TN native who was a three year starter at OLB for BYU from 1992-1995

·         Administrative assistant and graduate assistant at BYU for a couple seasons

·         Spent 10 seasons involved with the Texas Tech football program including the final two as outside receivers coach

·         Completing his second season at East Carolina

Duane Price, OLB Coach East Carolina

·         Former Texas Tech defensive back from 1995-1998

·         Spent six seasons coaching at A&M Consolidated in College Station, TX

·         Spent 2009 working under Leach as defensive graduate assistant and retained by Tuberville working with defensive backs through the spring of 2010

·         Completing his second season as OLB coach at East Carolina

Landon Hoefer, Offensive Graduate Assistant East Carolina

·         Former WR at Texas Tech who decided to end his playing career early in order to start his coaching career as a defensive intern under Tommy West in 2009 at Memphis

·         In his 2^nd season as offensive graduate assistant at East Carolina

Sonny Cumbie, Inside Receivers Coach Texas Tech

·         Former Texas Tech QB under Leach who spent time in AFL before becoming inside receivers coach at Texas Tech last season

Kliff Kingsbury, Co-OC/QB Coach Houston

·         Former Texas Tech QB under Leach who has done a fantastic job calling plays for Houston who’s first loss of the season came yesterday

Seth Littrell, OC/RB Coach Arizona

·         Arizona’s offense has been productive since Littrell took over the play calling duties last year

·         Experience in the PAC 12 is a definite plus for Littrell

·         Played FB for Oklahoma in 2000 when Mike Leach was the OC

·         Worked for Leach for four seasons as his RB Coach

Jim Mastro, TE/F-Backs Coach UCLA

·         Played at Cal Poly while Mike Leach was there as a student…they remain friends

·         Long time Nevada assistant who has a lot of experience with an innovative spread offense (Pistol)

·         His west coast ties (especially California) bode well for a position on Leach’s staff

David Nichol, Outside Receivers Coach Arizona

·         Former student assistant and graduate assistant under Leach at Texas Tech

·         Has spent the last four seasons at Arizona, spending the last three as outside receivers coach

Eric Morris, Offensive Graduate Assistant Houston

·         Former WR at Texas Tech under Leach who has spent the last two seasons as offensive quality control and graduate assistant at Houston

Robert Anae, Offensive Line Coach Arizona

·         Hawaii native who spent 2000-2004 as Mike Leach’s offensive line coach at Texas Tech

·         Anae has also coached at UNLV, Boise State, Hawaii, and is a graduate of BYU also spending six years as their offensive coordinator

·         He most recently spent the last season at Arizona as offensive line coach

Matt Moore, Offensive Line Coach Texas Tech

·         Moore is a Georgia native who played for Leach at Valdosta State from 1991-1994

·         Moore also was hired by Leach in 2007 to coach the Texas Tech offensive line where he has been the last five seasons

·         Also coached at Troy under the same type of system

Ty Linder, Offensive Graduate Assistant Texas Tech

·         Played for Leach at Texas Tech from 2004-2007 at OLB

·         Has mostly worked with the special teams units at Texas Tech the last four seasons being a quality control and graduate assistant

Mike Fanoga, Defensive Line Coach Lane College

·         Veteran assistant coach who is Samoan, which helps greatly recruiting Samoan descent kids to come to Washington State

·         Has worked with Leach at Iowa Wesleyan, Valdosta State, and Kentucky

·         Longtime Hal Mumme disciple

Darrell Patterson, LB Coach/STC Rice

·         Worked with Leach at Kentucky and has coached on the west coast before spending two seasons at Stanford

Trey Haverty, S Coach TCU

·         Haverty played WR for Texas Tech under Leach from 2001-2004 and was an All-American

·         Spent three seasons as defensive graduate assistant at TCU before spending 2010 as defensive coordinator at Millsaps College in Mississippi

Eric Russell, TE Coach/STC Tennessee

·         Worked for Leach as STC at Texas Tech in 2009

·         Russell is an Idaho native who went to junior college at Spokane Falls CC in Washington

·         Spent 13 seasons at North Texas

·         With all the movement on the Tennessee coaching staff expected, Russell is a good possibility to join Leach in Pullman

Potential Kansas Head Coach Options

Kevin Sumlin, Head Coach Houston

·         Indianapolis native who was a linebacker at Purdue from 1983-1986

·         Has worked in PAC 12 (Washington State), Big 10 (Purdue and Minnesota), and Big 12 (Texas A&M and Oklahoma) before accepting the head coaching position at Houston in 2008

·         Has won 35 games in four years at Houston including a 12-0 season this year.

·         One of the hottest names in college football who will be in contention for the Arizona State, UCLA, and Illinois jobs as well.

Brent Venables, DC/LB Coach Oklahoma

·         Kansas native who has spent his entire coaching career at Kansas State under Bill Snyder and at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops:  quite the pedigree

·         Kansas AD Sheahon Zenger is obviously looking for a big splash hire and Venables has been one of the hottest coordinators in college football for a very long time now

·         Zenger also has connections to coaches who have direct relationships with people who are friends with Venables

Todd Monken, OC/QB Coach Oklahoma State

·         Wheaton, IL native who has worked in the Big 12 for four seasons

·         Worked as WR Coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars for four years after spending the previous five seasons as WR coach under Les Miles at LSU and Oklahoma State.

·         I believe this name is a bit of a stretch with no real connection to Kansas; however, he is a very hot name in college football right now and will most certainly have his name brought up

Larry Fedora, Head Coach Southern Miss

·         Texas native who has spent time in SEC with Florida and Big 12 with Baylor and Oklahoma State

·         Possible favorite to land Ole Miss job

·         Has won 32 games in four seasons at Southern Miss including 10 wins this season

·         Revered offensive mind who is one of the hottest coaching names in college football

Mike Leach, former Head Coach Texas Tech

·         No place does Leach make more sense than at Kansas.  He has a relationship with Zenger from a magazine that Zenger created.  Ever since Zenger interviewed Leach for his magazine they have become close friends

·         Zenger has to have a short list in order to justify his quick decision to fire Turner Gill and expect him to move quickly

Jim Leavitt, LB Coach San Francisco 49ers

·         Florida native who worked with Zenger for a long time at Kansas State and then hired him as recruiting coordinator on his staff at South Florida in the inaugural year of the program

·         Only had two losing seasons in his 13 seasons as head coach at South Florida winning 94 games.  He was fired after the 2009 season after allegations of abuse of his players

·         Again, Zenger has a short list and there is no way that Leavitt is off that list considering their relationship; however, his allegations at South Florida will raise eyebrows with the Kansas faithful

Mike Stoops, former Head Coach Arizona

·         Ohio native who worked with Zenger at Kansas State

·         Fired from Arizona midway through the year this year after winning 41 games over 7 ½ years.

·         Excellent defensive mind that has history with Zenger.  Many question he has the demeanor to be a successful head coach but he recruited Texas well at Arizona and could possibly put together a solid staff at Kansas

Vic Koenning, (Interim) Head Coach Illinois

·         Oklahoma native who played LB at Kansas State

·         Worked as DC at Wyoming while Zenger was there as assistant to head coach

·         Many believe didn’t deserve to be fired at Clemson, was revered at Troy as top defensive mind in football, and has done a fantastic job this season at Illinois (check stats, I know Zook was fired, but it wasn’t because of the defense)

·         Has head coaching experience although he only won five games in three seasons at Wyoming…wouldn’t be “sexy” hire that most believe Zenger is after

Mark Stoops, DC/DB Coach Florida State

·         Youngest of the Stoops brother who worked with Zenger at South Florida and Wyoming

·         Excellent defensive mind who has worked at Miami (FL), Arizona, and now Florida State

·         Most definitely ready for his opportunity and could put together an impressive staff

June Jones, Head Coach SMU

·         Has been head coach for the Atlanta Falcons, Hawaii, and has spent the last three seasons at Southern Methodist

·         He is a proven winner who has won 99 games in 13 years as head coach including three 10 win seasons at Hawaii and has resurrected the SMU program leading them to three straight winning records and most likely third straight bowl game

·         Has recruited Texas very well the last three seasons

Dave Doeren, Head Coach Northern Illinois

·         Kansas native who spent four years as assistant under Mark Mangino at Kansas.

·         Spent five seasons at Wisconsin as defensive coordinator under Bret Bielema

·         Excellent recruiter who has won 9 games in his first year as head coach at Northern Illinois

Sonny Dykes, Head Coach Louisiana Tech

·         Texas native who is revered as top offensive mind in football learning from Mike Leach and Hal Mumme

·         Well respected OC who did a great job at Arizona while there as OC

·         Has won 13 games in two seasons including 8 this year receiving birth to Poinsettia Bowl



Potential Illinois Head Coach Options

Butch Jones, Head Coach Cincinnati

·         Michigan native who has won 39 games in five seasons as Head Coach at Central Michigan and Cincinnati

·         Mike Thomas, Illinois AD, hired him once as Cincinnati head coach

·         Has recruited very well at Central Michigan and Cincinnati, especially the state of Florida

Brent Venables, DC/LB Coach Oklahoma

·         Kansas native who has spent his entire coaching career at Kansas State under Bill Snyder and at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops:  quite the pedigree

·         Has been rumored to be in the running for multiple jobs for about five or six years now and a report surfaced that Venables would get an interview at a BCS school in the next couple weeks…the only school that I have seen mentioned was Illinois

Steve Addazio, Head Coach Temple

·         Connecticut native who spent three years as assistant at Notre Dame (1999-2001) and three years at Indiana as OC (2002-2004)

·         Urban Meyer disciple who was named interim head coach at Florida while Urban took his hiatus before the 2010 season

·         Has done a nice job at Temple this season winning 8 games in his first season as head coach

Kirby Wilson, RB Coach Pittsburgh Steelers

·         Long time NFL assistant working for New England, Washington, Tampa Bay, Arizona, and has spent the last five seasons as RB coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  He has two super bowl rings that would look awful appealing to recruits

·         Los Angeles native who was part of Mike White’s excellent Illinois teams in the early 1980s.

·         Rumors are that he was in Champaign a couple weeks ago for a game possibly lobbying boosters to support him for this position.  He was rumored to be very interested when Ron Zook was given the job in 2005

Sal Sunseri, Assistant Head Coach/LB Coach Alabama

·         Up for Broyles Award for top assistant in the country this year

·         Longtime Pittsburgh assistant that brings a resume in that includes working for Nick Saban for four years.

·         Anyone who works for Saban knows how to coach, win games, and recruit

Paul Chryst, OC/QB Coach Wisconsin

·         Another hot assistant who has done a tremendous job at Wisconsin

·         He is a Midwest guy who hails from Madison, WI and went to school at Purdue

·         Runs a smash mouth, run first offense that has pro-style tendencies

Todd Monken, OC/QB Coach Oklahoma State

·         Wheaton, IL native whose father was a very highly respected high school coach in the suberbs

·         Worked as WR Coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars for four years after spending the previous five seasons as WR coach under Les Miles at LSU and Oklahoma State.

·         Has background in pro-style offenses as well as spread.  It will be interesting to see what he sells to Mike Thomas (if given an opportunity) as to what offense he would bring in

Larry Fedora, Head Coach Southern Miss

·         Texas native who has spent time in SEC with Florida and Big 12 with Baylor and Oklahoma State

·         Considered very good offensive mind and once accepted OC job at Illinois before leaving a week later to take the OC job at Oklahoma State

·         Possible favorite to land Ole Miss job

·         Has won 32 games in four seasons at Southern Miss including 10 wins this season

Kevin Sumlin, Head Coach Houston

·         Indianapolis native who was a linebacker at Purdue from 1983-1986

·         Has worked in PAC 12 (Washington State), Big 10 (Purdue and Minnesota), and Big 12 (Texas A&M and Oklahoma) before accepting the head coaching position at Houston in 2008

·         Has won 35 games in four years at Houston including a 12-0 season this year.

·         One of the hottest names in college football who will be in contention for the Arizona State, UCLA, and Kansas jobs as well.

Willie Taggart, Head Coach Western Kentucky

·         Played for Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky on their national championship team and worked for Jim Harbaugh for three seasons at Stanford.

·         Florida native who has recruited the sunshine state better than most Big 10 and ACC schools.  (No. 1 recruiting class in Sun Belt in 2009 and 2010)

·         Turned around a Western Kentucky program that had struggled winning only 4 games in the previous three seasons….he lead the program to seven wins this season.

Tim Beckman, Head Coach Toledo

·         Ohio native who has worked at Auburn, Bowling Green, Ohio State, and Oklahoma State.

·         21 wins in three seasons as head coach at Toledo including 8 wins the last two years including wins over Colorado and Purdue.  He almost beat Ohio State this year.

·         Has had the top recruiting class in the MAC conference the previous two seasons

Dave Christensen, Head Coach Wyoming

·         Washington native who spent seven years at Toledo under Gary Pinkel and then 12 more years under Pinkel at Missouri

·         Pioneered Missouri’s spread offensive attack that has been one of the nation’s best the past few years

·         Has won 17 wins at Wyoming including seven wins in his first year going to a bowl game and will most likely receive a bowl berth again this year

Ron English, Head Coach Eastern Michigan

·         California native who was an assistant at Arizona State (5 years), Michigan (5 years including two seasons as DC), and Louisville

·         Has been the head coach at the woeful Eastern Michigan program since 2009 winning 8 games in three seasons

·         The last time an Eastern Michigan football team won 6 games was 1995…he has done an outstanding job turning around this program

Skip Holtz, Head Coach South Florida

·         Son of legendary Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz has been a for 12 seasons including stints at Connecticut, East Carolina, and currently at South Florida

·         He has won 85 games in 12 seasons as head coach  2 Conf. USA Championships and 5 bowl games

·         Currently sitting at 1-5 in the Big East doesn’t make him the most appealing candidate; however, he was a finalist for the Cincinnati job when Illinois AD (AD at Cincinnati at the time) Mike Thomas hired Butch Jones as head coach

Mike Leach, former Head Coach Texas Tech

·         His name is mentioned with every open job in American; however, his name hasn’t had much mention when it comes to this job

·         He wants to coach and is probably willing to take any BCS conference job that he can so you can’t rule him out