Joe DeForest
Joe DeForest is going to be our defensive coordinator. Joe comes from Oklahoma State and obviously you guys are pretty familiar with him at this point. We are really excited about what he brings to the table from a Big 12 standpoint. He had been there for 11 years and got those guys to the point where we have had lots of battle throughout the years and understands the style of ball we are going to be playing in the Big 12. I think that is incredibly important. There are a lot of good offenses in the Big 12, and you got to be able to keep playing.
One of the mottos that we had this year for our team was the importance of continuing to keep playing regardless of what the situations are. He understands that stuff, and they (Oklahoma State) led the nation in turnovers last year. He will really bring a lot to the table. He will also coach the safeties. He is going to spend a lot of time with the specialist. He has had a couple of All-American punters and a couple of All-American returners and kickers. He will be able to bring something to the table when it comes to those guys as well.
His recruiting duties will be North Florida. He is from south of Jacksonville, so he is familiar with that part of the country and will be able to get in there and do a really good job for us in North Florida.
Keith Patterson
Keith Patterson comes to us from Pitt. Prior to that he came from Tulsa, which is where I went up against him for three years. I have a tremendous amount of respect as far as what he is bringing to the table from the fact that he has been a defensive coordinator and he is going to be a co-defensive coordinator here and coach the linebackers. He has gone up against our offense for the last four years and again, going back to going into the Big 12 and the amount of spread offenses that we are going to be seeing, that is really important to have that kind of philosophy. We will be able to line up a defense that we want to go to, which is more of a 3-4 defense, and be able to kick it down to a 4-3. There is a lot of variety in what you can do to that, and it is something that over the years has given me problems to the point where I knew that that was the direction that we wanted to go. He will also be recruiting Dallas and be in the junior colleges in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma, as well.
Eric Slaughter
Eric Slaughter is going to be coaching our defensive line. Eric comes from Stephen F. Austin where he worked with Shannon (Dawson) and is pretty familiar with him. Again, it comes back to the same philosophy as far as where we are going and the type of offenses that we are going to be seeing. He is going to have a tremendous amount of knowledge, having to practiced against Shannon for the better part of two to three years and then having a lot of ties in that part of the country.
We are going to stick him in central Florida from a recruiting standpoint. We don’t want to just overload people from a recruiting standpoint in Texas. We are going to take care of a lot of stuff that we have been taking care of around here for a long time. He is a diligent recruiter, and he is going to bring a lot to the table from a work ethic standpoint.
Daron Roberts
Daron Roberts is going to move over to the defensive side of the ball and coach the corners. His recruiting territory is going to remain the same, as he did a great job in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. He is going to take over the entire state of Maryland and also get down into Virginia as well. We haven’t done a great job in Virginia here in the last few years, and Daron is going to get in there and do that.
Steve Dunlap
We are excited that Steve is staying on board, and he is going to be assistant head coach and special teams coordinator. That is important to me as far as having one guy that makes sure that they stay focused on taking care of the special teams. Last year, we kind of broke it up quite a bit. I thought we got better and worked hard at it, but having a guy that makes sure that he just focuses on it and spends the better part of his day making sure that we do things schematically and evaluating talent and all that is something that is going to pay off. We still got a lot of guys who can work on special teams. Joe has done it for the better part of 12 years. I am going to be in every meeting. Daron and Robert are going to work hard on special teams as well, but to have one guy that kind of focuses on it all day long is really important. He is still going to recruit Western Pennsylvania and he is going to get into Eastern Ohio. He does a great job up there, which we all know has been an important area for West Virginia for quite some time.
Shannon Dawson
We are going to make Shannon the offensive coordinator, and he will coach the receivers. While he and Daron shared the receivers last year, Shannon is going to be able to take that over and continue to get those guys better and better. He has been recruiting Houston for quite a while. He will continue to go down into Houston and see if we can’t pull one or two kids out of there like we have been doing for the last several years. He will also get into Mississippi junior colleges. He is from Louisiana. We will get into Louisiana a little bit, but primarily it is going to be Mississippi junior colleges and get into Houston and get some guys there.
Robert Gillespie
Robert Gillespie did a great job recruiting South Florida last year. He does a great job coaching our running backs up. That is what he does, and what he brings to the table is not going to change a whole lot.
Bill Bedenbaugh
Same thing with Bill Bedenbaugh. He will be coaching the offensive line and getting into the Western Ohio area and then working his way over to his home city of Chicago to see if we can’t get a couple of linemen that look like him.
Jake Spavital
Jake Spavital will be the quarterbacks coach. We are going to put Jake over in New Jersey, another area that I don’t think we have done a very good job in recruiting over the last several years. There is a tremendous amount of football players that come from there. I have been told that 30 percent of our student body is from New Jersey, so I think we need to do a better job of getting in there and pulling some guys, which Jake will work as hard as anybody when it comes to getting in there and getting some things done.
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