Temple’s football team has its coaching staff set for the 2017 season.
@CoachCollins put together a staff, full of energy, who truly cares about their Players ?
— Josh Linam (@CoachLinam) January 12, 2017
Former Purdue University defensive backs coach Taver Johnson will become the Owls’ defensive coordinator. He was the Cleveland Browns’ special teams coach in 2004 and has experience in the Power 5 at schools like Purdue, the University of Arkansas and Ohio State University, where he coached Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins.
Cory Robinson will leave his position as the cornerbacks coach at the University of Toledo to become Temple’s defensive backs coach. Andrew Thacker, who worked as a graduate assistant at Central Florida while Collins was the linebackers coach, will become Temple’s linebackers coach. Thacker spent last season at Kennesaw State University, which had a program best 8-3 record in 2016. Tony Lucas, who spent the last four seasons as the running backs coach at the University of Delaware, will assume the same role at Temple.
New head coach Geoff Collins has continued to assemble his coaching staff, including finding a replacement for former defensive line coach Elijah Robinson.
Jim Panagos, who spent the 2016 season at the University of Pittsburgh, will become the new defensive line coach. Panagos coached at Central Florida from 2007-11. Collins was the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator for the Knights in the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
Temple has also hired two assistant strength and conditioning coaches to work under newly hired David Feeley. Jordan Barber joins the Owls after interning for the University of Maryland in 2016, and Ryan Horton spent the last three years as the director of strength and conditioning at Elon University. Horton and Collins worked together at Florida International University in 2010 when Collins was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
Former University of Florida graduate assistant Josh Linam will join Temple as a defensive analyst, according to FootballScoop.com. Linam had a brief NFL career with the Miami Dolphins. Former Wagner College running backs coach Rob Calabrese will join the Owls as an offensive analyst, as reported by OwlScoop.com’s Kyle Gauss.
Adam DiMichele, the director of player development, and E.J. Barthel, the coordinator of on-campus recruiting are both still on the Owls’ staff list. Temple announced that Collins will retain three coaches, Ed Foley, Frisman Jackson and Chris Wiesehan, from former coach Matt Rhule’s staff.
Evan Easterling can be reached at evan.easterling@temple.edu or on Twitter @Evan_Easterling.
Be the first to comment