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Jeff Scott was introduced as USF’s Head Coach on December 11th, 2019 and a few days later on December 16th he made the decision to not retain any of the assistant coaches who coached under Charlie Strong. On January 10th, 2020, Jeff Scott made his final hire for his primary coaching staff, below are the bios of each position coach.
Official Hires
Director of Football Strength and Conditioning- Trumain Carroll
Welcome to the Bay, @CoachTruCarroll
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 20, 2019
Named Director of Football Strength & Conditioning
➡️https://t.co/SiipoqEyde#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/ixg77U2Tkd
The first official hire of the Jeff Scott era came on December 20th, when Trumain Carroll was selected as the Director of Strength and Conditioning. Trumain spent the last five years with former Clemson assistant coach Chad Morris while Morris lead the SMU and Arkansas football programs. Prior to that, he worked at his alma mater Oklahoma State as an assistant Strength and Conditioning coach.
The strength and conditioning coach is one of the most important jobs to be filled at any football program both on and off the field. During his time at Arkansas, Trumain broke down the four main areas of his job as the following:
- Lifting, making sure the workouts are football-related (think more olympic lifting).
- Nutrition, “You can’t out-train a bad diet”.
- Recovery, specifically Trumain brought a yoga instructor with him from SMU to Arkansas.
- Culture, developing the young men in the program to become successful off the field.
Wide Receivers Coach- Xavier Dye
Welcome to the Bay, @Xdye21
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 21, 2019
Named wide receivers coach➡️ https://t.co/8G9aAGujvm#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/GEuQ0i8NCP
On December 21st, the first position coach was set, and it just so happened to be for Jeff Scott’s former position group with Clemson. Xavier Dye was announced as the wide receivers coach after spending one season at West Virginia. Dye played wide receiver under Jeff Scott from 2007 to 2010, and then became a graduate assistant under Scott again at Clemson working with the receiver corps from 2017 to 2018. The 2019 season saw him move to Morgantown, WV to become a part of Neal Brown’s first coaching staff at West Virginia.
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach- Glenn Spencer
Welcome to the Bay, @Glenn_Spencer
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 22, 2019
Named Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach.
His FAU defense led the nation with 33 takeaways.
➡️https://t.co/JetGtZFkgI#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/iGMxP2GVhG
On Sunday, Glenn Spencer was announced as the defensive coordinator/linebackers coach for USF. Spencer was previously the interim head coach/defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic, where As interim head coach, the FAU Owls dismantled SMU in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Spencer has over 30 years of coaching under his belt at various programs, and his recent stop at FAU was one of his most successful. His immediate impact at FAU saw the program improve in 10 defensive statistical categories, including leading the nation in takeaways (33), and interceptions (22). Prior to FAU, Spencer spent on season at Charlotte, where he again had an immediate impact on the 49ers program, improving the rush defense to 4th in FBS with 88.5 yard per game.
He has spent a majority of his coaching career at Oklahoma State, coaching the cowboys defense from 2008 to 2017 where he spent most of his time coaching linebackers. Other stops on his coaching journey include Duke University (2004-2006), Georgia Tech (2001-2003) and University of West Georgia (1998-2000).
Tight Ends Coach- Joey King
Welcome to the Bay, @CoachJoeyKing!
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 23, 2019
Named Tight Ends Coach.
✅Led Cartersville HS to 2 state titles & 4 state title games; fastest coach to 50 wins in Georgia HS history.
➡️https://t.co/3foA3IgbM3#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/3qeKmtAR5V
Joey King was announced as the tight ends coach on December 23rd as the fourth hire under Jeff Scott. King spent last season as the wide receivers coach, but saw the most amount of success when he coached Cartersville High School in Georgia. At Cartersville, he amassed a 67-4 record in five seasons, and coached future Clemson star Trevor Lawrence. Jeff Scott noted in the hiring that he and King were very familiar during the recruiting of Lawrence. King also spent time as the Offensive Coordinator for the 2019 US Army All-American Bowl for high school.
Offensive Coordinator- Charlie Weis Jr.
Welcome to the Bay, Charlie Weis Jr. !
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 23, 2019
Named Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach.
✅Led FAU offense that ranked 14th in FBS in scoring (36.4 ppg) and posted 6,280 yards & 65 TD.
➡️https://t.co/cqjC1ROYcW#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/9dbeXxTnav
Charlie Weis Jr was officially announced as the new offensive coordinator on Monday. Weis comes to Tampa after spending the last two years as OC for Lane Kiffin at FAU. The Owls offense was led by star tight end Harrison Bryant and former USF wide receiver DeAngelo Antoine.
Weis spent time at Alabama with Kiffin, as well as a stint in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons.
Apparently Weis has a photographic memory that has helped him throughout his career.
@coach_jeffscott Slaying It! Get ready scoreboard operator! @WeisJr_FAU #freshbulbs https://t.co/nqQOkKARFq
— Glenn Spencer (@Glenn_Spencer) December 23, 2019
Special Teams Coach- Daniel Da Prato
Welcome to the Bay, @CoachDaPrato !
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 23, 2019
Named Special Teams Coordinator.
✅Brings 15 years of experience to Tampa with recent stops at Arkansas & Colorado
➡️https://t.co/paOQNL8krQ#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/dCHQ75uaYV
Da Prato comes to USF after a 12 days stint as special teams coach for UTSA. Prior to UTSA, he spent the 2019 as a quality control coach for special teams at Arkansas under former head coach Chad Morris. He was promoted to special teams coach after Morris’ firing.
He also spent three years at Colorado as the director of quality control/offense between 2016-2018.
He began his coaching career in 2004 at ULM before moving to Sacramento State (2007-2012). Da Prato spent three years at Montana State (2013-2015) as te special teams and tight ends coach before making the leap to FBS.
Offensive Line Coach- Allen Mogridge
Welcome to the Bay, @CoachMogridge !
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 24, 2019
Named Offensive Line Coach.
✅Last 3 seasons as assistant head coach/OL coach at FIU; line ranked among top 10 nationally in sacks allowed last two years.
➡️https://t.co/xKEb3wNsvd#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/UJJYKE8ZCn
Allen Mogridge was officially announced as the offensive line coach on December 24th after spending the last three seasons in the same position at Florida International University under Butch Davis. Mogridge has nearly 20 years of coaching experience under his belt, and at FIU helped a resurgent Golden Panther program go to three straight bowl games. The last two seasons, FIU ranked top 10 nationally in sacks allowed.
Prior to FIU, Mogridge spent time at Georgia Southern, Temple, UNC, UCF, University of Buffalo, and Western Carolina. He was a student athlete at UNC, where he played tight end, fullback, offensive tackle, and defensive end during the 1996-1999 seasons.
Defensive Line Coach- Da’Quan Bowers
Welcome to the Bay, @DaQuanBowers91!
— USF Football (@USFFootball) December 29, 2019
Named Defensive Line Coach.
✅Clemson consensus All-American, Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner & @Buccaneers 2011 Draft Pick.
➡️https://t.co/zfiC8QBMhJ#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/5a0gXDxYhW
Da’Quan Bowers was officially hired on December 29th, but his name had been floating around since mid December to join Jeff Scott’s Staff at USF. The former Clemson stand-out spent four years in Tampa after being drafted in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He was released by the Bucs in 2015 after an injury filled career that saw him play in 53 games, starting in 10 and contributing 69 tackles and 7 sacks in his career in the NFL. After a quick stint in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos, he officially retired in 2018 from professional football.
He came back to Clemson and joined Dabo Swinney’s staff as a volunteer coach while continuing his education at Clemson to graduate and become a full time coach. Bowers helped coach defensive ends this season for the Tigers, where the entire line was reloaded after replacing four starters to the NFL.
Unanimous All-American Isaiah Simmons 1 of 8 starters on Clemson's #3 team to earn degrees today. Also graduating was Da'Quan Bowers, unanimous AA in 2008. Terry Kinard, Gaines Adams, CJ Spiller, Christian Wilkins, are other unanimous AA in Clem history. All have college degrees. pic.twitter.com/sO5R5QhbDA
— Tim Bourret (@TimBourret) December 20, 2019
Running Backs Coach- Pat White
Welcome to the Bay, @P5White!
— USF Football (@USFFootball) January 2, 2020
Named Running Backs Coach.
✅Former standout WVU QB ran for 4,480 yards & 47 TD on his career. Has coached the last two SWAC Offensive Players of the Year at Alcorn State.
➡️https://t.co/dqDMiLihho#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/QsFazL6sA3
According to Football Scoop’s Doug Samuels, former West Virginia quarterback Pat White will be the running backs coach on Jeff Scott’s staff. White has been the QB coach at Alcorn State for the last two seasons.
White helped former Armwood quarterback Noah Johnson become the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2018. Then after Johnson got hurt this season, White coached Felix Harper to the 2019 SWAC Offensive Player of the Year award.
Johnson is currently in the transfer portal and has expressed interest in coming home.
Source tells @FootballScoop that former West Virginia star Pat White will be the new running backs coach at USF
— Doug Samuels (@CoachSamz) January 2, 2020
Details on The Scoophttps://t.co/wuiTZrbap0
And here was how the Slack reacted to that news pic.twitter.com/h1ZGiqSIwa
— The Daily Stampede (@StampedeSBN) January 2, 2020
White is very familiar with USF thanks to going 2-2 against the Bulls during his career at West Virginia. White was one of the most prolific players in Big East history, finishing his career with 10,529 total yards, good for second all-time.
It’s tough to pick just one memorable moment from White’s career at WVU:
In all seriousness, this seems like a fantastic hire for Scott. Welcome to Tampa, Pat!
Cornerbacks Coach- Jules Montinar
Welcome to the Bay, Jules Montinar!
— USF Football (@USFFootball) January 4, 2020
Named Cornerbacks Coach.
✅Worked with defenses at Alabama & Georgia. Florida native that helped lead Naples HS to state title as a player.
➡️https://t.co/TQGpAyYfPu#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/hOhGJLxaOs
Head coach Jeff Scott announced the hiring of Jules Montinar as cornerbacks coach, giving USF another ace Florida recruiter on staff. Montinar was previously the defensive quality control assistant at the University of Georgia, helping lead the Bulldogs to an 12-2 season and a Sugar Bowl victory over Baylor.
Prior to Georgia, Montinar spent a majority of his time at Texas State as the special teams coordinator (2018) and defensive backs coach (2016-2018). With the Bobcats, Montinar cemented himself as a solid recruiter, being named the 247 Recruiter of the Year for the Sun Belt in 2017. Other stops include James Madison, Alabama, Purdue, and Eastern Kentucky, his alma mater. Montinar is originally from Naples, FL, where he helped lead his high school to a state championship in 2001.
As expected, Scott has split up the cornerback and safety coaching duties. Montinar’s hiring means there is just one spot (safeties) remaining for the ten countable coaches.
Safeties Coach- Wes Neighbors
Welcome to the Bay, @Wesnab4646!
— USF Football (@USFFootball) January 10, 2020
Named Safeties Coach.
✅Helped FAU to 11-3 record & C-USA title; part of 5 national championships at Alabama as player & staff member.
➡️https://t.co/DK4S0t1MsF#United #Bullieve #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/9WBzfgBoXW
On January 10th, the final coaching hire was made an announced by Jeff Scott. Wes Neighbors was announced as the safeties coach at USF to fill out the first coaching staff under Jeff Scott. Neighbors was formerly the safeties coach at Florida Atlantic, and with the help of Glenn Spencer, helped record a program record 21 interceptions for the Owls in 2019. Prior to FAU, Neighbors helped on Alabama’s staff during five national championship titles, holding numerous different titles from defensive intern to graduate assistant.
It was revealed from SI.com that Dabo Swinney helped Jeff Scott build up his staff with recommendations and nearly accepted the job on Scott’s behalf.
Now that the coaching staff is finalized, the group will have until February 5th to continue recruiting high school seniors for National Signing Day. As it currently stands, USF is ranked last in the AAC in recruiting rankings, and had the least amount of high schooler’s sign on Early Signing Day back in December.