Before Syracuse hired Mark Coyle as its Director of Athletics, he worked at Minnesota (2001-05), Kentucky (2005-11), Boise State (2011-15) and played football at Drake. Here are some coaches that crossed paths with Coyle at those stops:

1. Mike Sanford, Notre Dame offensive coordinator

Sanford played for Boise State from 2000-04 and later coached Boise State’s quarterbacks while Coyle was with the program. He is only 34 and was hired as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator one year ago.

2. Randy Sanders, Florida State offensive coordinator

Sanders coached at Kentucky throughout all of Coyle’s tenure there. He served as the quarterbacks coach from 2006-08 and the offensive coordinator from 2009-12. Sanders has coached Jameis Winston and Everett Golson at FSU.

3. Tee Martin, Southern California wide receivers coach and pass-game coordinator

Martin coached at Kentucky for just one year, 2010, while Coyle was at UK, but has since moved on to USC. He serves as the wide receivers coach and the “pass-game coordinator,” because the Trojans split its offensive playcalling between two coaches.

4. Dave Doeren, North Carolina State head coach 

Doeren is unlikely to make the lateral move from N.C. State to Syracuse, but he did play football at Drake from 1990-93. Coyle graduated from Drake in 1991 and played football there.

5. Pete Kwiatkowski, Washington defensive coordinator

Kwiatkowski was the defensive coordinator for Chris Petersen at Boise State from 2010-13 and followed Petersen to Washington in the same position. Coyle worked at Boise from December 2011 until he was hired at Syracuse.

6. Marcel Yates, Boise State defensive coordinator 

Yates was brought back to Boise State when Coyle hired Bryan Harsin to replace Petersen. Prior to serving as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator, Yates had been an assistant at Boise State from 2003-11 and the co-defensive coordinator at Texas A&M for the two years prior to being brought back.

7. Charlie Partridge, Florida Atlantic head coach 

Partridge played at Drake from 1991-94 and, while Coyle graduated in 1991, the SU Director of Athletics stayed for a graduate year to finish his masters in teaching in 1992. The FAU head coach hasn’t exactly found success there, going 3-9 and 2-9 in his last two seasons, respectively. Partridge does have experience at Pittsburgh, Wisconsin and Arkansas.

8. Rob Ash, Montana State head coach

Ash coached Coyle at Drake and remained the head coach there from 1989-2006 before jumping to Montana State. At Montana State, an FCS school, he’s gone 70-38.

Published on November 23, 2015 at 3:05 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati