Mangurian revamps coaching staff

A few days after Christmas, new head football coach Pete Mangurian announced the hiring of seven assistant coaches, a group defined by variety. Mangurian and his new staff have quickly embarked on the process of a complete evaluation of the program and are looking to salvage next year’s recruiting class.

Mangurian hired Ben McDaniels and Kevin Lempa as offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively. Gordie Sammis will serve as the tight ends coach and offensive line assistant, Chad Nice will coach the running backs, and Alvin Smith will coach the defensive line. In addition, Mangurian decided to keep two of former head coach Norries Wilson’s assistants on staff—veteran offensive line coach Ed Argast and wide receivers coach Aaron Smith.

“We have tremendous variety in where our coaches have been, the kinds of programs they have been in, the things they’ve been exposed to, all over the country at different levels of football," Mangurian said. "Guys that have been players and become coaches and guys that have been coaches for a long, long time.”

By design, Mangurian crafted this diverse staff, which he believes will help the staff recruit and relate to the players.

“This is not the kind of place where you get all the same type of guys from the same part of the country,” Mangurian said. “I think every guy on this staff has a story to tell to our players that is unique.”

Offensive Coaches

Ben McDaniels comes to Morningside Heights after last serving as the quarterbacks coach of the Denver Broncos in 2010. McDaniels joined the Broncos as an assistant to his older brother, Josh McDaniels, who was the Broncos head coach. Josh McDaniels, who is now the offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams, coached with the New England Patriots (2001 to 2008) while Mangurian was the tight ends coach with the team.

While Mangurian did not know the younger McDaniels while with the Patriots, he began speaking with him while the latter was in Denver. They spoke frequently in recent years and Mangurian found they shared the same offensive philosophy—always taking what the defense gives you.

“We’re not going to a team that says this is what we do no matter what the defense does,” Mangurian said. “Each defense gives you a certain amount of opportunities and we are going to be flexible enough and proficient enough in different styles of offense to fit what they do. The system will be taught that way from the very beginning.”

Lack of flexibility and inability to make adjustments had been one of the strongest criticisms of last season’s coaching.

In addition to coordinating the offense, McDaniels will coach the quarterbacks.

“He is a very systematic teacher,” Mangurian said. “He puts a lot of emphasis on the details [but] he knows how to present the whole picture and not just one narrow area of the offense. That’s the way we should think—we want to be specific enough to cover the details but general enough to be able to adjust depending on what people do.”

Gordie Sammis will coach the tight ends after coaching the position at his alma mater, Virginia, in 2011. Sammis played offensive guard for the Cavaliers from 2003 to 2007 and served as a graduate assistant in 2010.

Chad Nice joins the staff as running backs coach after coaching the quarterbacks, wide receivers, and eventually the entire offense at the United States Merchant Marine Academy since 2008. Nice is not unfamiliar with the Ivy League himself—he played running back, wide receiver, and returned kicks for Cornell from 2001 to 2005.

Aaron Smith, who has been with the team for six years, will continue to serve as both the Lions’ wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator.

Mangurian was very impressed with Smith’s coaching as well as his energy and leadership during the coaching staff transition.

“A lot of the weight falls on [the recruiting coordinator’s] shoulders when there is a coaching change because he tries to hold the [recruiting] class together," Mangurian said. “How you do that and the level of responsibility you take when that situation comes up tells you a lot about a person.”

Ed Argast will continue to coach the offensive line, a unit which Mangurian himself has coached for most of his career.

“I just have a great sense that he had the kind of attitude that I was looking for when it came to coaching the offensive line, which is a special position to me,” Mangurian said.

Defensive Coaches

Kevin Lempa brings over 30 years of coaching experience to the Lions defense. Early in his career Lempa coordinated Darmouth’s defense, from 1991 to 1996. During that span, the Big Green won three Ivy League Championships—including a 10-0 record and No. 16 Division I-AA national ranking in 1996.

From 1997 to 1999 he served as a defensive assistant for the San Diego Chargers. After departing from the NFL, he was the defensive coordinator for Hawaii (2000 to 2002), the secondary coach for Boston College (2003 to 2006), defensive assistant at Maryland (2007 to 2010), and defensive coordinator at Central Connecticut State (2011).

In addition to coaching the defense, Lempa will coach the secondary.

“He obviously [brings] a tremendous amount of experience at all different levels," Mangurian said. “He’s coached all three positions on the defense. He is a guy that has a tremendous amount of breadth to what he knows, what he’s taught, and how he sees the whole picture.”

Mangurian revealed that the Lions will be running primarily a four-man front on defense. However, he stressed that the defense, like the offense, will be flexible.

“We are going to be aggressive, multiple in what we do, and take advantage of what our guys can do and try to take advantage of any weakness we find in the other teams we play," Mangurian added.

The defensive line will be coached by Alvin Smith, a very successful defensive lineman himself. Smith was a three-time letterwinner at Oregon State and earned All-Pac 10 Honors in 2005. After graduating, he played for the San Diego Chargers, the Cleveland Browns, and in NFL Europe.

Next Steps

One of the biggest difficulties during a coaching transition at the collegiate level is salvaging and improving the incoming recruiting class. However, Mangurian believes that the speed with which the Lions have assembled a complete staff will aid in this process.

“We got this done before Christmas where people understood and had a chance to see it before they have taken all their visits,” Mangurian said. “It’s given us a chance to get back in with some guys that we might have been out of it with.”

Mangurian seems confident in the recruiting class that will be brought in.

“We are going to challenge some guys who thought they were settled,” Mangurian said. “We’ve gone to some guys and asked if they were interested and we’ve had a good response to that. We’ve also had some guys that say ‘Coach, listen, I like what you’re doing but you came in real late in the process and I’ve already decided what I’m going to do.’ Those two things balance out. The main thing we are going to do is send the message of what type of players we are looking for. The guys that feel comfortable with that will naturally gravitate towards us.”

In addition to recruiting and hiring assistant, Mangurian has sought to make good on a promise he made at his introductory press conference—to examine and evaluate every aspect of the football program.

“Every single thing we do—how we recruit, how we run our budget, how we do all those things—I’m getting up to speed by talking to people within the program and the athletic administration," Mangurian said. "Every single thing we do we are going to question and re-evaluate … to see if it’s not the best way to do it or how we can get better.”