Rice football head coach Scott Abell has announced eight new position coaches and a few additional staffers who will join him in his first season on South Main.
“I am so excited about the staff we are surrounding our program with,” Abell stated in a release from the Rice football program on Friday. “Quality people that have a strong history of winning, developing leaders, recruiting Texas, and recruiting top scholar-athletes.”
The eight coaches he announced are as follows:
- Vince Munch-Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line
- Jon Kay– Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
- Porter Abell-Pass Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks
- Austin Eisenhofer-Run Game Coordinator/Inside Receivers
- Kerry Cooks-Safeties
- Mark Hogan-Outside Linebackers/Special Teams Coordinator
- Adrian Mayes-Running Backs
- Jeremy Modkins-Cornerbacks
- Nick Decker-Chief of Staff
- Steven Jackson-General Manager
- Lew Caralla– Head Strength & Conditioning Coach
Munch, Eisenhofer, Porter, Decker, and Jackson were all on Scott Abell’s staff at Davidson. Kay and Modkins were on the Rice staff last year and will be retained, as will Cooks who served as a defensive analyst for the team last fall but will not be promoted to full time work as a position coach.
Kay takes over the defensive coordinator role from Brian Smith, who departed for Temple this offseason.
Abell has two more coaching spots to fill, presumably along the defensive line and an outside wide receivers post. He’s also opted to combine the special teams coordinator role with a positional coaching spot, hiring Mark Hogan for that job. Hogan spent time on Abell’s early Davidson staffs before spending the last three seasons at Charlotte.
Lew Caralla will take over the Strength and Conditioning program while Nick Decker and Steven Jackson will also play key operations roles.
