Just a little over two months after taking over at South Florida, Charlie Strong has put the finishing touches on the coaching staff that will help him through his first season at the AAC football program.
USF confirmed Thursday that Strong has filled his last two openings with the hirings of Damon Cogdell and Sean Cronin. The former will be responsible for defensive ends, the latter defensive tackles.
Cronin was a graduate assistant from 2006-08 at Florida, where Strong was the Gators’ defensive coordinator. His first full-time job at the FBS level was at Temple as defensive line coach from 2011-12. From 2013-16, he coached ends at Marshall.
“Sean has been winner everywhere he’s been,” Strong said in a statement. “He has been a part of four national championship winning teams and several other high achieving teams over the course of his career. I look forward to working with Sean again and think he will be an excellent mentor and coach four our players.”
After spending 2014-15 as defensive line coach at West Virginia, Cogdell was an assistant coach at a South Florida high school in 2016. Cogdell was the defensive coordinator at Miramar High School from 2002-07, adding the title of head coach from 2008-13.
The WVU job has been his only one at the FBS level.
“We are excited to welcome Damon to our USF staff,” the coach said. “He has a long history of coaching success in the state of Florida and has produced some of the best high school defenses in the state. He is a former collegiate linebacker and coach with strong ties in the state and experience developing and mentoring student-athletes.”