In assembling his first coaching staff, Scottie Montgomery has decided to tap into a pipeline of assistants with recent connections to both the SEC and NFL.
East Carolina announced that Montgomery has added three coaches to his initial staff while also retaining one from the Ruffin McNeill regime. A key hire for Montgomery, who slants decidedly toward the offensive, is going to be his defensive coordinator, with the first-time head coach pinning his initial hopes on that side of the ball to Kenwick Thompson.
Thompson spent the past two seasons at Vanderbilt, where he served as linebackers coach as well as held the title of associate head coach. Prior to that, he was the defensive coordinator at San Jose State in 2013 and, prior to that, was an assistant at Cal for six seasons.
“We are extremely fortunate and happy to have someone of Kenwick’s caliber as our defensive coordinator,” Montgomery said in a statement. “Not only does he possess an outstanding defensive mind, he’s a great man, teacher and motivator both on and off the field. Kenwick is a tireless recruiter who will impact our program in an immeasurable manner.”
In addition to Thompson, Montgomery announced the outside additions of Deke Thompson (defensive line) and Phil McGeoghan (wide receivers).
From 2013-15, Thompson served as the line coach at South Carolina. McGeoghan has been with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins the past four seasons, first as assistant receivers coach before being named receivers coach just last month. His last job at the collegiate level came with USF in 2011.
Finally, it was confirmed that Rick Smith has been retained as defensive backs coach.