Lamb Names Thunderbird Football Staff
CEDAR CITY, Utah, Jan. 9 ? Southern Utah first-year head football Coach Ed Lamb has named the nine coaches who will make up his staff next fall. Included in the group are three coaches with playing experience in the NFL and a pair of former Thunderbird standouts. Almost all of the coaches have Utah ties.
The offensive coaches will include coordinator Steve Clark as well as Paul Peterson (quarterbacks and wide receivers), Jason Anderson (line), Al Pupunu (tight ends and running backs) and Demario Warren (tailbacks).
Dave Aranda will serve as the defensive coordinator. Justin Ena (linebackers), Ryan Hunt (defensive line) and Sitiveni Tuivai (line) will fill out the defensive staff. Ena will also serve as special teams coordinator.
Anderson, Pupunu and Ena all played in the NFL, while Hunt and Tuivai are both former Thunderbirds.
Clark, a graduate of Brigham Young, is currently serving on the Cougar staff as a graduate assistant. Prior to returning to BYU he was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at St. Mary's College. He has also served on the staff at Utah as a graduate assistant and as director of football operations. Prior to joining the collegiate ranks Coach Clark spent several years coaching at Provo High School.
Peterson is a graduate of Boston College where he quarterbacked the Eagles to a pair of bowl victories and was his team's MVP following the 2004 season. After graduation from BC Peterson played for the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League before moving on to North Carolina State where he worked as a defensive assistant while completing his Master of Liberal Studies degree. He has also worked on the staffs at BYU and Snow College. Peterson played two seasons at Snow, earning J.C. Grid-Wire all-American recognition and first-team all-conference honors after leading all NJCAA quarterbacks in passing yards and touchdowns his sophomore year.
Another BYU graduate, Anderson moves up the road to SUU from Dixie State College where he worked as defensive line coach last year. Anderson's professional career began with the New England Patriots, who drafted him out of BYU in 1998. During his NFL career he also spent time in the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns organizations before he retired and moved into the coaching ranks as an assistant at the University of Rochester.
Pupunu, a graduate of both Dixie State College and Weber State University, played professionally for nine years. He played seven seasons with the San Diego Chargers, including their Super Bowl season in 1994. He also played a season each with the New York Giants and the Detroit Lions. An all-conference performer at DSC, Pupunu went on to earn All-American honors at WSU and he has been inducted into each school's athletic Hall of Fame. His coaching career includes four years at Alta High School and three as a volunteer assistant at Utah.
Warren is currently completing requirements for his bachelor's degree at UC Davis, where he was a three-year letter winner as a running back. He will join the staff as a graduate assistant following his graduation from UC Davis this spring.
Aranda comes to SUU from Delta State College, where he spent last season as co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach. His Delta squad led the nation (NCAA Division II) in pass efficiency defense, was second in the nation in total and run defense and third in scoring defense in 2007. Prior to Delta State, Aranda spent two seasons at his alma mater, Cal Lutheran, where he was defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. His coaching career also includes stops at the University of Houston and Texas Tech as well as in the high school ranks.
Ena, another BYU graduate, was a three-time all-Mountain West Conference performer at linebacker before going on to a four-year career in the NFL. He played three seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles and one for the Tennessee Titans. Following his professional career, Coach Ena returned to his hometown to coach at Shelton (Wash.) High School.
Hunt has spent the last five seasons on the SUU staff following a standout career as an offensive lineman for the Thunderbirds. This year he moves back to the defensive side of the ball ? where he spent two seasons, one as line coach and one as a graduate assistant working with the line ? after serving the last two seasons as offensive line coach.
Tuivai returns to the Thunderbirds as a graduate assistant after spending the 2007 season with the Nashville Kats of the Arena Football League. A two-year letterman at SUU, Tuivai earned first-team I-AA all-Independent honors in 2003 and first-team all-Great West Football Conference recognition his senior season in 2004. Prior to playing for the Thunderbirds he was a two-year letterman at Snow College, where he earned pre-season all-America honors in 2001.
“I'm very happy to have put together a staff with this kind of quality,” Lamb said. “We've got a great group of coaches who have great experience, both as players and as coaches. We're all looking forward to our opportunity here to move this program up to the next level.”
? SUU ?
