The UCA Bears wrap up spring practice drills Saturday with the annual Purple/Gray Game set for 3 p.m. at First Security Field at Estes Stadium in Conway.
For many fans, the spring game will be the first opportunity to see the team in action under the guidance of first-year head coach Steve Campbell. Working to create a true “game day experience,” the UCA Bears will open up for tailgating for fans at noon Saturday, April 12, with baggo and free food (while it lasts) provided by the UCA Young Alumni Chapter. See the image at the bottom of this post for more details.
Here is a link to the UCA Bears 2014 roster, as it stands now.
Campbell introduced his new coaching staff to the UCA Bears earlier this year. The head coach, hired on Dec. 20, 2013, to head the UCA football program, introduced his 10 assistant coaches and new strength and conditioning coach. The new staff includes:
Greg Stewart – Defensive Coordinator
• Served two seasons as defensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette
• Ragin’ Cajuns won 18 games, including two New Orleans Bowl titles
• Spent 20 seasons (in two stints) at Jacksonville State
• Jacksonville State led the OVC in scoring defense for 3 straight years from 2007-09, also led OVC in total defense, pass defense and pass efficiency defense in 2009
• Placed 33 defensive players on All-OVC teams after joining the league in 2003
• Has coached 13 All-Americans
• Coached on Jacksonville State’s 1992 Division II national championship team
• Four-year starter at nose guard for Troy State, played on two national championship teams
Nathan Brown – Offensive Coordinator
• All-American QB at UCA, threw for 10,558 yards & 100 TDs during his career
• Was UCA’s first player to play in the Senior Bowl and was a Payton Award finalist
• Won conference championships in 2005 (Gulf South) & 2008 (Southland)
• Was 30-10 (.750) as a starter
• QBs coach at UCA since 2010, coaching All-Americans Nathan Dick & Wynrick Smothers
• Bears have passed for more than 3,400 yards per season and 111 TDs under Brown’s tutelage over the last four seasons
Dan Augustine – Defensive Line/Special Teams
• Entering 6th season at UCA
• Has coached 14 All-Southland Conference players at UCA
• Coached a pair of NFL draft picks in defensive ends Larry Hart & Markell Carter and NFL free agent kicker Eddy Carmona, along with 2012 Southland Freshman of the Year Jonathan Woodard
• Has consistently had the Bears’ special team units and defensive line among the top of the Southland Conference
• From 2006-08 served as defensive line coach at Jacksonville State, coaching five All-OVC players including one who would sign with the New Orleans Saints. The Gamecocks led the conference in scoring defense each year, and in 2007 led the league in every major defensive statistical category
Pete Bennett – Wide Receivers
• Spent six seasons with Coach Campbell at Mississippi Gulf Coast
• Developed 3 All-American wide receivers
• Coached No. 1 junior college prospect D’haquille Williams, who signed with national runner-up Auburn in December
• Played at North Carolina Wesleyan (2004-05), then transferred to Florida Southern where he graduated in 2007
Harland Bower – Outside Linebackers
• Defensive Graduate Assistant at Troy in 2013
• Defensive Quality Control Coach at Rutgers in 2012
• Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at Murray State in 2011
• Defensive Backs & Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at Georgia Military College in 2010
• Began collegiate playing career at Central Michigan, then transferred to Georgia Southern for final three seasons
• Graduated from GSU in 2009 with degree in general studies and minor on criminal justice
Ron Carpenter – Safeties
• Spent last two seasons as defensive backs coach and special teams co-coordinator at Miami (OH)
• Coached 1st team All-MAC DB Dayonne Nunley
• Prior to Miami, served as Quality Control Assistant for Defense & Special Teams at Indiana, where he assisted in coaching the Hoosiers’ safeties and cornerbacks
• Played in the NFL for the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets and St. Louis Rams over seven seasons from 1993-99
• Served as scouting assistant for Tennessee Titans in 2000
Robert Cunningham – Asst. Offensive Line/Director of Football Operations
• Director of Football Operations/Recruiting Coordinator at UCA in 2013
• Graduate assistant at UCA from 2010-2012
• Lettered for the Bears from 2006-08, starting on the offensive line on the 2008 Southland championship team
• Earned bachelor’s degree in health and behavioral sciences and master’s in health sciences, both from UCA
D.J. Looney – Tackles/Tight Ends
• Offensive Line coach at East Mississippi CC for last two seasons, including NJCAA National Champions in 2013
• Helped guide Lions to 8th-ranked rushing offense in NJCAA in 2012
• Served as student assistant and graduate assistant on Dan Mullen’s staff at Mississippi State, his alma mater, where he was on staff for 2011 Music City Bowl win over Wake Forest
• Played at Mississippi State from 2006-10, playing in Liberty Bowl win over UCF and 52-14 win over Michigan in the 2010 Gator Bowl
• Served three years on SEC Student Advisory Council during playing career and was president of MSU’s Student Advisory Council in 2009 after serving as vice president in 2008
• Was a three-year member of NCAA Football Issues Committee
• Ranked as No. 11 center prospect in the nation by ESPN & 12th by Rivals.com coming out of Oak Mountain High School in Birmingham, Ala.
Mike McCarty – Running Backs
• Offensive coordinator at Holmes CC from 2011-13
• Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Bryant University 2009-10
• Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Elon in 2008
• Coached wide receivers at Arkansas State from 2004-07, including Sun Belt Championship & New Orleans Bowl appearance in 2005
• Associate head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Stony Brook from 2001-03
• Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Nicholls State, 1999-2000
• Wide Receivers coach at Troy 1997-98, coached team to Div. I-AA Playoffs in ’98
• Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Illinois State, 1996
• Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Hofstra, 1994-95
• Coached Hofstra to Div. I-AA Playoffs & No. 3 nationally in total offense in 1995
• Graduate Assistant at Oregon from 1988-90
Tommy Rybacki – Cornerbacks
• Was previously at Louisiana-Lafayette as defensive graduate assistant working primarily with defensive backs
• Spent six seasons on staff at Jacksonville State under Coach Stewart from 2005-2010
• Holds bachelor’s in history and master’s in public administration from Jacksonville State, also received master’s in education from Louisiana-Lafayette in 2013
Robert Stiner Jr. – Strength & Conditioning
• Assistant strength & conditioning coach for football at Mississippi State in 2013
• Interned at Louisiana State and Baylor working with football and Olympic sports
• Strength & Conditioning intern at Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs
• Master’s in Health & Phys. Ed. from Valdosta State
• Bacherlor’s of Science in Sports Administration from Belhaven College
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