STAFF REPORT
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
Third-year Indiana State football coach Trent Miles has named his coaching staff for the 2010 campaign. Joining the staff will be linebackers coach Rick Minter, offensive-line coach Mike Simmonds, offensive-line coach Harold Etheridge, outside-linebackers coach P.J. Volker and offensive assistant Clayton Dever.
“All of our new coaches have a wealth of experience at the highest levels of collegiate football and more importantly have proven to be great role models during their careers,” Miles said. “The Sycamore football program is taking a huge step forward with the additions of these experienced and committed coaches.”
Joining offensive coordinator Troy Walters will be Simmonds and Etheridge, who will share coaching responsibilities along the offensive line and with the tight ends. Etheridge also will work with special teams. Luke Powell returns for a second season as the team’s wide-receivers coach, while Walters works with the quarterbacks and running backs. Dever, a Terre Haute native, will be an offensive assistant coach.
On the defensive sidel under third-year coordinator Shannon Jackson will be Rick Minter, who will coach the linebackers, and Volker, who will coach the outside linebackers. Jackson will continue to work with the defensive line, while Jesse Minter will spend his second season with the defensive secondary.
Returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach is Simmonds, an ISU Athletics Hall of Famer. He comes back home from South Florida, where he coached the offensive line. Simmonds was inducted into the ISU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.
A former NFL offensive lineman with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and an ultra-successful prep coach in Tampa, Simmonds was named offensive-line coach at USF in 2007 after one season as a graduate assistant with the Bulls.
In his first season overseeing the offensive line, Simmonds was able to pull together an overachieving front five from a position group that was hit hard by injuries during fall training camp. The end result was a consistent starting line of Walt Walker, Ryan Schmidt, Jake Griffin, Zach Hermann and Marc Dile. That group was led by second team All-Big East performer Schmidt and helped pave the way to program records in total offense (5,383) and yards per game (414.1). The running game accounted for 30 touchdowns and 185 yards per outing behind a line that was largely unproven in early September.
A graduate of ISU, where he started 46 games and earned I-AA All-America honors, Simmonds was chosen in the 10th round of the 1987 NFL draft by the Buccaneers. He started at offensive guard in 1989, once earning NFL Offensive Lineman of the Week in a game against Chicago. He signed as a Plan B free agent with the San Diego Chargers in 1990 and when he retired, Simmonds had been credited with four NFL seasons.
Simmonds played high school football for Belleville (Ill.) before enrolling at Indiana State, where his teams reached the NCAA I-AA playoffs in 1983 and 1984.
Rick Minter comes to Indiana State from Marshall University, where he spent two seasons as the team’s defensive coordinator. Minter, who previously was head coach at Cincinnati for 10 seasons, returned to that role for the Thundering Herd’s final contest of the 2009 campaign as he led the team to a 21-17 victory over Ohio in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
Minter also was defensive coordinator for Notre Dame from 2005-06, helping the Irish reach two BCS bowls.
During 10 seasons as head coach at Cincinnati, Minter led the Bearcats to four postseason bowl games and was the winningest coach in the program’s history. Minter’s 2002 team was co-champion of Conference USA. His 1997 team finished 8-4 after a Humanitarian Bowl victory over Utah State, marking the first bowl appearance for Cincinnati since 1951. Minter’s Bearcats had three straight seven-win campaigns from 2000-2002 — and all three seasons resulted in postseason bowl invitations.
Prior to joining the Notre Dame staff, Minter served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Ball State for seven seasons. During his seven seasons under head coach Paul Schudel, Ball State produced nine all-Mid-American Conference players on defense, including three-time MAC Defensive Player of the Year (1987-89) Gary Garnica.
Minter also has collegiate coaching experience at New Mexico State, North Carolina State, Louisiana Tech and Arkansas, where he was a graduate assistant under Lou Holtz in 1978.
Born in Nash, Texas, Minter is a graduate of Texas High School in Texarkana, Texas. He was a three-year starter at defensive end at Henderson State, where he earned both his bachelor’s (1977) and master’s degrees (1978) in education.
Minter is the father of two sons — Josh, who resides in New York, and Jesse, who is currently the Sycamores’ defensive backs coach.
Harold Etheridge comes to Indiana State from Washington State, where he spent each of the last two seasons as the Cougars’ offensive-line coach.
Etheridge, a 21-year veteran of the collegiate coaching ranks, also served as the offensive-line coach at Northern Illinois during the 2007 season.
Prior to Northern Illinois, Etheridge spent three seasons as the offensive line coach at the University of North Texas. During his first season the Mean Green led the Sun Belt Conference and ranked 23rd nationally in rushing offense at 196.3 ypg, paced by nation’s leader Jamario Thomas at 180.1 ypg. In 2005 Thomas again rushed for 1,000 yards while the offensive line ranked among the league leaders in fewest sacks allowed. North Texas linemen earned five All-Conference honors in his three seasons at the school.
In his younger days, Etheridge was a four-year starting offensive guard for Western New Mexico (1979-82), garnering all-conference honors after his junior and senior seasons. Following graduation, Etheridge spent two seasons as the offensive-line coach at Western New Mexico in 1982 and 1983. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from the school in 1982.
Etheridge, who in 2001 published a book entitled “Coaching the Front Liners,” and his wife Jeanne are the parents of twins — Clayton and Eliza (13).
Volker comes to ISU from Thomas More College, just outside of his native Cincinnati. At Thomas More, Volker coached the linebackers and was the program’s recruiting coordinator. He also spent time at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa. At Thiel, Volker coached the program’s running backs.
Volker is a 2005 graduate of Mount St. Joseph’s College, playing alongside Sycamore assistant coach Jesse Minter during his career. Minter and Volker were members of a Mount St. Joseph’s team that compiled a 30-10 record, racking up the best four-year mark in school history.
Dever is joining the program as an offensive assistant coach. The Terre Haute native also will help with the Sycamore football’s video staff during practice and games as well as for opponent scouting.
Baseball
• Rex rained out — At Danville, Ill., the Prospect League game between the Terre Haute Rex and Danville Dans scheduled for Thursday was postponed by rain.
According to an e-mail from the Dans, it will “probably” be rescheduled as part of a doubleheader in Terre Haute this Saturday or Aug. 7.
• Legion rained out — The Vincennes Post 73 vs. Wayne Newton Post 346 game in the American Legion sectional at Terre Haute North High School was postponed by rain Thursday.
It has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. today at North.
The rest of the tournament’s double-elimination schedule has been changed as well. Now today’s winner will face Greene County Post 196 at 1 p.m. Saturday. Then the loser of that contest will take on today’s loser at 4:30 Saturday.
The winners of Saturday’s games will battle for the sectional championship at 1 p.m. Sunday, with the “if necessary” game possibly to follow.
• Shakamak 8U wins — At Bloomington, the Shakamak 8-and-under team won the Cal Ripken Southern State Tournament last weekend.
Shakamak had a 7-0 record in the tournament, defeating Linton, Sullivan 7s, Bloomington Blaze, Ellettsville Fury, Sullivan 8s, Brownstown and Vincennes in the championship game.
Golf
• Savich wins — At Anderson, Milena Savich won the Indiana Women’s Amateur concluded Wednesday at the Anderson Country Club.
Savich had rounds of 72, 73 and 70 to finish with a 215, one shot better than Lyndsay McBride and Michele Nash with 216.
Kristi Piepenbrink, daughter of Terre Haute native Ken Piepenbrink, finished fourth and Rachael Pruett of Linton took fifth.
Indiana Women’s Amateur
215 — Milena Savich 72-73-70.
216 — Lyndsay McBride 78-71-67; Michele Nash 75-69-72 75-69-72.
222 — Kristi Piepenbrink 75-74-73.
223 — Rachael Pruett 76-70-77.
