The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Football: Brown Completes Coaching Staff, Announces Assignment Changes
3/1/2001 12:00:00β―AM | Football
March 1, 2001
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -
Sidney Lanier
High School assistant coach RichardMoncrief has accepted an offer to join the UAB
Football coaching staff, Blazer head coach Watson Brown announced today.?
Moncrief, who spent four seasons at Sidney Lanier (1997-01), most recently was the team's offensive coordinator and coached quarterbacks and receivers, helping the Poets to the 1999 Alabama 6A seminfinals.?? While at Sidney Lanier, he coached four current UAB players, linemen Artavious and Tony Williams and Wilbert Hamilton, linebacker Nigel Eldridge, and a 2001 signee, defensive back Carlos Hendricks.
At UAB, Moncrief
will coach receivers.
Moncrief played
quarterback at Clemson (1989-93), and was part of Tiger teams that won an ACC
championship (1991) as well as three of four bowl games during that
period.? In addition to
participating in victories in the Gator Bowl (1989), Hall of Fame Bowl (1990)
and Peach Bowl (1993), he was named MVP of the 1991 Coca-Cola Bowl in Tokyo (a
Tiger win over Duke).??
"We're
very excited to have Richard join our staff," said Brown.
"He's
a fine young coach who is highly respected by his peers.? We're particularly happy that we
were able to hire an Alabama high school coach - we know how good the
coaching is in this state."
Brown also
announced several changes in assignments for current members of the UAB
coaching staff, including enhanced roles for veteran assistants Rick
Christophel and John
Neal.??
Christophel, who has served in numerous capacities in his six seasons at UAB - most recently as assistant head coach and receivers coach -- will now have the defensive coordinator title.? Neal, who has been the Blazers' secondary coach for six seasons, will now have responsibility for the entire pass defense as passing game coordinator.
"Rick was
our defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt in 1989 and we had one of the better
defensive teams in the SEC that year," said Brown.
"He's
been successful at it and I know he will do a great job.? John has been one of the big factors in
our defensive success over the past few seasons, and he's a terrific
coach.? We felt that with 10 starters
returning on defense that we wanted to promote from within.? We've been very successful and
wanted to try and maintain some consistency in our philosophy."
UAB finished
11th nationally in total defense in 2000, allowing 290.91 yards per game.? The Blazers were sixth overall in
rushing defense (83.55 yards per game) and ninth in scoring defense (allowing
17.45 points per game).? UAB was
ranked as high as second in total defense in mid-season.
