Syracuse head coach Dino Babers has announced the hiring of six more staff members on Friday morning. Since Babers was hired by the Orange on Dec. 5, he’s been forming his staff, which continued building with this announcement.

SU hired J.B. Gerald (director of high school relations), Jeff LePak (operations and recruiting assistant), Vincent Marshall (quality control coach for offense), John Pike (quality control coach for defense), Jose Rodriguez (assistant strength and conditioning coach) and Lanear Sampson (graduate assistant for offense). In addition to the six hirings, Wayne Tuckson, who previously worked in SU’s strength and conditioning department, was promoted to a position with the football team.

J.B. Gerald — director of high school relations

Gerald’s responsibilities will include coordinating recruiting trips, communicating with high school coaches and recruits and other recruiting tasks. Over the past five years, Gerald served as the head football coach and assistant basketball coach at Washington Jesuit Academy, a middle school f0r boys in Washington, D.C. The Colgate graduate also served in staff roles at Penn State (running backs and wide receivers), Illinois (offensive quality control coach) and New Mexico (wide receivers and recruiting coordinator).

Jeff LePak — operations and recruiting assistant

LePak will work in the daily operation and logistics area while also assisting with recruiting responsibilities. LePak previously worked for Babers as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green working with tight ends. LePak played wide receiver at Baylor before following Babers to Eastern Illinois, where he transferred.

 

Courtesy of Eastern Illinois Athletics

 

Vincent Marshall — quality control coach for offense

Marshall spent the past two years as a graduate assistant at Baylor, working with the outside receivers and running backs. He played wide receiver collegiately at Houston and professionally in the Canadian Football League.

John Pike — quality control coach for defense

Pike worked as a defensive graduate assistant with Bowling Green’s linebackers for Babers in 2015. He played collegiately at San Diego Mesa and North Dakota State before playing in the German Football League for the Stuttgart Scorpions.

Jose Rodriguez — assistant strength and conditioning coach

Rodriguez was a member of Baylor’s athletic performance staff over the past two years working with the baseball, volleyball, cross country and equestrian teams. Prior to working at Baylor, Rodriguez graduated from Rutgers and served as a strength and conditioning intern at Air Force.

Lanear Sampson — graduate assistant for offense

Sampson was a four-year starter at wide receiver at Baylor, three of which were when Babers was his position coach. He’s fifth on Baylor’s all-time career receptions list (165) and spent time in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wayne Tuckson — assistant strength and conditioning coach

Before working with SU’s Olympic sports over the past two years, he worked at Wisconsin-River Falls. He played linebacker collegiately at Elmhurst and then served as a defensive intern and linebackers coach there.

Published on February 19, 2016 at 10:14 am

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds