Photo by: Jeremy Enlow
New football assistant coach leaves Clemson for ACU
1/25/2019 10:35:00 AM | Football
ABILENE, Texas – ACU head football coach Adam Dorrel announced Friday that he has hired former Clemson graduate assistant coach Mike Briglin to coach safeties for the Wildcats.
Briglin replaces Ray Brown, who left ACU a couple of weeks ago to take a job at the University of Northern Arizona. Brown, however, quickly left UNA to take a job at Troy University in Troy, Alabama.
Briglin joins the ACU staff after four seasons at Clemson as a graduate assistant coach. During his four-year tenure with the program, Clemson recorded a 55-4 record, tied for the most wins in a four-year span in major college football history, while collecting four ACC titles and two national championships.
Briglin joined the military out of high school in 1991 and served the United States until 1996. He later graduated from SUNY Oswego with a degree in sociology in 2002. At Clemson, he earned his first master's degree in youth development leadership and is a semester away from a second master's in athletic leadership.
After completing his undergraduate work, he moved to Hawaii, where he was a football coach at Moanalua High School for six years. He then returned to the mainland in 2010 as an assistant coach for five years at Incarnate Word before joining the Tigers prior to the 2015 season.
Dorrel and Briglin met at Clemson in the summer of 2017 when the ACU head coach was invited by Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney to speak at the Tigers' football clinic.
"Mike and I hit it off very quickly and we've maintained a relationship over the last couple of years," Dorrel said. "I had a chance to watch him coach for three days when I was at Clemson and came away very impressed.
"He's been coaching at the highest level for the last four seasons and he's seen a football culture done the right way," he said. "He's been at a place in Clemson that we're trying to emulate from a culture standpoint. He's very caring and compassionate and has a passion for building and coaching student-athletes."
Briglin said in his conversations with Dorrel he knew he would be the kind of coach he would want to work for someday and now that opportunity has presented itself.
"Coach Swinney thinks the world of Coach Dorrel," Briglin said. "They had a chance to connect at the clinic a couple of years ago and I had the chance to meet Coach Dorrel and talk to him for a little bit and we made a great connection. I'm a big believer in relationships and I think the world has gotten away from that. When you begin to care about people and enter into an authentic relationship you'll do anything for them. The relationship I have with Coach Dorrel is legitimate and he's the kind of man for whom I wanted to work."
Briglin said he'll be in Abilene late Friday and will begin work Monday morning.
ACU FOOTBALL NOTES
• The ACU defensive staff will undergo a dramatic transformation this offseason after the departure of defensive coordinator Tremaine Jackson, defensive line coach Blake Andersen and defensive backs coach Ray Brown.
Jackson left ACU earlier this week to become the defensive line coach at Texas State, joining the Bobcats' staff after two seasons as the coordinator of the ACU defense. When Jackson joined the program in January 2017 the Wildcats were coming off a 2016 season that saw them allow 37.9 points and 485.7 yards per game.
Those numbers dropped to 29.2 points and 392.4 yards per game in 2017 and then last season the Wildcats were fourth in the Southland Conference in scoring defense (26.9 ppg) and third in total defense (385.5 ypg).
Dorrel said the search for Jackson's replacement is ongoing and that the person he hires for that job will have a say in who is hired to replace Andersen as well as who is hired to coach the cornerbacks.
• Aside from Jackson, Andersen and Brown, the Wildcats have also lost graduate assistant Dennis Lee and equipment manager Brent Nicholson. Allan May has been hired to replace Nicholson as the equipment manager.
• Briglin has some ties to West Texas through his future father-in-law, Alan Cherry, who is the former head coach at several Texas high schools, including Hamlin, Levelland and Crane. Briglin is engaged to Lauren Cherry and they are planning a wedding for this summer.
Alan Cherry began his coaching career at Seminole and then made stops at McCamey, Levelland, Hart, Hamlin, Crane, Bay City, Harlingen South, Eldorado and Amarillo River Road, compiling a career record of 175-64 while qualifying for the playoffs in 16 of his 19 seasons. He was seriously injured in an automobile accident almost 10 years ago and began suffering from dementia about seven years ago.
Briglin replaces Ray Brown, who left ACU a couple of weeks ago to take a job at the University of Northern Arizona. Brown, however, quickly left UNA to take a job at Troy University in Troy, Alabama.
Briglin joins the ACU staff after four seasons at Clemson as a graduate assistant coach. During his four-year tenure with the program, Clemson recorded a 55-4 record, tied for the most wins in a four-year span in major college football history, while collecting four ACC titles and two national championships.
Briglin joined the military out of high school in 1991 and served the United States until 1996. He later graduated from SUNY Oswego with a degree in sociology in 2002. At Clemson, he earned his first master's degree in youth development leadership and is a semester away from a second master's in athletic leadership.
After completing his undergraduate work, he moved to Hawaii, where he was a football coach at Moanalua High School for six years. He then returned to the mainland in 2010 as an assistant coach for five years at Incarnate Word before joining the Tigers prior to the 2015 season.
Dorrel and Briglin met at Clemson in the summer of 2017 when the ACU head coach was invited by Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney to speak at the Tigers' football clinic.
"Mike and I hit it off very quickly and we've maintained a relationship over the last couple of years," Dorrel said. "I had a chance to watch him coach for three days when I was at Clemson and came away very impressed.
"He's been coaching at the highest level for the last four seasons and he's seen a football culture done the right way," he said. "He's been at a place in Clemson that we're trying to emulate from a culture standpoint. He's very caring and compassionate and has a passion for building and coaching student-athletes."
Briglin said in his conversations with Dorrel he knew he would be the kind of coach he would want to work for someday and now that opportunity has presented itself.
"Coach Swinney thinks the world of Coach Dorrel," Briglin said. "They had a chance to connect at the clinic a couple of years ago and I had the chance to meet Coach Dorrel and talk to him for a little bit and we made a great connection. I'm a big believer in relationships and I think the world has gotten away from that. When you begin to care about people and enter into an authentic relationship you'll do anything for them. The relationship I have with Coach Dorrel is legitimate and he's the kind of man for whom I wanted to work."
Briglin said he'll be in Abilene late Friday and will begin work Monday morning.
ACU FOOTBALL NOTES
• The ACU defensive staff will undergo a dramatic transformation this offseason after the departure of defensive coordinator Tremaine Jackson, defensive line coach Blake Andersen and defensive backs coach Ray Brown.
Jackson left ACU earlier this week to become the defensive line coach at Texas State, joining the Bobcats' staff after two seasons as the coordinator of the ACU defense. When Jackson joined the program in January 2017 the Wildcats were coming off a 2016 season that saw them allow 37.9 points and 485.7 yards per game.
Those numbers dropped to 29.2 points and 392.4 yards per game in 2017 and then last season the Wildcats were fourth in the Southland Conference in scoring defense (26.9 ppg) and third in total defense (385.5 ypg).
Dorrel said the search for Jackson's replacement is ongoing and that the person he hires for that job will have a say in who is hired to replace Andersen as well as who is hired to coach the cornerbacks.
• Aside from Jackson, Andersen and Brown, the Wildcats have also lost graduate assistant Dennis Lee and equipment manager Brent Nicholson. Allan May has been hired to replace Nicholson as the equipment manager.
• Briglin has some ties to West Texas through his future father-in-law, Alan Cherry, who is the former head coach at several Texas high schools, including Hamlin, Levelland and Crane. Briglin is engaged to Lauren Cherry and they are planning a wedding for this summer.
Alan Cherry began his coaching career at Seminole and then made stops at McCamey, Levelland, Hart, Hamlin, Crane, Bay City, Harlingen South, Eldorado and Amarillo River Road, compiling a career record of 175-64 while qualifying for the playoffs in 16 of his 19 seasons. He was seriously injured in an automobile accident almost 10 years ago and began suffering from dementia about seven years ago.
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