Louisville Football Staff Coming Together

Charlie Strong is back in town and starting put together his coaching staff. Mike Sanford was named offensive coordinator December 22, but we had not heard much definitive word about other positions. There were many names tossed around for various positions, but nothing firm until recently.

We do know the staff will have a SEC feel to it as almost all of the potential coaches have spent time in that conference. Late last week, we finally found out who would be Charlie Strong’s defensive coordinator, Vance Bedford.

Vance Bedford has spent the past two seasons coaching cornerbacks backs at Florida and was the secondary coach at Michigan prior to arriving at Florida. In 2005-2006, Bedford held the defensive coordinator position for the 40 year old man himself, Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State.

Bedford also spent six seasons in the NFL as defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears from 1999-2004. He played defensive back for the Texas Longhorns from 1979-1982 and was defensive MVP of the 1982 Senior Bowl. Bedford is reputed to be a good recruiter, which is good news for all Cardinal fans.

Also expected to join the football staff are Jon Fabris and Pat Moorer. Fabris, recently fired from Georgia, will presumably take over as defensive line coach for the Cards. Fabris has been coaching collegiately since 1980 and has experience at places like Notre Dame and South Carolina.

The connection between Charlie Strong and Jon Fabris, beyond the fact they have coached against each other, is they were on the same staff at South Carolina in 1999. Fabris coached the defensive ends for the Gamecocks while Strong was coordinating the defense. Fabris is very experienced and has coached notable players such as Quentin Moses and David Pollack.

Pat Moorer will join the football staff as Strength and Conditioning coach. Moorer, who is believed to already be in Louisville, is a freakin stud, to quote the legendary Steve Kragthorpe. He comes to Louisville from South Carolina where he held the same position.

Moorer played football at Florida, as inside linebacker, and was SEC Freshman of the Year in 1986. He played a few seasons of professional football before returning to Florida as an assistant strength coach. Moorer worked his way up and eventually became Emmitt Smith’s personal trainer, yes that Emmitt Smith.

In 2006, Pat Moorer earned the certification of Master Strength and Conditioning Coach, awarded by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association, which is the highest honor attained in that field.

This staff is very impressive so far. There are still several positions to be filled and more names are starting to leak out, but nothing too definitive at this moment. We will obviously continue to update the situation, as well as the continue recruiting efforts of Charlie Strong, which are flat out sensational.