Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio has completed his coaching staff. Five assistants signed contracts today: Paul Boudreau, offensive line coach, Ray Hamilton, defensive line coach, Larry Kirksey, wide receivers coach, Paul McCord, assistant special teams coach and Mike Sullivan, offensive assistant. Eleven assistants have joined Del Rio's staff to date. The staff is complete, although those who have not yet signed their contracts have not been announced.
Boudreau, 53, is a veteran of 16 NFL seasons as a coach. He has groomed stellar offensive lines in New Orleans, Detroit, New England, Miami and Carolina. In 2001, his first season in Carolina, the Panthers set a club record of just 31 sacks allowed after giving up 69 the previous season.
Boudreau's run of success began in 1987 in New Orleans, where the Saints were perennially ranked among the league leaders in fewest sacks allowed. In 1992 they surrendered a league-low 15 sacks. A move to Detroit in 1994 resulted in more success with the Lions. During Paul's three year stay, tackle Lomas Brown and center Kevin Glover were Pro Bowl selections.
Boudreau moved to New England in 1997 and coached two seasons with the Patriots. In his first season his offensive line allowed just 30 sacks and ranked fourth in sacks allowed per pass attempt (18.7 pass plays/sack). Boudreau and his wife, Joan, have a son, Paul, who is an assistant football coach at Brown University, and a daughter, Jill.
Hamilton, 52, finished his second season with the Cleveland Browns coaching the defensive line in 2002 and has been coaching in the NFL for 16 years. In Hamilton's first season in Cleveland, the Browns tied for fourth in the AFC and 10th in the NFL with 43 sacks. In 2002, second-year defensive end Mark Word, a former rookie free agent, finished 12th in the AFC with eight sacks.
Hamilton spent three seasons as the New England Patriots defensive line coach prior to joining the Jets in 2000. He served a prior stint as defensive line coach with the Jets (1995-96) where he was instrumental in the development of defensive end Hugh Douglas, the 1995 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Hamilton spent the 1993 and '94 seasons as defensive line coach for the Los Angeles Raiders.
Hamilton was a 14th round draft choice by New England and was a fixture on the Patriots' defensive line from 1973-81. He established a New England rookie record with seven sacks while starting every game as a rookie. He went on to start a team-record 110 consecutive games and currently ranks fourth on the Patriots' all-time sack list with 54.
Hamilton excelled as both a student and an athlete at the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a bachelor's degree in business. He received a master's degree in public administration in 1977 from Suffolk University in Boston while playing for the Patriots. He has two sons - Kadar and Damon.
Kirksey, 52, completed his second season with the Detroit Lions as wide receivers coach and will begin his ninth year in the NFL in the same role with the Jaguars. Prior to his stay in Detroit, Kirksey was the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach for Texas A&M in 2000.
From 1994 to '99, Kirksey was the receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers, coaching future Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice, All-Pro Terrell Owens and J.J. Stokes. Before jumping to the pros, Kirksey coached the first 20 years of his career at seven different colleges. He helped the University of Alabama, as running backs coach, win the 1992 National Championship, and was in the same position at the University of Florida from 1984 to '88, where he coached Emmitt Smith and Neal Anderson.
Kirksey was head coach of Kentucky State in 1983, when his team finished 2-5-2. He attended Eastern Kentucky from 1969 to '72, starting three seasons at wide receiver and earning his degree in education. Larry and his wife, Anita, have two children, Jessica and Jared.
McCord spent six years coaching at his alma mater, Western Maryland, before leaving for Hofstra University, where he spent the 2001 season as special teams coordinator. Following his marriage to WMC's field hockey coach, Mindy Manolovich, he returned to serve as a volunteer assistant for the 2002 season.
As a coach, McCord was the architect of one of Division III's top special teams units, which was a key factor in the resurgence of the WMC program. Under his guidance, the 1997 Green Terror boasted the top kick return (29.44 yards/return) and punt return (717 yards) units in the NCAA Division III, en route to its first ever conference championship, as well its first NCAA playoff berth (the Green Terror has since won five more championships, four with McCord on the staff). Nearly every college special teams record was set during McCord's tenure.
McCord, a 1993 graduate, was an all-Conference punter in 1991 and 1993. He topped the league, and finished 17th in NCAA (Division III), in punting average in each of those seasons. McCord still holds the school mark for punting average in a game (47.6 yards, 5 punts for 238 yards), which has stood since the 1991 season.
Sullivan, 35, remains on the Jaguars staff after completing his first year in the NFL as the Jaguars' defensive quality control coach. His new role will be as offensive assistant. Sullivan is the first coach retained by Del Rio from the previous staff.
Sullivan was a defensive back at Army, where he received a degree in English and received his master's degree at Humbolt State. He and his wife, Julie, live in Jacksonville.
With the the addition of the five new assistants, Del Rio now has 11 assistant coaches announced, with the rest of the positions filled as well.
