Tulsa Head Football Coach Todd Graham announced today the appointment of seven coaches and strength and conditioning coordinator to the Golden Hurricane coaching staff.

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Tulsa's Graham Names Assistant Football Coaches

Graham fills seven coaching spots; two openings remain

Jan. 14, 2007

Tulsa, Oklahoma - Newly-appointed University of Tulsa Head Football Coach Todd Graham announced today the appointment of seven coaches and strength and conditioning coordinator to the Golden Hurricane coaching staff.

Six coaches will join Graham from Rice University. Dean Jackson, Danny Phillips, Jason Jones, Jess Loepp, Bo Graham and strength and conditioning coordinator Yancy McKnight will follow Graham to Tulsa from Rice. Jackson is the only offensive coach coming from the Owls staff. In addition, longtime Oklahoma High School coach and former Tulsa quarterback Bill Blankenship and West Virginia's Herb Hand will coach on offense for the Hurricane.

"We're extremely excited about putting together what I think will be one of the best coaching staffs in Conference USA and the country," said Graham. "The continuity we have with this staff is very important for our football program with five coaches including myself that were a part of the Tulsa staff before. It's especially important for our players to have that familiarity with us.

"Another important factor is that we have coaches that have been with me before and know my expectations," added Graham. "We have a great makeup of a coaching staff to be able to recruit and teach our players."

On defense, Phillips will serve as co-defensive coordinator and linebacker coach, while Jason Jones will coach cornerbacks, Graham safeties and Jess Loepp the outside linebackers.

Offensively, Hand will serve as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Jackson will coach the Hurricane tight ends and Blankenship will coach the wide receivers.

Danny Phillips, 37, returns to Tulsa after one season as Rice's defensive line coach. He coached all-league performer Courtney Gordon and three honorable mention all-conference selections last season. Phillips will serve as co-defensive coordinator and will also coach the linebackers.

The native of Marlow, Oklahoma, Phillips spent three seasons at Tulsa. Phillips' work with the Hurricane defensive line helped Tulsa win the 2005 C-USA Championship and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Championship. Tulsa also went to the Humanitarian Bowl in 2003.

He also worked with Tulsa's new head coach at West Virginia and Allen (Texas) High School. At WVU as a graduate assistant coach, Phillips assisted with the Mountaineers' linebackers in 2001, a team that played in the Continental Tire Bowl.

Phillips had nine years experience as a high school coach before moving to the college level. Five of those seasons were spent building Allen High School into a Class 5A power. Phillips also spent three years on the staff at Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Okla., the last two as the defensive coordinator, and one season as the linebacker coach at Edmond High School, helping that squad to the Oklahoma Class 5A finals.

Phillips played his college football at Southeastern Oklahoma State, helping the Savages to Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference titles in 1988 and `89. He earned his bachelor's degree in education with a minor in biology from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1993.

Bo Graham, 24, will coach the Hurricane safeties. Last year, Graham was the coordinator of speed and skill development as an assistant strength and conditioning coordinator at Rice.

The younger Graham spent three years assisting in coaching the secondary as a defensive student assistant coach at Tulsa. Graham was a walk-on receiver at West Virginia in 2001-02, then came to Tulsa as a student coach.

He earned his bachelor's degree in exercise sports science with a minor in marketing from Tulsa in May 2006.

Jason Jones, 29, also begins his second stint at Tulsa as an assistant coach. He coached cornerbacks at Rice last season and at Tulsa in 2005. He will again coach the Hurricane cornerbacks.

Jones is a former star defensive back at Alabama. His first coaching position was as a graduate assistant at his alma mater under head coach Mike Shula. The 2004 Crimson Tide went 7-4 and won a berth in the Music City Bowl.

A Tuscaloosa, Ala., native, Jones helped Central High School win the Alabama Class 6A state championship in 1995.

He stayed at home to attend the University of Alabama, helping the Tide to berths in the 1996 Outback Bowl, the 1998 Music City Bowl, and the 1999 FedEx Orange Bowl. He received his B.A. degree in financial planning in 2001 and added his master's degree in sports management in `05.

Jess Loepp, 29, also returns to Tulsa after spending the 2006 campaign coaching the Rice safeties and serving as recruiting coordinator. He will coach the Hurricane outside linebackers.

Loepp followed Graham to Rice after three seasons at Tulsa as a graduate assistant coach on defense, aiding the Hurricane to the 2003 Humanitarian and 2005 AutoZone Liberty Bowls.

His first coaching position was the Oklahoma Bible Academy in Enid as a volunteer assistant. He coached the linebackers and receivers.

Loepp was an all-Lone Star Conference linebacker who helped the University of Central Oklahoma win league titles in 1998 and `99. He earned his B.S. degree at UCO in 2000 and completed graduate work at Tulsa in 2005.

Herb Hand, 39, joins the Tulsa coaching staff as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. He spent the past six seasons as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at West Virginia.

He helped the Mountaineers reach five straight Bowl Games (2002-06), including the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl. In 2006, West Virginia finished with an 11-2 record and was among the nation's top-10 teams for most of the season. He helped lead an offense that ranked second nationally in rushing (303.0 ypg), third in scoring (38.8 ppg) and fifth in total offense (461.3).

Hand, who served as an offensive graduate assistant at Clemson in 1999-2000, began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Framingham (Mass.) High School in 1990, before moving to West Virginia Wesleyan as an assistant coach from 1991-93.

From 1994-97, Hand served as defensive coordinator at Glenville State, and he was defensive and special teams coordinator at Concord College from 1997-99 before going to Clemson.

A 1990 Hamilton College graduate, he received a master's degree from West Virginia Wesleyan in 1993.

Bill Blankenship, 50, enters the collegiate coaching ranks after 23 years coaching in Oklahoma High Schools. He resigned as the head football coach at Tulsa's Union High School in December 2005 after leading his team to a state championship.

Blankenship will coach the Tulsa wide receivers.

Blankenship spent 14 years as the head football coach and athletic director at Union High, where he compiled a record of 154-26. His teams qualified for the state playoffs 14 times, reached the quarterfinals 10 times and the semifinals in nine seasons. His teams made the state championship game seven times - 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

He guided his team to Oklahoma Class 6A state titles in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Before coming to Union, Blankenship coached two seasons at Edmond Memorial High School and before that posted a 34-17 mark in four seasons at Spiro High School. He also coached at Sapulpa High School and Eastwood Christian School.

Blankenship was a three-year letterman and starting quarterback at Tulsa during the 1975-79 seasons. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1979, and received a master's degree from Northeastern State in 1985.

Dean Jackson, 49, comes to Tulsa after coaching one season as the Rice tight ends coach. Jackson will coach the tight ends at Tulsa as well.

Jackson spent 25 years in the high school ranks in north Texas. In 2004-05, he was the defensive coordinator at Dallas' Hillcrest High, helping the Panthers to an 8-3 record and a Class 4A area finalist spot in 2004.

Previously, Jackson spent six years on staff at Allen High School, where he worked for two seasons (1998-2000) under Graham. In both of those years, the Eagles advanced deep in the Class 5A playoffs.

Jackson was the head coach and athletic director at Wilmer-Hutchins High School for three seasons (1995-97). He was also on the Wilmer-Hutchins staff when the Eagles won the 1990 Class 4A state championship.

Also at Wilmer-Hutchins, Jackson coached the Eagle athletes to seven national championships in power-lifting along with the 1989 state title and five regional crowns. He had previous assistant coaching assignments at Athens and Paris in northeast Texas.

A native of Atlanta, Texas, Jackson earned his B.S. degree in education, physical education, from Wichita State University in 1981.

Yancy McNight, 34, comes to Tulsa as the strength and conditioning coordinator after serving in the same position a year ago at Rice. Before his stint at Rice, McKnight spent two years as the head strength and conditioning coach at Louisiana Tech.

Previously, McKnight spent two years at Oklahoma State as a strength and conditioning coach, serving as an assistant in the 2002-03 year and as associate director in 2003-04.

Before his stint at Oklahoma State, McKnight gained his reputation as a top strength and conditioning coach while directing the Adams Course in Dallas (1996-2001).

McKnight is a 2001 graduate of Missouri Southern State University.

Graham has two more coaching positions to fill for the Hurricane. All coaching appointments are subject to University of Tulsa personnel services requirements.