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Third & Shorts

March Transactions

Head Coaches: Melvin Spears was elevated to interim head coach at Grambling... Don Brown was hired as head coach at Massachusetts to replace Mark Whipple, who accepted duties as quarterbacks coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers...Truman appointed Shannon Currier as head coach. ...Elmhurst selected Tom Journell as head coach... Jim Reid resigned as head coach at Richmond to accept defensive line coaching duties at Syracuse...Williams promoted Mike Whalen to head coach... Mississippi awarded head coach David Cutcliffe with a two-year contract extension through the 2007 season... Colorado named Brian Cabral as interim head coach... Nick Saban, head coach at LSU, signed a seven-year contract.

Football assistants - Northern Illinois selected Denny Doornbos as defensive coordinator... Tulsa hired Thurmond Moore as a defensive assistant coach... Brent Myers was appointed as running game coordinator and offensive line coach at Arizona State... Georgia Southern added Andre Curtis as defensive ends coach... Shelton Gandy resigned as an assistant coach at Southern Mississippi... Darryl Mason was hired as wide receivers coach and Lorenzo Costantini was chosen as defensive line coach at Tulane... Washington named Charlie Dickey as offensive line coach... Mike Orthmann resigned as associate head coach at Northern Arizona... Grambling named Tom Lavigne as defensive coordinator... Bret Bielema was hired as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin to replace Kevin Cosgrove...Washington added Jimmy Lake as cornerbacks coach... Darryl Drake resigned as wide receivers coach and assistant head coach at Texas to become wide receivers coach for the Chicago Bears... Nebraska added Randy Jordan as running backs coach and Bill Busch as outside linebackers coach... Akron named Mark Nori as tight ends coach to replace Harold Goodwin, who resigned to become an assistant offensive line coach with the Chicago Bears... John Kelling was awarded duties as defensive backs coach at North Dakota... Ohio State selected Darrell Hazell as wide receivers coach... McMurry added Mike Patterson as offensive line coach and Joe Crousen as defensive coordinator... Steve Bernstein was tabbed as secondary coach at Northern Illinois...Citidel named Toby Strange as offensive coordinator and Shane Burnham as linebackers coach... Eastern Michigan added Joe Palka as cornerbacks coach... Rod Holder assumed responsibilities as offensive line coach at Rutgers... Southern Cal named Todd McNair as running backs coach... Anthony Poindexter was chosen as an assistant running backs coach and John Garrett was appointed as wide receivers coach at Virginia...UNLV tabbed Jonathan Himebauch as offensive line coach. The school also announced tight ends coach Bruce Snyder assumed additional responsibilities as offensive coordinator... Mike Keller was hired as offensive coordinator at California (Pennsylvania)... Saint Mary’s (California) tabbed Don Frease as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach... Nebraska Wesleyan appointed John Bates as defensive coordinator... Western Illinois selected Kerry Cooks as defensive backs coach... Bobby Kennedy was chosen as receivers coach at Texas... ...Utah added Chuck Heater as cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator to succeed Bill Busch... Chris Mussman was promoted to assistant head coach at North Dakota.•

Courtesy of NCAA News