Thompson Names Brindise, McFarland to ECU Football Staff
January 12, 2004 | Football
Brindise takes over ECU's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach role, which was vacated by Rick Stockstill who departed in December to join Lou Holtz's staff at the University of South Carolina.
McFarland will serve as the Pirates' offensive line coach, a position formerly filled by J.B. Grimes, who took a similar position at Mississippi State in December.
Brindise, a native of Fort Myers, Fla., spent the past two seasons as quarterbacks coach under Steve Spurrier with the National Football League's Redskins. He was critical in the development of quarterback Patrick Ramsey, who took over the starting role as a rookie at the end of the 2002 season and started the first 11 games of 2003, passing for 2,166 yards and 14 touchdowns before being sidelined with an injury. Brindise also worked with veteran NFL signal-callers Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews.
Prior to his move to the NFL, Brindise served three seasons (1999-2001) as offensive graduate assistant coach under Spurrier at the University of Florida, where he was part of three bowl teams as well as the 2000 SEC championship squad.
Before joining the Florida staff, he began his coaching career as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ursinus College, outside of Philadelphia.
Brindise was a three-year letterman at quarterback for Florida from 1995-97 after originally making the team as a walk-on. Brindise, a two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, was an honorable mention selection on College Football Chronicle's 1997 Unsung Hero All-America Team. He was also co-recipient of UF's 1997 Fifth-Year Senior Team Player Award.
"Noah is a very intelligent coach with an exciting personality," Thompson said. "He brings so much to the table with his background in the NFL and with Steve Spurrier. We're looking forward to some innovation in our offense and we're excited to have him on board."
McFarland, a native of Long Beach, Calif., has served the past four seasons as UCF's offensive line coach and was also offensive coordinator for the Golden Knights for the past three. His 2002 UCF offense was one of the nation's most potent, with a quarterback who threw for over 3,000 yards, two 1,000-yard receivers, and a 1,000-yard running back. UCF ended the 2002 season ranked sixth in the nation in passing offense, 11th in total offense, and 19th in scoring offense.
McFarland's offensive line finished second in the Mid-American Conference in 2002 with just 15 sacks allowed. His 2001 line yielded just nine sacks. He has had numerous linemen go on to stints in the NFL, including Mike Mabry, a seventh-round draft selection of the Baltimore Ravens in 2003.
Prior to his appointment at UCF, McFarland spent eight seasons (1991-99) at Stephen F. Austin State University as run coordinator and offensive line coach. He helped the Lumberjacks to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs in 1993 and 1995. McFarland started his collegiate coaching career working as a graduate assistant for Danny Ford at Clemson. He then moved on to Notre Dame, serving as a graduate assistant under Lou Holtz. Prior to joining the staff at Stephen F. Austin, he coached at Kent State University for one season.
He is a 1985 graduate of McNeese State University.
"Robert McFarland has a tremendous reputation as a teacher and a recruiter," Thompson said. "He has gone to no ends to find and develop great players.
"Both of these guys have experience and are excited about being here and we're excited about having them."
