Vernon Hargreaves Joins ECU Football Staff
June 01, 2007 | Football
June 1, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Vernon Hargreaves has been named defensive ends coach and special teams coordinator at East Carolina University according to an announcement from head football coach Skip Holtz Friday.
Hargreaves' appointment at East Carolina will mark a reunion with Holtz as the pair worked together for four seasons at Connecticut beginning in 1994 when Holtz was named the program's head coach and ending in 1997 when Hargreaves accepted a position on the University of Miami (Fla.) staff.
"Vernon obviously brings a lot of big game experience to our program and we're thrilled to have a familiar face in our new family at East Carolina," Holtz said. "With the late timing of the hire, it was critical for us to identify someone that has a familiarity with what we're doing, not only on the defensive side of the ball, but within the program itself. You can run out of adjectives to describe Vernon but the words energetic, enthusiastic, positive and upbeat come to mind pretty quickly."
Hargreaves' assignment to handle ECU's ends, coupled with Donnie Thompson's recent departure, has also enabled Holtz to slightly realign other staff positions on the defensive side of the ball. Former outside linebackers coach Rock Roggeman will take over responsibility for the defensive tackles while coordinator Greg Hudson, who handled middle linebacking play in 2006, will now directly guide all three slots. Holtz also announced the promotion of secondary coach Rick Smith to the assistant head coaching position.
In addition to his defensive duties on Holtz' staff, Hargreaves will also assume the special teams coordinator's role formerly held by Don Yanowsky.
"Vernon's experience, background and presence certainly provides us an opportunity to have a special teams coordinator on our staff entering the season," Holtz added. "We weren't completely sure we would be fortunate enough to be in a position to have this role filled with someone of Vernon's caliber after an unexpected early spring vacancy."
Prior to a brief stint at Bowling Green State University and a one-year stay at Florida International where he coached Lombardi Award nominee Keyonvis Bouie, Hargreaves enjoyed a successful eight-year tenure at Miami from 1998 to 2005. While with the Hurricanes, he is credited with molding some of the nation's finest linebackers, including 2000 Butkus Award winner Dan Morgan and 2004 first-round draft choices Jonathan Vilma and D.J. Williams, as well as playing a key role in developing the UM defense into one of the nation's top units over a five-season span under head coaches Butch Davis and Larry Coker.
A member of his linebacking unit served as the 'Canes top tackler for six consecutive years, and in 2003, Hargreaves shaped a unit that produced two of the 11 semi-finalists for the Butkus Award. From 2000 to 2005, the Miami defense stood among the nation's top 10 statistical leaders on 20 occasions in five different categories, which included No. 1 ranks in scoring defense (2001), pass defense (2002, 2003, 2005), pass efficiency defense (2001, 2002, 2005) and turnover margin (2001).
During Miami's 12-0 national championship season in 2001, which was capped by a 37-14 win over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, Hargreaves helped guide a Hurricane defense that allowed just 9.4 points per game, only 138.2 passing yards a contest while netting a +2.36 edge in turnover margin. A year later, UM's defense surrendered a paltry 119.7 passing yards per game on the way to a 12-1 campaign that concluded with title game appearance against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.
During his time at Miami, Hargreaves enjoyed a run of eight consecutive bowl appearances beginning in 1998 which resulted in victories against N.C. State (Micron PC), Georgia Tech (Gator), Florida (Sugar, Peach), Nebraska (Rose) and Florida State (Orange).
Hargreaves accepted his position at Miami after 13 seasons on the University of Connecticut staff, where he was outside linebackers coach from 1985-89 and inside linebackers coach from 1989-97. While at his alma mater, he played a pivotal role in the development of Paul Duckworth, who was a sixth-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 1994.
A native of New Haven, Hargreaves earned a bachelor's of science degree in sociology from Connecticut in 1986. Prior to graduation, he was a three-year football letterman for the Huskies who earned All-America honors as a junior and senior linebacker. In addition, Hargreaves was a two-time All-Yankee Conference first-team selection and served as a tri-captain on the 1983 squad.
He still ranks fifth on the UConn career tackles list with 393, holds two of the top-10 single-season tackle marks and stands as one of only eight Huskies to register 20 tackles in a single game (vs. Holy Cross in 1983). At the end of his collegiate career, Hargreaves signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns and played professional football in Italy.
In 1998, Hargreaves was named a member of UConn's 100th Anniversary Team commemorating the greatest players in the football program's first century. On March 24, 2007, he was inducted into the inaugural class of New Haven's James Hillhouse High School Athletic Hall-of-Fame after earning all-state honors as a prep standout in the late 1970s.
He and wife Jackie are the parents of three children - daughter Carina, son Vernon III and daughter Chanelle.
