Former Vanderbilt assistant Charles Bankins joins Old Dominion staff
Former Vanderbilt special teams coordinator and running backs coach Charles Bankins has accepted the same positions under Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder, according to a source.
This past season was Bankins’s fifth at Vanderbilt, where he served as special teams coordinator throughout his tenure. He coached the program’s running backs the last two seasons after three years in charge of tight ends. The 43-year-old Bankins was let go in December by Commodores coach Derek Mason, who is entering his third year.
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Prior to his time in Nashville, Bankins was Maryland’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach from 2009–10, working in his first season with Torrey Smith, who broke the ACC single-season record for kickoff return yards.
Bankins was Richmond’s special teams coordinator and running backs coach from 2007–08 and won an FCS national title with the Spiders in his final season. He worked as offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and running backs coach at Hampton in ’06, assistant special teams coach with the NFL’s St. Louis Rams in ’05 and running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Hampton from ’00–04.
Bankins was wide receivers and tight ends coach for Indiana (Pa.) in 1999 after holding the same positions at his alma mater, James Madison, the previous year. He was Eastern Kentucky’s wide receivers coach from ’96–97 after starting as an offensive graduate assistant in the program.
He got his start in coaching at his high school alma mater, Leonardtown (Md.) High in 1995. Bankins was a running back at James Madison from ’90–92.
Old Dominion went 5–7 this past season under Wilder in the program’s second year as a full FBS member. Wilder has a 57–27 record in his seven seasons with the Monarchs.
