Seminoles add former Memphis Director of Player Personnel to support staff
Florida State has made it a point of emphasis to bulk up the support staff around the football program this offseason. Over the past few weeks, the Seminoles brought on alum Corey Fuller and former UF staffer Keiwan Ratliff.
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On National Signing Day, FSU landed another quality addition to the shadow staff in former Memphis Director of Player Personnel, Justin Crouse, per a report from FootballScoop.
When Norvell was at Memphis, he hired Crouse in 2017 as the program's Director of Player Personnel. Crouse briefly left for the same position at Florida Atlantic under former head coach Lane Kiffin before returning to the Tigers. He's been at Memphis ever since and stayed in the same role when Norvell took the job at Florida State.
Crouse has over 25 years of experience in college athletics. He's worked for programs in the SEC, ACC, C-USA, AAC and the NFL.
He had a stint as offensive recruiting coordinator for UAB from 2015-16 and was the tight ends recruiting coordinator at Iowa Western in 2014.
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The majority of his experience in the SEC came during his time at Arkansas. Crouse was named assistant recruiting coordinator and assistant to the head coach in 1998. He held the position for six years and even briefly served as running backs coach. From 2010-12, Crouse was the coordinator of recruiting development at Ole Miss under former head coach Houston Nutt. He also worked as a football administrator at Vanderbilt for former head coach James Franklin in 2013.
Interestingly enough, Crouse has ties to Florida State outside of Norvell. He worked with Miami in 2006 as a recruiting and operations assistant, where he crossed paths with then Hurricanes defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, Randy Shannon. The veteran coach is now the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach with the Seminoles.
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Prior to being hired by Miami, Crouse spent two years in the NFL with the New England Patriots. His primary duty was to serve as the Patriots' SEC and southeastern region area scout.
His coaching career started at his alma mater, Murray State University, where he was on staff from 1994-97.
NoleGameday is in the process of clarifying what Crouse's position will be at Florida State. The Seminoles also hired their first General Manager in program history, Darrick Yray, earlier today.
Stay tuned for more on the hire of Crouse.
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