TCU Football: Introducing more of the New Staff
Sonny Dykes was announced as the new head coach for TCU football on November 29. In the two weeks since he has been building a staff of incredible assistants. Several of these coaches came with Dykes from the Hilltop. Two of them remain from the previous staff at TCU. And a few others join from other programs.
The new staff includes:
- Garrett Riley – Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach
- Joe Gillespie – Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach
- Ra’shaad Samples – Assistant Head Coach, Running Game Coordinator, and Recruiting Coordinator
- Bryan Carrington – Defense Analyst and Recruiting Coordinator
- Paul Gonzales – Safeties Coach
- Kaz Kazadi – Assistant Athletics Director for Human Performance
- Malcolm Kelly – Outside Receivers Coach
- AJ Ricker – Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach
- Mark Tommerdahl – Special Teams Coordinator
- Chidera Uzo-Diribe – Defensive Line Coach
Riley and Samples were highlighted in an article here. Gillespie was highlighted in an article here. This article will introduce Carrington, Gonzales, and Kazadi.
Bryan Carrington – Defense Analyst and Recruiting Coordinator
Carrington joins the staff after having been at USC for the last year. He served as Offensive Quality Control Analyst. Before that, he spent four seasons at the University of Texas (2017-2020). His first year there, he was an assistant director of player personnel and his last three seasons as director of recruiting.
His 2018 recruiting class at Texas was ranked #3 nationally. He followed that with having the top classes in both 2019 and 2020. He graduated from the University of Houston in 2016. He was a recruiting assistant there in 2015 and 2016.
Carrington and Samples spent 2018 together at Texas and will be working together again as recruiting coordinators on Dykes’ staff.
Paul Gonzales – Safeties Coach
Gonzales and Malcolm Kelly are the two assistants on previous head coach Gary Patterson’s staff and retained by Dykes. Gonzales has been on the staff at TCU since 2012. He began at TCU as a graduate assistant with the defense working with safeties and linebackers. For the 2015-17 seasons, he served as TCU’s cornerbacks coach, and he has been the safeties coach since 2018. Under his leadership, Trevon Moehrig won the 2020 Jim Thorpe Award for the nation’s top defensive back. In addition to Moehrig, Gonzales coached other Frogs before they moved to the NFL. This includes Ar’Darius Washington, Vernon Scott, Ranthony Texada, and Innes Gaines.
He is a native of San Jose, California. He was a four-year letterman for the University of California-Davis in baseball. He graduated from UC-Davis and served as a defensive analyst in 2008-09.
Kaz Kazadi – Assistant Athletics Director for Human Performance
Kazadi is another member of the staff that followed Dykes from the Hilltop at SMU. He will be in charge of the strength and conditioning program for TCU Athletics, including the football program. He had the same role at SMU since January 2018. Prior to his time with the Mustangs, he was on the strength and conditioning staff at Arkansas State, Baylor, and USF and two NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs.
Kazadi immigrated to the US from Zaire, Africa, when he was eight years old. He was a linebacker at the University of Tulsa, where he was a Butkus Award semifinalist. In 1997, he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. He played five years of pro ball, including the Canadian Football League and the World Football League.
He was on Art Briles staff at Baylor from 2008-2016 and has been linked to lawsuits connected to the sexual assault allegations. Since leaving Baylor after Matt Ruhle was brought in as head coach, Kazadi has held the jobs at Arkansas State and SMU. Every step of the way, he has been vetted regarding his involvement. Before coming to TCU, he went through even more vetting. According to TCU Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati, Kazadi has been cleared through the vetting process.
“I did talk to (Kazadi). I feel comfortable with the work SMU did on him, but we also did our own,” said Donati. “That was direct outreach to Baylor to get a full understanding. It was a different time. They didn’t have any policies. They didn’t have any education.”
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