As has been widely expected in the last few days, Rich Bisaccia is the newest assistant coach to be added to Gus Malzahn’s staff at Auburn. Bisaccia may be one of the best running back coaches in the business and is regarded in many circles as the best special teams coach in football; pro or college.
The 30 year veteran coach has spent the last 11 seasons coaching in the National Football League, most recently for the SanDiego Chargers. He will be responsible for special teams and running backs.
He coached nine years with Tampa Bay, helping the Bucs win the 2003 Super bowl. This past season he was the Chargers Assistant Head Coach in charge of special teams.
No stranger to the college ranks, Rich coached 19 years at the collegiate level. While at Ole Miss (1999-2001) he coached three All-SEC running backs including one of the greatest running backs in Rebel history – Deuce McAllister.
The Deuce set 18 school records and is the only Ole Miss player to have had three consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons. He was a first round NFL Draft pick of the New Orleans Saints in 2001. He is the Saints All-time rushing leader and was inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame in 2012.
At Clemson (1994-98) he coached three-time All-ACC running back Raymond Priester. The Clemson legend set 18 school rushing records and is still the Tigers’ all-time leading rusher. In addition, his ’95 Clemson special teams were the only school in the nation to have four players ranked in four special teams categories.
Bisaccia coached two All-SEC running backs at South Carolina (Brandon Bennett and Rob DeBoer). And in 1992 the Gamecocks set a school record for blocked punts and led the SEC in kickoff returns.
In making the announcement, Coach Malzahn said, “Rich is widely regarded as the one of the top special teams coaches in all of football and has coached several elite running backs, so we’re thrilled to have him join our staff,”
Gus continued, “He has been a part of some outstanding teams, including a Super Bowl Champion team at Tampa Bay; and he has coached several running backs and special teams players that were among the very best in the game at both the collegiate and professional level.”
Bisaccia said he was glad his opportunity to return to the collegiate level will be at Auburn. “I have an incredible amount of respect for Auburn and Coach Malzahn. I met Gus in the spring of 2010 and have followed his cutting edge offense and what he’s accomplished as a coach since he started coaching in college. He’s a man of character and I had previously worked with Ellis Johnson and Charlie Harbison, so I knew the type of staff that Gus was putting together.” He added, “I’m excited and …
“Ready to help Auburn return to a championship caliber team.”
Tags: AubTigerman, Auburn Football, Auburn Football blogs, auburn Tigers, Brandon Bennett, Deuce McAllister, Gus Malzahn's coaching staff, Raymond Priester, Rich Bisaccia, Rich Bisaccia new running backs coach at Auburn, Rich Bisaccia to coach special teams at Auburn, Rob DeBoer, Track 'em Tigers
War Eagle! The Gus bus has a lot of momentum now, perfect timing for NSD.
I see why he’s a special teams coach, but running backs coach too? Sure he coached a few great running backs, but I was hoping to get someone who specialized in RBs. Maybe I just don’t know enough about the man yet, but just because you coached in the NFL doesn’t mean you’re gonna come back and dominate on the college level. Just ask Auburn’s last defensive coordinator.
I miss the days when Auburn was known as Running Back U.
Good hire. Great fit. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do with our running backs….and I do believe that he will help get us back to having bruising runners. War Eagle!
This staff is starting to look on paper at least! I can’t wait for spring practice to start!
Here’s an excellent piece by SI.com that enumerates all of Alabama’s sketchy titles. For instance 1973, claimed by Notre Dame (11-0) and Alabama (11-1), guess who Bama’s loss was too . . . Notre Dame. I guess by that logic the Germans really won WWII, right?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130103/notre-dame-alabama-championships-claimed/?xid=cnnbin
You know, who cares. Let them claim as many as they want. For as much as they want to claim that we have little brother syndrome, this stunt pulled by their SID at the time was to put their MNC count past Notre Dame for most MNC’s. Its almost like they thought that they would never win another title. Its really kind of sad that the fan base is so insecure that they can’t appreciate what they already had.
Fantastic hire….. Welcome coach Bisaccia!
Based off of my calculations, which involves alot of logs and derivative based functions, we have 43 championships. Take that ND and Bama.
This staff at Auburn is really an impressive feat by Malzahn. If he can recruit players like he recruits coaches, we may forget all about what the last staff accomplished on the recruiting trail. I am blown away when I look at the big picture at AU right now.
I salute you Gus.
WAR EAGLE!
Dameyune, welcome home!!!!
It’s hard to look at the new coaching staff, especially in light of Damyune Craig coming back, to not be overly-enthusiastic about next season. I know that it will be the CGM’s first year, but if I’m honest with myself I expect us to be in the championship hunt next year. I also know that that goal is unrealistic and unfair, but I’m just so damned excited.
I think Auburn’s best chances will come when we hit teams for the first time. After a while they will know what to expect and what to prepare for, but this next, first season we will come like a hurricane from a calm sea. Our offense will be blinding and our defense uncharacteristically stout.
Yes, I think that Gus’ first year will be his best year to catch teams unawares and make his mark on the SEC and the country.
WDE!
I don’t think it’s unrealistic to have big expectations when we are collecting the type of staff we are getting. In my opinion this is unprecedented.
Personally, I think Malzahn is a more polished and less crude version of Chip Kelly. I think if he lives up to what he said when he was hired… AU will always be an attacking football team. On both sides of the ball.
The very fact that he has tied himself to that, hired the staff he has, to me means he is going to live up to the standards he has set. He has rightfully set them pretty high. I think he is well on his way to making AU into a championship caliber team… but now, its about getting the culture changed and the work ethic installed to make AU the type of team it has to be in order to compete.Something it hasn’t done in two years.
WDE
Takeo Spikes (who plays at San Diego) says the man is AUsome and will be a perfect fit for Auburn.
“I know the profession of football, there’s two things we always want as players: an opportunity to play the game and someone to always tell us the truth. We may not like it, but we’ll respect. That’s two things you’ll always get with Rich. His relationship always extended more than his job — he developed relationships with other positions outside of what he coaches. That says a lot about you.”
Spikes went on to say his attention to detail is what sets Bisaccia apart.
“That’s what makes him great,” said Spikes. “He will never let you become bored with your craft. He stresses perfection, so you can never be satisfied. How he’s able to get guys that others would say won’t be a good player, Rich has a special way of getting underachieving guys to overachieve, and he’ll get the stars to become superstars.”
That is enough for me.
War Damn Eagle and welcome to Auburn!