Calhoun has coordinators in place

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 9, 2007 | by JAKE SCHALLER THE GAZETTE

Air Force football coach Troy Calhoun will name Tim Horton his offensive coordinator and Tim DeRuyter his defensive coordinator today, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Calhoun also is expected to announce the hiring of two more assistants and to assign position responsibilities to those assistants who do not yet have them. After today's announcement, Calhoun will have filled the nine assistant coach positions allowed by the NCAA. However, academies are allowed four additional "restricted" assistants. Steve Senn, last year's junior varsity coach, will fill one of those spots.

The selections of DeRuyter and Horton continue Calhoun's trend of hiring young coaches who excel at recruiting and have Air Force backgrounds. DeRuyter is a 1985 graduate of the academy, and he spent one year at Air Force as a graduate assistant and another four as a full-time military coach. Horton coached wide receivers at the academy from 1999 to 2004 and coached the running backs in 2005.

Calhoun, a 1989 academy graduate, is the first former Air Force player to serve as the team's coach. Five of his first seven assistants also are academy graduates -- DeRuyter, Jemal Singleton, Brian Knorr, Blane Morgan and Charlton Warren. The average age of the eight coaches on staff, including the 40-year-old Calhoun, is about 36.

Calhoun's predecessor, Fisher DeBerry, resigned in December at age 68. His nine NCAA-recognized assistants last year averaged about 51 years of age as of the season finale.

DeRuyter, who just turned 44, is the oldest member of the staff so far. Knorr is 43, Horton is 39 and Brian Schneider is 35. Singleton, Morgan and Warren, all graduates of the Air Force class of 1999, are between 29 and 31.

DeRuyter spent the past two seasons as Nevada's codefensive coordinator and also worked with the team's safeties. He was one of several former Air Force assistants who expressed an interest in replacing DeBerry.

During the three years prior to his time at Nevada, DeRuyter was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Ohio University for Knorr, who was the coach at Ohio from 2000 to 2004. That was DeRuyter's second stint at Ohio, as he served as the school's defensive coordinator from 1995 to 1998 -- when Calhoun was the offensive coordinator there. From 1999 to 2001, DeRuyter was at Navy.

According to his biography on the Nevada athletic Web site, DeRuyter has experience with both the 4-3 and 3-4 defenses -- Calhoun has said he would like to play a 3-4 base -- and "in pressure, attack-style philosophies."

Horton spent last season at Kansas State coaching the running backs. Prior to his previous stint at Air Force, the former Arkansas split end coached at Appalachian State from 1990 to 1998.

Note

The Air Force Quarterback Club will have a dinner to honor DeBerry on May 6, according to a release. Details, including the location of the dinner, have not been finalized. The proceeds from the event will benefit the Fisher DeBerry Foundation.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0365 or jake.schaller@gazette.com