The Florida Athletic Department officially named Teryl Austin to the defensive coordinator position on Friday. Coming with Austin is 19 years of coaching experience. In those 19 years, 12 of those come from the collegiate level working as a defensive assistant at Penn State, Syracuse and Michigan. Austin coached defensive backs at Wake Forrest as well. Having ties with current Gator coaches Steve Adazzio (Syracuse) and Scott Loeffler (Michigan) the familiarity in the coaching staff will be there almost instantly and things will begin to gel quite nicely.

“I am pleased to have Teryl join our staff,” said head coach Urban Meyer. “Coach Addazio did a great job coordinating our efforts with Chuck Heater and Dan McCarney to hire Teryl. It was important that we had some familiarity with Teryl as both Coach Addazio and Coach Loeffler had worked with him before. He also comes highly recommended from my close friend Bill Davis, the defensive coordinator of the Cardinals. It was also important that we hire a coach who is a great teacher, a great mentor and has the ability to be a great recruiter. Coach Austin has all of those qualities and beyond that is a good family man.”

“I’m excited to join the Gator coaching staff,” said Austin. “I’ve watched from afar what this program is about – winning championships with dynamic players and doing things the right way. Now, I’m honored to be a part of the program and a part of The Gator Nation. I look forward to getting to work with an outstanding group of players and a great coaching staff.”

Austin also spent 7 years in the NFL coaching defensive backs with the Seattle Seahawks (2003-06) and most recently with the Arizona Cardinals (2007-09). Coming highly recommenced to Urban Meyer from current Cardinal DC and Meyer friend Bill Davis, Austin should have a big part in developing some of Florida’s younger athletes into NFL caliber players.

While coaching college Austin got a reputation for being an excellent recruiter and talent developer. Austin has strong ties in the Pennsylvania area and should help the Gators recruit well nationally. High School prospects will definitely notice and will want to play for a 7 year NFL defensive veteran.

Some other tidbits on Austin:

- In 2008 Arizona rookie and first-round pick Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie led the Cardinals with four interceptions in the regular season.

- In 2007 Austin’s secondary helped the Cardinals lead the NFL in six interceptions returned for touchdowns. The Cardinals also lead that year with interception return yards (551).

- At Seattle Austin developed a solid secondary in players Marcus Trufant, Ken Hamlin, Michael Boulware and Kelly Jennings- all young draft picks.

- Austin has coached in two superbowls.

- While in the college game Austin was instrumental in developing several future NFL players. At Syracuse he mentored All-American Donovan Darius and Kevin Abrams. In 1997 Darius was named the Big East Player of The Year and later was drafted in the first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

- Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania he played college football at Pittsburgh from 1984-87. While at Pitt he played in the 84 Fiest Bowl and the 87 Bluebonnet Bowl.

- Coaching timeline:

1991-92 Penn State Graduate Assistant
1993-95 Wake Forest Defensive Backs
1996-98 Syracuse Defensive Backs
1999-2002 Michigan Defensive Backs
2003-06 Seattle Seahawks Defensive Backs
2007-09 Arizona Cardinals Defensive Backs

By: Kurt Posner