BATON ROUGE, La.- Southern will enter in preparation for the 2020 season with several new faces, including an almost entirely new offensive staff. Southern University Head Football Coach Dawson Odums announced several new additions to his staff on March 3, 2020.
"We have a very high standard at Southern, and did an extensive search to find the right fit for our new staff members. We wanted to find coaches with the right experience and attitude to build on our tradition of success and take us to the next level. I believe that with the coaches we have returning and the new guys joining us we have the best staff in the SWAC," said Odums.
Joining the Jaguars as Offensive Coordinator and Quartersbacks coach is Zach Gossi. Grossi coached quarterbacks at Hampton University last season where he implemented a pro-style passing attack responsible for school records in yards, completions, and touchdowns. Prior to Hampton, he worked as an assistant and scout for five seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Grossi played collegiate ball at Concord University in West Virginia, where he was a record setting signal-caller.
Brian Lepak comes to SU form Oklahoma where he served as the offensive line graduate assistant for the past three seasons. Prior to working at OU, Lepak worked in the same role at Indiana from 2014-2016. He will serve as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. During his time with the Sooners and Hoosiers, Lepak coached several award winning and record setting players and units including the offensive line that awarded the 2018 Joe Moore Award for the nation's most outstanding offensive line unit. He played for two seasons at Colorado State before transferring to Oklahoma where he was an Academic All American center and guard. He also has a law degree ans is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma.
Vincent Marshall joins the staff as wide receivers coach. He was most recently the special teams coordinator and running backs coach at Missouri Southern State University. Prior to that he worked at Houston as a recruiting analyst ans in various offensive roles for the high powered offenses at Bowling Green and Syracuse under Dino Babers. Marshall was an outstanding wide receiver at Houston where he was a two-time All Conference USA performer. He played in both the NFL and CFL before beginning his coaching career at Southwestern Assemblies of God University. He has also coached in the high school ranks at Seguin High in Texas.
"This offensive staff is used to coaching in explosive offense that produces touchdowns. They believe in playing fast, physical, and balanced football. Coming from offensive powerhouses, they have an expectation that they will score a lot of points. They will build on the success we've had, and i'm excited for them to mentor our young men on the offensive side of the ball," Odums said.
Returning to his alma mater is former team captain and All-SWAC performer Christopher Browne. Browne will coach the tight ends. He returns to the Bluff after a stint at Louisiana Tech as an offensive graduate assistant. He has also made coaching stops at Morehouse College and Jackson State where he worked with both offensive lines and tight ends.
"We have great tradition and culture at Southern. Having Coach Warner to help the new coaches learn our way of doing things here. Having that community will be key to getting those new coaches quickly integrated into the Southern community," said Odums.
On the defensive side of the ball, Odums is bringing in Jason Rollins from UTSA to coach the safeties. Rollins will also be the special teams coordinator. Rollins is an experience defensive mind who spent the last two seasons s the defensive coordinator for the Roadrunners, where he served as linebackers coach since 2016. He is no stranger to the pelican state having coached in various positions at Tulane, Northwestern State, and his alma mater McNeese State.
"Coach Rollins brings a wealth of experience to our defensive staff. He is a like minded coach that will fit in well helping us build a disciplined and tough defense," said Odums.