Wood announces new Rattler football coaching staff

Yesterday afternoon new FAMU Head Coach Alex Wood formally announced the names of the six assistants who will join him on the sidelines.

“I am extremely excited to work with all these great men. They are coaches, teachers, family men, men of faith who will be great ambassadors for Florida A&M University,” Wood said.

“Many of them I’ve known a long time, and they bring extensive experience to us, and I know they will do nothing but great things for our young men, the football program and the university,” Wood added.

In all, Wood hired five new assistants and retained one additional coach retained from the previous staff.

Martin Spieler, former wide receivers, tight ends and special teams coach at the University of Buffalo, who will serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Spieler has served as assistant coach at Cincinnati, Allegheny College and Georgia Southern.

Theo Lemon, former head coach at Savannah State, Central (Ohio) State and College of Depage (Ill.), will serve defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. His extensive experience also includes staff appointments at Wake Forest, Rutgers, East Carolina, Northeastern, Central State, Kentucky State and Ohio University.

Richard Solomon, former assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Mesa (Ariz.) Community College, will serve as defensive backs coach. Solomon has a lengthy resume which includes professional (Arizona, Minnesota), New York Giants) and collegiate (Western Illinois, Illinois, Syracuse, Iowa, Southern Illinois and the University of Dubuque).

Donald “D.J.” McCarthy, former director of player personnel and assistant to the head coach at Bethune-Cookman University, will serve as wide receivers coach. McCarthy also has assistant coaching experience at LSU, UCLA, UCF, Nevada-Reno, along with an NFL stint (Oakland Raiders), as well as high school and junior college experience.

Dennis R. Smith, formerly an assistant coach and special team coordinator at Itawamba Community College in Fulton, Miss., comes aboard to serve as Tight Ends and Special Teams Coach. Smith had worked prior to his time in junior college on the staffs of the University of Miami and FIU.

Edwin Pata, a Miami native, was retained as offensive line coach. He served the last two seasons (2013, 2014) at FAMU, after working two years (2011, 2012) as an assistant offensive line coach at Florida International (FIU).