COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Newly named Tennessee Tech football coach Marcus Satterfield has officially announced the addition of eight new assistants to his Golden Eagle coaching staff. Furthermore, three previous assistant coaches will remain on the staff, one as an assistant coach and two in support positions.
Assistant coach Sam Williamson remains to coach the defensive line, while Justin Matheney will be director of football operations and Price Partrick will take on the role of offensive quality control assistant.
Newcomers joining Satterfield’s staff include Derek Carr, Tyree Foreman, Bobby Maffei, David Napert, Chris Polizzi, Shawn Quinn, Justin Rascati, and Dontae Wright.
“I wanted to build our staff with experienced, quality men with the same morals and beliefs as me,” said Satterfield, who came to Tech in December following three years at Temple University. “I wanted coaches who will be great developers of character, playing skills and excellence in our players’ social lives.
“I wanted coaches who will bring passion and energy, to both the game of football as well as recruiting,” he said.
Derek Carr just wrapped up his second season as graduate assistant coach for Temple where he worked with the offense. In addition to Temple, Carr previously played for Satterfield at UT Martin.
Carr was a three-year captain at UTM where he holds several quarterback records, including school marks for career pass attempts, completions, yards, and TDs; and TD passes in a game. He set the NCAA record for passing efficiency in a game at Murray State in 2012 when he completed 42 of 46 passes for 560 yards and seven TDs.
After his graduation in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in university studies, Carr served as a graduate assistant for the Skyhawks working with the quarterbacks and wide receivers. A native of McKenzie, Tenn., Carr is an active member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and has spent time working for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
The 2015 season was Tyree Foreman’s eighth as running backs coach at Temple, where he developed a tradition of excellent ball carriers under his direction.
Foreman earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Virginia in May 2001, with concentrations in Christianity and Buddhism. He was a three-year letterwinner in the backfield at Virginia from 1999 to 2001, starting at both the fullback and tailback positions.
After departing Virginia, the Sandy Spring, Md., native, signed a rookie, free-agent contract with the San Diego Chargers in April 2002. At the end of training camp he was signed to the Chicago practice squad in August and remained with the Bears throughout the 2002 season. Foreman was allocated to NFL Europe during the spring of 2003 and spent the season as the starting fullback for the Barcelona Dragons.
He left professional football during the summer of 2003 and returned to the gridiron with his initial coaching assignment at West Point.
Foreman arrived at West Point in March 2004 and helped make an immediate impact on the Black Knight rushing attack. In addition to coaching ball carriers during his tenure at Army, Foreman also worked with special teams, assisting with punt, kickoff return and punt return, as well as field goal and extra point units. He recruited in Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, and Ohio for the Black Knights.
Like Carr, Bobby Maffei spent the past two seasons as a graduate assistant coach for Temple where he worked with the defense and special teams.
Maffei moved to Temple from Pace University where he was a wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. Prior to his stint at Pace, he spent three seasons at Central Connecticut State in a variety of roles. He began as director of football operations where he organized team travel, directed summer camps, and organized recruiting visits. In 2011, along with his operations role he handled quality control for the defense. In 2012 he became the wide receivers coach and in 2013 added the responsibility of special teams coordinator.
The Trumbull, Ct., native, began his coaching career as a student assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 200. He graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in educational and human sciences majoring in Spanish and secondary education.
David Napert has held coaching spots at Chattanooga, East Tennessee, SMU, Valdosta State and Western Carolina, as well as head coaching in the high school ranks. He spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Western Carolina from 2003 through 2007, serving first as coach of the offensive line for two years followed by three years coaching the linebackers.
Prior to his role at WCU, he coached four years at Chattanooga from 1999 through 2002, the first two years as offensive line coach, one coaching the linebackers and one with the defensive line.
Following his stint at Western Carolina, Napert was the head coach for two seasons at Robbinsville (N.C.) High School, then spent six seasons at Smoky Mountain High School in Sylvan, N.C., the first as an assistant and the past five as head coach.
In 1998, Napert served as the head football coach at Rhea County High School in Evensville, Tenn., leading his squad to a 6-5 record and the first round of the state playoffs.
Before taking over the football program at Rhea County, Napert served for one year as the strength coach and defensive line coach at Southern Methodist University. He worked for five years at East Tennessee State as the strength coach and football offensive line coach and was the strength coordinator and defensive line coach at Valdosta State for six years.
A native of Rockledge, Fla., Napert graduated from Troy State in 1982 with a degree in Physical Education and Biology. He earned a master's degree from Valdosta State in 1986.
Originally from Great Barrington, Mass., Chris Polizzi joins the Golden Eagle staff after having held positions at Central Methodist, UCLA, Utah, Iowa and, most recently, Western Carolina.
He joined the Western Carolina coaching staff in July of 2015 after spending three years as a defensive graduate assistant coach at the University of Iowa. At WCU, he coached the Catamount cornerbacks.
During his time on staff at Iowa, Polizzi helped the Hawkeyes earn a spot in the 2014 Outback Bowl and the 2015 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Tennessee.
Prior to Iowa, Polizzi served as a graduate assistant coach at Utah in 2011 where he coached the tight ends and assisted with the defensive scout team, leading to a win over Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl.
Polizzi joined the Utah staff after two years as a coaching intern at UCLA, where he worked with the Bruin defensive staff and was capped with a win over Temple in the Eagle Bank Bowl.
Polizzi received his start in collegiate coaching at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo., spending four-years on staff where he coached both the tight ends and wide receivers and the defensive secondary.
A four-year starting cornerback for Lake Forest (Ill.) College from 2001-04, Polizzi helped win one conference championship and win a combined 28 games in his four years, the most wins by a class in school history.
Polizzi graduated Lake Forest in 2005 with a degree in communications and later earned a master's degree in special education from Central Methodist in 2007. He earned a second master’s in December 2014 in Sport Management from the University of Iowa.
Shawn Quinn has coaching experience at Western Carolina, Charleston Southern, Northwestern State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana Lafayette, plus SEC programs at Tennessee and LSU.
For the last three years, Quinn served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at WCU, leading a resurgence of the Catamount defense. Prior to his move to Western Carolina, he coached one season at Charleston Southern where his defensive unit led the Big South Conference in pass defense and ranking third in scoring and total defense.
Quinn additionally has previous coordinator experience from a year working as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Northwestern State, and two seasons at Georgia Southern coaching linebackers while also serving as the Eagles’ recruiting coordinator. AT GSU, he helped the Eagles win the 2011 Southern Conference championship and achieve two FCS semi-final playoff appearances.
Quinn began his coaching career at the high school level, coaching outside linebackers and tight ends for a year at Armuchee (Ga.) High before spending five years coaching at Maryville (Tenn.) High where he helped lead the team to the 1998 Tennessee Class 4-A state championship. He then landed on the staff of former University of Tennessee head coach, Phillip Fulmer from 1999-2002, as an offensive graduate assistant, taking part in the Vols' 2001 SEC East Championship. Quinn coached in three bowl games under Fulmer.
From 2002-07, Quinn coached outside linebackers and the defensive line at Louisiana-Lafayette, helping win the 2005 Sun Belt championship. He also worked as a defensive line assistant for LSU during the 2008 season.
Quinn has coached and recruited several NFL players, most notably Jason Whitten (Dallas), Tyson Jackson (Atlanta), Charles Tillman (Carolina), Darius Eubanks (Tampa Bay) and Jeremy Lane (Seattle).
A four-year starter along the defensive line at Carson-Newman College, Quinn was an All-South Atlantic Conference (SAC) selection, helping the Eagles claim four conference championships. He graduated with a degree in history and political science in 1995 before earning a master's degree from Lincoln Memorial University.
Justin Rascati comes to Tech after two seasons at UT Martin where he coached the Skyhawk wide receivers in addition to serving as the passing game coordinator. He also served as the assistant recruiting coordinator for the OVC school.
Before joining the Skyhawks, Rascati guided the quarterbacks at Weber State in 2012 and 2013.
Rascati enjoyed a remarkable collegiate playing career at quarterback, beginning at Louisville before a transfer to James Madison where he led the Dukes to a 13-2 record and the program’s first and only FCS national championship in 2004.
After graduating from James Madison in 2005, Rascati earned tryouts with the NFL’s Chicago Bears and the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes before playing two seasons in the Arena Football League. He then served as offensive coordinator at Kentucky Country Day School in Louisville from 2010-11 before joining the Weber State coaching staff.
A native of Gainesville, Fla., Rascati enjoyed a remarkable prep career at Buchholz High School where he was the all-time leader in career passing yards (5,033) and touchdown passes (45).
Dontae Wright spent the past three seasons on the Morehead State coaching staff, most recently as defensive coordinator for the Eagles. He previously coached at Centre College, North Alabama, and three years as a graduate assistant at SEC member Kentucky.
Prior to his stint at Morehead State from 2013-15, Wright spent the 2012 season at Centre College following two years at North Alabama where he helped the Lions post an 18-8 combined record in 2010 and 2011. The defensive line coach for the Lions, he helped reach NCAA Division II second-round playoff appearances and he coached four all-conference and one All-America performer.
Wright served as a graduate assistant at Kentucky from 2007-09. In his first season, Wright worked with the linebackers and the next two years he worked with the defensive line. The Wildcats went to two Music City Bowls and one Liberty Bowl in his three years.
As a player, Wright was part of two Mid-American Conference East Division championship teams at Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks won the conference outright in 2003 and played in the GMAC Bowl, then won a division crown in 2004 and participated in the Independence Bowl.
A native of Louisa, Ky., Wright earned four letters at Miami from 2003-06 and earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the university in 2007. A teammate of NFL star Ben Roethlisberger at Miami, Wright started at linebacker his senior year and also played on special teams.
