USF Hires Former NFL Wide Receiver to Coaching Staff

From USF Athletics - News came today that Coach Holtz has added former NFL wide receiver Jerome Pathon to the coaching staff. The 36-year old Pathon, originally born in South Afrida, has been the wide receivers coach at the University of San Diego (I-AA) for the last three seasons and will handle the wide receiver coaching position that was left behind after Phil McGeoghan left to take an assistant wide receiver job with the Miami Dolphins.

Pathon, drafted as the 32nd pick (second round) in the 1998 draft by the Indianapolis Colts (same year as Peyton Manning). He played in 46 regular season games for the Colts before playing 45 games for the New Orleans Saints. He is famous for the River City Relay play on December 21, 2003 when he tied the game with a touchdown catch (also played for the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons in 2005). Pathon is also known for the December 2011 lawsuit against the NFL with 11 other players claiming the league did not provide medical treatment despite prevailing studies about concussions.

Prior to the NFL, Pathon was an All American receiver at the University of Washington where he set multiple records for the Huskies in his final college season. This is a solid signing by Holtz and his staff. Pathon brings a wealth of experience from his playing days and will make an instant impact on the deep and talented receiving corps that the Bulls have.

This is the second staff hiring by Holtz this offseason, he added Chris Cosh as the defensive coordinator (replacing Mark Snyder earlier).

Holtz also recently shuffled some of the coaching duties with members currently on the staff. Offensive coordinator will now work with the quarterbacks, the same position he did while at ECU (had been the running backs coach before and will continue to call the offensive plays), Larry Scott was moved to running backs (was tight ends coach), and Peter Vaas was moved to tight ends (was the quarterbacks coach).