Tenuta joins Wolfpack coaching staff

'10 Football ACC & Other College Football Tom O'Brien46

Per Media Relations…

NC State head football coach Tom O’Brien has announced that Jon Tenuta has joined the Wolfpack staff and will serve as linebackers coach, replacing Andy McCollum, who took another job on Tuesday.  Tenuta brings 29 years of experience as a coach and 16 as a defensive coordinator, most recently at Notre Dame.

“We lost a heckuva football coach and a great person in Andy McCollum,” said O’Brien on Thursday.  “He will be missed by our staff and our players and we wish him the best.  But we have been very fortunate to be able to hire someone with the experience and wealth of knowledge that Jon Tenuta brings to our staff.“

Tenuta’s stints as defensive coordinator for 16 years at seven different schools: Notre Dame (2009), Georgia Tech  (2002-07), North Carolina (2001), Ohio State (2000), SMU (1990-94), Kansas State (1988) and Marshall (1987).

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work for Coach O’Brien,” said Tenuta. “I’m also happy to be back in the ACC, especially with a program like NC State.”

Tenuta has been at Notre Dame for the past two seasons, serving as the Fighting Irish’s assistant head coach for defense both years, defensive coordinator last season and coaching the linebackers in 2008 and 2009.  In his first year at Notre Dame, he helped the Irish defense allow 61.27 fewer rushing yards per game and improve its ranking from 96th nationally in ‘07 to 45th in ‘08.  The Irish scoring defense also improved in ‘08, allowing 6.6 points less per game than in ‘07, the 22nd-best improvement in the nation.

Tenuta helped guide a defense that ranked in the top 50 nationally in total defense, scoring defense, pass defense  and rush defense * the first time that had happened at Notre Dame since 2002. Prior to his stint at Notre Dame, Tenuta spent six seasons as the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, where 18 Yellow Jacket defenders earned first- or second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition, and 18 players from his first four units were either drafted or signed NFL free-agent contracts.

In his last five seasons at Georgia Tech, Tenuta’s defense ranked in the top 30 nationally in total defense, scoring  defense and rushing defense, ncluding 20th or better against the run all five years. In 2001, Tenuta guided the ACC’s top-rated defense statistically at North Carolina. Tar Heel defensive end Julius  Peppers and defensive tackle Ryan Sims were two of the top three defensive players selected in the 2002 NFL draft.

From 1996-2000, Tenuta coached defensive backs at Ohio State, serving
as defensive coordinator in 2000.  He  helped develop several Ohio State
defensive backs into NFL players, including first-round draft picks Shawn Springs, Antoine Winfield, Ahmed Plummer and Nate Clements. Ohio State’s pass defense was consistently ranked among the nation’s best during this span.

The Columbus, Ohio, native also coached at Oklahoma (defensive backs,
1995); SMU (defensive coordinator/linebackers/defensive backs, 1990-94);
Kansas State (defensive coordinator, 1988); Marshall (defensive
coordinator/defensive backs, 1986-87); and Vanderbilt (defensive backs,
1984-85).

Tenuta began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Virginia
(1981-82) and Maryland (1983).

A 1982 graduate of Virginia, Tenuta was a three-year letterman at defensive back for the Cavaliers and earned the  team’s John Acree Memorial Football Trophy and Kevin Bowie Award.

Born Feb. 25, 1957, Tenuta is married to the former Dori Gamble, who played basketbal for Debbie Ryan at Virginia.  They are the parents of three sons: Zach , who plays tight end at Marshall, Matt (16) and Luke
(10).

Year    School  Position
1981-82 Virginia        Graduate Assistant
1983    Maryland        Graduate Assistant
1984-85 Vanderbilt      Defensive Backs
1986    Marshall        Defensive Backs
1987    Marshall        Defensive Coordinator
1988    Kansas State    Defensive Coordinator
1989    SMU     Defensive Backs
1990    SMU     Defensive Coordinators/Linebackers
1991-94 SMU     Defensive Coordinator
1995    Oklahoma        Defensive Backs
1996-99 Ohio State      Defensive Backs
2000    Ohio State      Defensive Coordinator
2001    North Carolina  Defensive Coordinator
2002    Georgia Tech    Defensive Coordinator
2003-07 Georgia Tech    Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
2008    Notre Dame      Asst. Head Coach (defense)/Linebackers
2009    Notre Dame      Asst Head Coach (defense)/Defensive
coordinator/Linebackers

'10 Football ACC & Other College Football Tom O'Brien

46 Responses to Tenuta joins Wolfpack coaching staff

  1. Wolfy__79 02/11/2010 at 5:53 PM #

    i’m pleased with this news. the timing is really amazing seeing that we just lost our linebackers coach and picked up tenuta! wow, i’m so amazed.

    i think he can make an immediate impact with the players. sometimes when you make a change like this, it is easier to put bad things behind. perfect scenario for our young defense. we have alot of talent at LB, recruiting should take care of itself is he is worth his salt. what a resume, he’s been inside some pretty decent programs.

    concerning his tenure at ND: i think there is really a deeper problem with them, more of a cultural problem.. that and they keep hiring questionable head coaches. what a nice addition to our coaching staff.

  2. MatSci94 02/11/2010 at 5:55 PM #

    “Tenuta likes a blitzing style of play..Hmmm you think he and Archer will disagree a few time this season?”

    Archer and TOB were asked this question this past season…the answer was that they were blitzing a fair amount, just that the LB’s weren’t reaching the QB.

  3. TOBtime 02/11/2010 at 5:59 PM #

    Absolutely speechless. Just got back to NC from Austin TX and saw this. I remember ALL too well how his defenses played at GT. They gave you nothing and more often than not took your offenses totally out of the game. I loved the blitzing, bring it style of play. Saints anyone? I had hopes of this after his release at ND but always had the “Nah, we’re NC State and that can’t happen to us” in the back of my mind. This could be monstrous for the young linebackers we have and eventually for the whole D. Please PLEASE let this progress to DC!!!

  4. Wolfy__79 02/11/2010 at 6:01 PM #

    that probably had more to do with our defensive front. you can argue this all you want, but we were not talented/big&fast enough up front for the young linebackers to really make an impact..

    i don’t see tenuta and archer getting along? side by side, their resumes aren’t consistent with each other.. meaning archer may be out of his league with a LB coach with a better resume’ and all around better coach…

  5. Wolfy__79 02/11/2010 at 6:03 PM #

    oh yeah, what a solid defensive guy. i’m shocked…

  6. fullmoon1 02/11/2010 at 6:14 PM #

    Cheers. That is the best news in a while.

  7. El Scrotcho 02/11/2010 at 6:41 PM #

    He completely owned us at GT. I’ve wanted him gone from GT or here since about 2001. I love it.

  8. bradleyb123 02/11/2010 at 6:48 PM #

    I’ve been thinking Archer might end up being TOB’s Achilles Heel eventually. Archer is about the only complaint I have with TOB. This hiring restores my faith in TOB.

    Now if we can just get our defense in gear. Here’s hoping for at least SOME improvement this year on defense.

    Oh, and that Russell comes back for another year. 🙂

  9. GAWolf 02/11/2010 at 7:00 PM #

    I see this as the end of Archer as DC at the very least. Perhaps not this year, but by the following year… assuming Tenuta sticks around that long. Great, great news.

    Digging around a few months ago I found that Tenuta’s last year as a player at UVa was TOB’s first at UVa as an assistant to George Welsh.

    I really don’t think we could have made a better off-season move outside of completely getting rid of Archer at the same time. But maybe Archer’s value is there and we haven’t seen it. Let’s face it… some guys are role players and others are leaders. It’s certainly possible Tenuta and Archer can find a working relationship that produces results. I have a feeling, however, Tenuta is going to be shocked at how hapless our preparation has been on the defensive side of the ball from a coaching perspective. Our guys are completely devoid of fundamentals. This is a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE gain for us.

  10. bradleyb123 02/11/2010 at 7:01 PM #

    Question: Was Tenuta LET GO by the new Notre Dame head coach already? Was he unemployed, and we got lucky and picked him up for cheap? If that’s the case, then maybe Archer isn’t on the way out after all.

    But if we just stole the CURRENT defensive coordinator from Notre Dame, and made him our linebackers coach, then I think Archer is quite possibly on the way out. Because it’s hard to understand why someone would leave the DC position at Notre Dame to just be a linebackers coach at NC State. Unless he was already unemployed due to the new head coach at ND.

  11. Tiew 02/11/2010 at 7:20 PM #

    He was let go. The new guy wanted to bring his own people I believe.

    Question, is Tenuta better than McCullom?

  12. Noah 02/11/2010 at 7:28 PM #

    Coaching? Yes, he’s better.
    Recruiting? Not in a million years. You and I will sign exactly the same number of players that he does.

  13. choppack1 02/11/2010 at 8:31 PM #

    Noah – I’m thinking that Archer is actually a pretty good recruiter.

    Also, from what I’ve been able to pick up from reading stuff, Reed is very good recruiter as well.

    I’m thinking Tenuta will probably take a more active role in teaching the D and probably game day play calling. Archer (or perhaps even Reed) takes a larger role in recruiting.

  14. GAWolf 02/11/2010 at 10:15 PM #

    we’ll find out pretty quickly if he’s got a good recipe for chicken salad.

  15. Wolfy__79 02/12/2010 at 1:33 AM #

    i think in today’s game, recruiting somewhat takes care of itself. there is certainly alot of work to be put into it.. but its 2nd nature to the coaches. we’ve got talent at LB/defensively. and we actually do have speed, except audie cole. he is a little on the slow side. our defense looked slow this year b/c they were always in the wrong place.

    if he can give us a defense like gt had a few years ago, the ceiling for the season definetly has a new look. that and being able to kick the ball a little better. we should be fine offensively…

  16. Wolfy__79 02/12/2010 at 1:37 AM #

    chicken salad:
    use both white/dark meat
    sweet cubes/relish
    celery salt/salt
    pepper
    mayo/miracle whip
    secret sauce
    sugar/sweetnlow

    amounts vary
    be sure to let it rest for a day before you serve

  17. BJD95 02/12/2010 at 7:19 AM #

    This is a great short-term move, which is exactly what we needed to do. The window to compete for an ACC championship is VERY short, given that we have a maximum of two years left with Russell Wilson (and probably not much more – if anymore at all – of Tom O’Brien). After that, we’re f-ed regardless (hello, cheapest available successor coach), so I don’t care much about recruiting. Just give us one special season before the program goes belly-up for good.

    In my view, LBs have been the weakest area of our team for quite some time. Outside of Nate Irving (when healthy), they just haven’t made ANY plays. And you need your LBs to make big plays for you and put pressure on the opposing offense (especially when your secondary is only so-so). There should be enough talent there for a good coach to at least get them to be “pretty good” by ACC standards. That level of performance, combined with a top-flight QB and a more typical Tom O’Brien OL (which I think we’ll see in 2010 and certainly in 2011) should be enough to put us into contention.

  18. LKNpackfan 02/12/2010 at 8:47 AM #

    But maybe Archer’s value is there and we haven’t seen it. Let’s face it… some guys are role players and others are leaders. It’s certainly possible Tenuta and Archer can find a working relationship that produces results.

    Well said. Pragmatism comes at a premium to us State fans

  19. GAWolf 02/12/2010 at 8:51 AM #

    So Kendall Moore came down to us and ND from what I remember… it’s a shame others don’t openly let people out of their LOIs like we do.

  20. StateofthePack 02/12/2010 at 9:39 AM #

    GaWolf, from everything I gathered, Brian Kelly basically re-recruited Moore after the coaching change and he decided to stay committed to the Irish and inked on signing day as planned.

  21. WolftownVA81 02/13/2010 at 11:47 AM #

    Any word on special teams coach? This was also an area of big disappointment last year. Sorry if it’s already been covered.

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