A former University of Washington football player has poached a current UW assistant football coach and possibly a former Huskies great for his new coaching staff at UCLA.
Former Seahawks coach and Washington graduate Jim Mora, who is replacing Rick Neuheisel as the Bruins’ head coach, has made several hires to his coaching staff, including UW defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin.
The school announced the hiring of Martin, Adam Kremm and former Washington State running back Steve Broussard via Twitter on Wednesday.
Martin, who was one of Washington’s top recruiters in Southern California, is the first paid assistant coach to leave Steve Sarkisian’s staff since he took over at Washington in early 2009.
Martin is a native of Pasadena, Calif., and played locally at Muir High School before going on to play at Michigan State. He previously coached with Sarkisian and Nick Holt at USC.
Broussard left his job as running backs coach at Arizona State to take the same position at UCLA. He was considered ASU’s top recruiter in California.
Klemm left his job as offensive line coach at Southern Methodist University and is also considered an excellent recruiter.
There are reports out of Los Angeles that UCLA has also hired Noel Mazzone to serve as offensive coordinator and former Huskies standout quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo as tight ends coach.
Mazzone is currently the offensive coordinator at Arizona State. Tuiasosopo served as an intern on the UCLA staff under Neuheisel this season, and has been working as the Bruins’ quarterbacks coach since Neuheisel was dismissed.
ARIZONA STATE HIRES GRAHAM FROM PITT
Arizona State has hired Todd Graham as its next football coach.
ASU athletic director Lisa Love announced that Graham will replace Dennis Erickson, who was dismissed following a 6-6 season in which the Sun Devils dropped their final four games.
Graham spent just one season in Pittsburgh, where he led the Panthers to a 6-6 mark and a tie for second in the Big East.
“Obviously, our offense is going to be high octane, it’s going to be quick-strike explosive,” said Graham, who has a 49-29 record in a six-year head coaching career, including at Tulsa and Rice. “Our whole deal is about explosive plays. I like to see the ball thrown down the field.”
A former assistant under new Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia, Graham had a successful stint in his first year as a head coach. In 2006, he took Rice to its first bowl appearance in 45 years. He left the Owls after one season for Tulsa, where he led the Golden Hurricane to the first back-to-back 10-win seasons in school history.
LSU CORNERBACKS TOP ALL-AMERICA LIST
LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu and Morris Claiborne became the first cornerback teammates to earn spots on the AP All-America team, which was announced Wednesday.
Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III of Baylor beat out Stanford’s Andrew Luck for the quarterback spot on the first team.
Montee Ball of Wisconsin and Trent Richardson of Alabama, who joined Mathieu, Griffin and Luck as Heisman finalists, were the first-team running backs.
Three Pac-12 players made the first team: USC tackle Matt Kalil, Stanford guard David DeCastro and USC wide receiver Robert Woods.
DeCastro is a former standout at Bellevue High School.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
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