ITHACA, N.Y. -- With great depth of experience at varying levels teaching the game of football, the Cornell Big Red coaching staff has taken shape with the hiring of five new assistant coaches and a quality control assistant.
Ron McCrone (defensive coordinator, linebackers), Jeff Fela (offensive coordinator, offensive line), Tommy Condell (assistant head coach/wide receivers), Peter McCarty (defensive line) and Brian Young (defensive backs) bring an abundance of experience from all levels of football. Zach Hart will also join the program as a quality control coach. The six newcomers will join David Archer '05 (running backs, recruiting coordinator), Travis Burkett (tight ends, special teams coordinator) and Pete DeStefano (defensive ends) on the first staff of Kent Austin, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football.
McCrone's experience includes stints in the SEC, the USFL and the Arena Football League. He last served as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Jacksonville University from 2007-09, helping the Dolphins to their first-ever Pioneer League title (2008) and back-to-back winning seasons (2008-09). His college stops as an assistant coach include Florida, Auburn, Ole Miss, Duke, Vanderbilt, Temple and Southern Miss.
Fela brings 33 years of coaching expertise to the Big Red sidelines and will be in charge of the offensive line and will join Coach Austin in developing the offensive gameplan. He brings an impressive resume of experience with him, including stints at Tennessee Tech, Troy, William & Mary, Western Carolina and East Carolina. While at Troy, Fela's squads beat Missouri and Marshall in 2004 en route to a spot in the Silicon Valley Bowl.
Condell has local connections to upstate New York, growing up in Utica and playing collegiately at Cortland State, where he helped his team to a pair of ECAC titles. He has a vast knowledge of the passing game and will work with Austin and Fela in the development of the offense. A member of the Southeastern Louisiana coaching staff under Mike Lucas, the father of recent Cornell quarterback and letter winner Tyler Lucas, he served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In addition, Condell served as acting head coach over the final six games of the 2008 season. Condell has also coached in the CFA and Arena Football League.
McCarty has 32 years invested in coaching defense at the college level, including stops at Stanford, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Illinois, Syracuse, Central Florida, Holy Cross and most recently at Western Michigan. He was on the coaching staff of bowl teams at three different schools (1999 Micronpc.com Bowl at Illinois, the 2001 Seattle Bowl at Georgia Tech and the 2005 Hawaii Bowl at UCF).
A bright defensive mind, Young most recently served as defensive coordinator while spearheading the recruiting efforts at Mississippi College. He spent five years on staff as defensive backs coach, the final three years directing the defense. While there, Mississippi won two conference titles. A significant portion of Young's coaching comes from the fast-paced, high-scoring Arena Football League. He coached at the AFL and AFL2 levels, as well as in the Atlantic Arena Football League.
Hart will take over the new quality control coaching duties at Cornell, which will include breaking down advance scouting film, preparing scouting reports and generating statistical analysis. The 2010 graduate of Ohio University spent four seasons working for the Bobcat football program, serving as a film assistant/assistant video coordinator for three years.
