Hazell announces coaching staff

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Purdue head football coach Darrell Hazell announced the first six members of his coaching staff on Friday. 

Hazell selcted Jon Heacock, Marcus Freeman and Jafar Williams over from his previous stop at Kent State, and adding Jim Bollman from Boston College, Greg Hudson from Florida State and Kevin Sherman from Virginia Tech.

Hazell also announced that Tommy Cook will serve as his supervisor of football operations and Doug Davis as the head strength and conditioning coach. Cook and Davis held their respective positions under Hazell at Kent State.

Casey Nuss, who served as the supervisor for football operations the previous three seasons, will move into a role that works closely with developing high school relations.

Greg Hudson – Defensive Coordinator

Hudson, who will serve as Hazell’s defensive coordinator at Purdue, was the assistant head coach and linebackers coach with the Seminoles the previous three seasons. While in Tallahassee, Hudson helped improve FSU from 108 ^th in total defense the year prior to his arrival to second among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams this past season (only BCS national champion Alabama had a higher rated defense in 2012).

Jim Bollman – Offensive Line

Bollman joins the Purdue staff after spending last season as the offensive line coach/running game coordinator at Boston College and the previous 11 years at Ohio State as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator and line coach. A veteran of 36 years of coaching on the collegiate level, Bollman has taken part in 17 bowl games, including three BCS national championships.

Marcus Freeman - Linebackers

Freeman enters his first season at Purdue after also having spent the previous two years under Hazell at Kent State as the linebackers coach. Under Freeman’s direction, inside linebacker Luke Batton earned second team All-MAC honors in 2012 after finishing with 143 total tackles, including 80 solo stops. Outside linebacker C.J. Malauulu was a third team all-conference selection in 2012, recording 72 total tackles.

Jon Heacock - Cornerbacks

Heacock joins the Boilermaker staff after spending the two previous seasons with Hazell at Kent State.

Serving as the defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach, Heacock’s Golden Flashes forced 38 takeaways this past season, second among all FBS schools, to help lead to a FBS-best 1.62 turnover margin for the year. The Flashes finished in the upper half of the Mid-American Conference in nearly every defensive statistical category in 2012, including second in rushing and fourth in scoring defense. In his first season at Kent State, Heacock’s defense was seventh in the FBS in fumbles recovered and turnover margin, 10 ^th in turnovers gained, 18 ^th in tackles for loss and 21 ^st in total defense.

Kevin Sherman – Wide Receivers

Sherman joins the Purdue staff after spending the previous seven years at Virginia Tech as wide receivers coach. Under his guide in 2012, Tech averaged 230.9 yards receiving per game, with senior Marcus Davis leading the way with 51 receptions for 953 yards and five touchdowns. Davis finished seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference in receiving yards per game (73.3) and had four games over 100 yards.

Jafar Williams – Running Backs

Williams joins the Boilermakers from his running backs position at Kent State where in 2012 he coached one the nation’s top rushing tandem in Dri Archer and Traylon Durham. Under Williams’ direction, the duo combined to rush for 2,745 yards and 30 touchdowns in 14 games. Archer, who averaged 9.0 yards per carry, led Kent State with 1,429 yards rushing on 159 carries, while also hauling in a team-high 39 receptions for 561 yards with four touchdowns and returning 16 kickoffs for 591 yards and three additional scores. He was named an Associated Press, Walter Camp, ESPN.com and Sporting News All-American following the regular season.

Tommy Cook – Supervisor of Football Operations

Cook will begin his first season at Purdue and his second overall under Hazell as supervisor of football operations. Prior to Kent State, he spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Kentucky. Cook was a wide receiver at UK from 2000 to 2005. His career totals included 74 catches for 951 yards and six touchdowns. He also assisted coach Joker Phillips in coaching the wide receivers during the 2004 season while recovering from an injury.

Doug Davis – Head Strength and Conditioning Coach - Football

Davis joins the Purdue staff after spending the previous two seasons with Hazell at Kent State. Davis spent the previous four years as a strength assistant at Ohio State University where Hazell was the wide receivers coach. He arrived at OSU as an assistant strength coach in January of 2007, before moving to strength and conditioning coordinator in May of 2008. He designed and implemented the year-round strength, speed and conditioning program for the Buckeyes. He specifically trained the Ohio State wide receivers and defensive backs