.png&type=webp)
Rice University Athletics
Five Named To New Owl Football Staff
1/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 4, 2006
Houston - Five assistant coaches have been named to the new Rice football staff, head coach Todd Graham has announced.
The first members of the new staff are Danny Phillips, defensive line/special teams coordinator; Jason Jones, defensive backs; Jess Loepp, tight ends; Todd Dilbeck, offensive line; and David Beaty, wide receivers.
Phillips, Jones and Loepp join the Rice staff after working with Graham at the University of Tulsa. Dilbeck has been the head football coach at Mustang, Okla., High School, while Beaty was the head coach at MacArthur High in Irving.
"These are five guys who possess the same type philosophies of positive attitude and energy as I do," said Graham. "They come from diverse settings, from a conference and bowl champion at Tulsa, to successful high school programs in Texas and Oklahoma."
Phillips, 36, has coached with Graham during eight of the past nine seasons. Prior to the 2003-05 seasons at Tulsa, where he also coached the defensive line, he was a defensive graduate assistant at West Virginia University in 2002, and an assistant coach under Graham at Allen High School during the 1997-2000 seasons. He's a graduate of East Central (Okla.) University after playing linebacker at Southeastern Oklahoma State.
Jones, 28, coached Tulsa's cornerbacks in 2005 after two years as a graduate assistant at Alabama, his alma mater. As a coach, the Crimson Tide had the nation's top-ranked pass defense in 2004, and the Tulsa secondary led Conference USA with 22 interceptions in 2005. As a player, Jones was a four-year letterman as a defensive back, helping the Crimson Tide to Bowl games during three of his four seasons.
Leopp, 28, has been a defensive graduate assistant for the past three seasons at Tulsa. Previously, he worked with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and held coaching positions at Oklahoma Bible Academy and the Cassady School in Oklahoma City. He was an all-Lone Star Conference linebacker for the University of Central Oklahoma where he earned his undergraduate degree.
Dilbeck, 44, comes to Rice after serving as the district athletic director and head football coach at Mustang High near Oklahoma City for the past five seasons. He won coach of the year honors after leading Mustang to the Class 6A state finals in 2005. Dilbeck is a 1982 graduate of UCO.
Beaty, 35, has been the head coach and athletic coordinator at MacArthur High in Irving for the past four years. He previously coached at North Dallas High and Garland High after graduating from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo.
