Pearce Added To Rice Football Staff
3/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 23, 2006
Houston - John Pearce, a legendary coach on the collegiate and high school levels in Texas, has joined the staff of Rice head coach Todd Graham as assistant head coach/offense and running backs coach.
Pearce, who had a 46-32-2 record as the head coach at Stephen F. Austin State during the 1992-98 seasons, most recently had been an assistant coach at UCLA (1999-2002) under head coach Bob Toledo. He spent 14 years as a college coach at Texas A&M, SFA and UCLA after 19 years at five Texas high schools.
"He has a great wealth of knowledge and experience," said Graham. "He fits the profile of our program in that many of our guys are former Texas high school coaches.
"His knowledge and expertise are going to be an unbelievable value to offensive coordinator Major Applewhite in running our offense."
In other staff changes, Graham announced that Paul Randolph has been elevated to associate head coach, Dean Jackson will now coach tight ends, safeties coach Jess Loepp will also be the Owls' recruiting coordinator, and cornerbacks coach Jason Jones will add duties as assistant recruiting coordinator.
Pearce, 59, helped coach bowl teams five times in his seven years as a Division 1-A assistant coach. At SFA in Nacogdoches, the Lumberjacks played in the Division 1-AA playoffs twice and was the only Division 1 program in Texas to post five straight winning seasons from 1993 through 1997.
The Pearce legend hit high gear at Willowridge High in Missouri City during the 1984-88 seasons. He led the Eagles to one of the most successful eras in school history, compiling a 51-10-1 record in his five seasons.
Among his honors at Willowridge included the 1988 Toyota Texas High School Coach of the Year award, the first-ever winner of the Houston Touchdown Club's high school coach of the year honor, and four straight district coach of the year wins. Among his players at Willowridge was Rice hall of fame honoree O.J. Brigance, a two-time all-Southwest Conference linebacker for the Owls in 1988-89.
Pearce started his coaching career as the defensice coordinator at Connally High in Waco (1970-73) and Kilgore High (1974). He got his first head coaching job at Allen High north of Dallas in 1975 and compiled a 50-21-1 record in seven seasons.
After two seasons as the head coach and athletic director at Sherman High (1982-83), Pearce moved to Willowridge.
A native of Sulpher Springs, Pearce is a 1970 graduate of East Texas State University (now Texas A&M-Commerce).