Football
Cedric Calhoun has mentored the Owls' defensive line since joining the staff on February 15, 2018.
Over his seven seasons on South Main, Calhoun’s line has been a consistent force for the Owls, both in their performance on the field as well as in their leadership. He has sent two of his players (Myles Adams and Elijah Garcia) to the NFL while five of his linemen have been named a team captain, including three who were named for multiple seasons (Izeya Floyd, 2023-24; Josh Pearcy, 2022-24; Trey Schuman, 2021-22).
Calhoun has both developed players who began their careers with the Owls such as Blake Boenisch, Floyd, Pearcy, Schuman, Adams and Garcia while also having an immediate impact on transfers such as Coleman Coco , Michael Larbie, Charlie Looes and Michael Daley to produce career-best performances.
In 2024, the members of his front wall combined for 17 of the Owls’ 33 sacks, which was tied for 24th nationally at the end of the regular season, was the most at Rice since the2014 Owls set a school record with 39 and tied for the third-most at Rice since 2000.
A former assistant at Florida International University, Dartmouth College, and Alabama A&M University, Calhoun came to Rice after spending four years at Vanderbilt, the last two as a defensive quality control coach. He joined the Commodores staff in 2014 as a conditioning assistant.
Calhoun returned to collegiate athletics with the Commodores in 2014 after a year assisting children with autism at the Piedmont School of Atlanta.
He served as FIU's defensive line coach under Mario Cristobal at FIU from 2010-12, helping the Panthers to the 2010 Sun Belt Conference title and their first two postseason appearances in school history, the 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl and 2011 Beef `O' Brady's Bowl.
Before joining FIU, Calhoun coached four seasons at Dartmouth, working with the Big Green defensive line in 2006 and linebackers from 2007-09. From 2002-05, Calhoun served as defensive line coach at Alabama A&M. He helped fashion a unit that led the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in total defense and sacks for four straight seasons. Eight of his players won All-SWAC honors, contributing to a 32-15 overall record.
During his time at Alabama A&M, Calhoun developed defensive end Robert Mathis into the 2002 SWAC Defensive the Player of the Year before embarking on a standout NFL career. In 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, Mathis earned the 2013 AFC Defensive Player of the Year (while leading the league in sacks), was twice named All-Pro, and was also named to the Pro Bowl six times.
He also coached FIU defensive end Tourek Williams, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2013 draft by the San Diego Chargers and played a total of 45 games in his four-year career.
Calhoun was an all-conference defensive end at Grossmont (Calif.) Community College, and received his B.A. degree in health and physical education from Morehouse (Ga.) College in 1995.
He began his coaching career at Idaho State University in 1997, serving as the head strength and conditioning coach while assisting the defensive line coach. He returned to Morehouse in 1998, spending four seasons as defensive line coach. During the summers of 2004 and 2005, Calhoun held a defensive line internship with the San Diego Chargers through the NFL's Minority Internship Program. In 2008, he was an intern with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Calhoun is the father of two daughters, Olusade and Adejola.
