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Vanderbilt is hoping its new coaching hire will help two areas that have become weaknesses for the Commodores.
The school has hired former Eastern Michigan head coach Jeff Genyk as the new special teams coordinator and running backs coach, according to Adam Sparks of The Tennesseean.
Charles Bankins held both positions previously.
Genyk didn’t fare too well as the Eagles head coach, never winning more than four games in his five seasons at the helm and going 16-42 overall.
However, Genyk comes to Vanderbilt having a proven track record in special teams success. He spent last season at Northwestern, where he also coached special teams from 1999-2003. Genyk also coached special teams at Wisconsin (2013-14) and California (2010-12).
He’ll try to help a Vanderbilt team that struggled in many areas on special teams.
The team ranked 98th in the FBS in yards per kickoff return (19.6) and 90th in yards per punt return (6.4). Covering punts was a huge problem as the ‘Dores ranked 124th by allowing an average of 15.1 yards to go with 2 touchdowns, one of only seven Power 5 schools to allow multiple punt return TDs.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
