Guilford College Football Coaching Staff
|
Mark Hargis - Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
After three seasons as the Quakers’ receivers coach and offensive coordinator, Mark Hargis adds Assistant Head Coach duties in 2008. With Hargis coaching the receivers in 2005 and 2006, the Quakers’ passing offense ranked among the nation’s best, averaging over 356 yards per game in that time. Guilford led the nation in 2006 with 348.4 passing yards per game and enjoyed a record-setting campaign in 2005. Two-time All-American wideout Chris Barnette '08 ranked second in receptions per game in 2004 and led all NCAA divisions with 101 receptions in 2005. He won the 2006 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Offensive Player of the Year Award. Three Guilford students have ranked among the ODAC leaders in receptions and receiving yards per game in each of the past two years.
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Hargis served as the offensive coordinator and associate head coach for Elancourt of the French Premier League in 2005. Hargis spent 2004 as the defensive line coach for Ellsworth (Iowa) Community College’s Graphic Edge Bowl champions. As a graduate assistant at Wisconsin-Eau Claire from 2003-04, Hargis assisted the cornerbacks and receivers in addition to his duties as the Blugolds’ junior varsity head coach. He earned a master’s of education in professional development from Eau Claire.
A four-year football letter winner at Gustavus Adolphus College, Hargis made 27 career receptions in 17 appearances as a wide receiver. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business management in 2001, he enrolled in the Valparaiso University School of Law and aided the football team as a volunteer secondary coach for two seasons.
Joe Mitskas - Defensive Coordinator
Joe Mitskas assumes the defensive coordinator’s post in his second Guilford season. The Quakers' defensive line coach in 2007, he replaces Michael Vite after Vite took the head coaching post at the Apprentice School last spring. Mitskas worked with Mike Six ’09 in his first year and helped the junior to his second straight all-conference commendation. Guilford placed three students among the Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) top-seven tackles for loss leaders in 2007.
A native of Feasterville, Pa., Mitskas played for Kiesel at Millersville University from 2001-03 and earned First Team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference honors as a senior. The three-year starting nose guard had 62 tackles in his final two seasons, 13 for loss.
Mitskas started coaching as a Millersville student assistant in the spring of 2004. He coached the defensive line and junior varsity team at William Penn (Pa.) High School in the fall of that year and served as Albright College’s defensive line coach in 2005. Mitskas spent 2006 at Muhlenberg College and helped the Mules field NCAA Division III’s 36th-ranked defense. He has worked the Jerry Sandusky Football Camp in Pennsylvania in three of the past four years.
A 2000 graduate of Neshaminy (Pa.) High School, Mitskas earned First Team All-Suburban One League honors under coach Mark Schmidt.
Chris Barnette - Wide Receivers
After spending 2007 as a student assistant coach, All-American receiver Chris Barnette '07 returns to the Quakers' staff as a paid professional in 2008. While completing requirements for his sport management degree, he worked with the likes of Hagen Miller '10, who broke Barnette's school receptions record and led NCAA Division III in catches per game. In the spring of 2008, Barnette served as the offensive coordinator for the Elancourt Templiers of the French Elite League. The team went 9-3 and reached the league championship game.
Barnette exhausted his athletic eligibility in 2006 after a second straight All-America season. He led Guilford’s pass-catchers in each of his four years and stands 13th in Division III with 266 career receptions. The Quakers' first ODAC Offensive Player of the Year, Barnette played in the East Coast Bowl and Aztec Bowl senior all-star games. The Semora, N.C., native was an all-conference receiver and quarterback at Person High School for coach Mark Lunsford. His brother, Jamie, quarterbacked North Carolina State University from 1994-99.
Brad Davis - Offensive Line
Brad Davis '08 starts his college coaching career in a familiar place surrounded by familiar faces. Guilford’s top offensive lineman for the past four years, he will coach his former linemates and new recruits in 2008. Davis started 33 of 34 career games and garnered Second Team All-ODAC honors as a senior. The left tackle also won the Quakers’ 2008 Charlie Griffin Award, given for loyalty and dedication to the team. A member of Guilford’s Spring 2008 Student-Athlete Honor Roll, Davis earned his degree in criminal justice. The Quakers’ offense ranked among the NCAA Division III leaders in Davis’ final three seasons and led the country in passing yards in 2006 and 2007.
A 2004 Central Davidson High School graduate, Davis enjoyed a stellar career for coach Eugene Everhart. The team’s Most Valuable Player in 2003, he played in the 2004 North Carolina Coaches Association East-West All-Star Game and was a two-time All-Central Carolina Conference pick.
Tommy Grayson - Running Backs
Guilford Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Tommy Grayson '67 continues his third tour of duty with the Quakers’ football staff. He worked with the receivers and tight ends in 2002 and the defensive line in 2003. Two of his linemen (Delvin Newkirk '04 and Brian Person '04) captured All-ODAC honors in 2003.
The 1967 Guilford graduate retired from a distinguished high school teaching and coaching career in 2002. He spent seven years as a teacher and head football coach at Rockingham County High School from 1995-2002. Grayson enjoyed 16 years as the head football coach at Eastern Guilford H.S. He compiled an 80-81 record and won a Division II state title in 1981 and coached NFL receiver Torry Holt at Eastern. From 1992-95 he assisted Guilford’s baseball and football teams on a part-time basis.
After starting his college career at Chowan, Grayson came to Guilford where he was a standout football, basketball and baseball player from 1965-67. He graduated with the school’s football scoring record and was a two-time NAIA All-America baseball player. Grayson spent four years in the Detroit Tigers’ minor-league baseball system where he reached the Triple-A level. The Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame inducted Grayson in 1982.
He is also enshrined in the Chowan and Davidson County (NC) Sports Halls of Fame. Grayson and his wife, Pamela '71, met at Guilford and reside in Burlington.
Matt Hutchings - Defensive Intern
Matt Hutchings enters his first season on Guilford’s staff as the Quakers’ linebackers coach. He played the position for his first three college seasons at the University of Virginia College at Wise before moving to defensive end. As a senior, he captured honorable mention All-America recognition from Don Hansen’s Football Gazette. He also earned the Cavaliers’ Charlie Price Memorial Award for sportsmanship. A dean’s list student, Hutchings earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from UVA Wise in 2007. He volunteered as a defensive line coach with his alma mater in the spring of 2007.
Hutchings grew up in Midlothian, Va., and graduated from Clover Hill High School. He served as the defensive coordinator at Cosby High School in his hometown last fall.
Bracy Maynard - Defensive Line
Bracy Maynard will serve as a volunteer assistant coach at Guilford, coaching the defensive linemen. The veteran scholastic mentor spent nine years as an assistant football coach at nearby Western Guilford High School, where he continues to teach science and coach the boys’ track and field teams. He spent eight seasons working with the Hornets' defense, including two with former Guilford assistant Charlie Griffin. A three-time Triad 3-A Conference Track Coach of the Year, he has coached three state track and field champions.
Maynard also made local football coaching stops at Western Alamance High School, Ragsdale High School and Northwest Guilford High School. While at Ragsdale, he worked alongside Dick Cline. He assisted Guilford alumnus, Charlie Groves ‘76, at Northwest Guilford from 1993-98.
A 1978 graduate of Bob Jones University, Maynard earned his master’s degree in physics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1992. He has three children and resides in Greensboro.
Shawn Thomas - Special Teams
A veteran of the United States Army and multiple professional indoor football leagues, Shawn Thomas makes his college coaching debut in 2008 volunteering with Guilford’s kickers and punters. An all-star kicker at the Paxon School in Jacksonville, Fla., Thomas served in the Army for five years before enrolling at Winston-Salem State University in 1996. He kicked all four seasons for coach Kermit Blount’s club and captured First Team All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) honors in 1997 and 1999. In 1999, Thomas led the CIAA with 11 field goals and 23-of-24 point-after touchdowns, which helped the Rams win the league title.
After finishing his eligibility, Thomas spent five seasons kicking in the Arena Football League2 and the National Indoor Football League with teams in North Carolina and Florida. He earned his bachelor's degree in recreation administration from North Carolina A&T State University in 2005.
Thomas has coached kickers and special teams for head coach Mark Holcomb at North Davidson High School in Lexington, N.C., since 2003. A number of Black Knights have gone on to kick in college, including East Carolina University’s Ben Hartman.
An Army Reserves medical officer, Thomas resides in Winston-Salem.
David Hayes - Student Assistant Coach
David Hayes '09 starts his college coaching career as a student assistant with the Quakers’ offensive line. The Guilford senior played in 15 games over his first two years before missing the 2007 campaign due to injury. Hayes graduated from Trinity H.S. in 2005 after starting three seasons at center for coach Kevin Gillespie. He garnered all-county and all-conference recognition and helped the Bulldogs to the 2003 state quarterfinals. He is pursuing his degree in sport management.