The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Callaway Names Trio Of Assistants To Coaching Staff
12/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 21, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- UAB head football coach Neil Callaway has begun the process of building his coaching staff as he announced Thursday a trio of coaches as new assistants for the Blazers.
Will Friend, who was a four-year starter on the offensive line at Alabama from 1993-96 and an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb the past two seasons, will coach the UAB offensive line.
Tyson Summers, a former standout player at Presbyterian College who spent this past season at Georgia Southern, is the new Blazers' linebackers coach while Steve Davenport, a three-year starter at wide receiver at Georgia Tech in the late 1980s and a former Georgia state high school coach of the year, has also joined the UAB staff. Davenport will coach on the offensive side of the ball for the Blazers.
"I am excited about all three of these coaches joining our staff," said Callaway, who was named UAB's head coach last Sunday. "All three of them are outstanding coaches and outstanding men and will be assets to our program."
Friend twice earned All-SEC honors at Alabama when Callaway was a member of the Crimson Tide coaching staff. Prior to his stint as offensive line coach at Gardner-Webb the last two seasons, Friend spent two years as a graduate assistant at Georgia, helping Callaway with the offensive line. He also spent a year at Tuscaloosa Central High School and was the offensive line coach at West Alabama in 2001.
Prior to joining the staff at Georgia Southern, Summers spent spring and fall 2005 as a graduate assistant coach at Georgia as the Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference championship and earned a berth in the Sugar Bowl. He worked with the secondary, seeing three UGA defensive backs get drafted: Tim Jennings (second round, First Team All-SEC), DeMario Minter (First Team All-SEC) and Greg Blue (First Team All-America).
During the 2004 season he worked as a graduate assistant coach at Troy. He spent the 2003 season at his alma mater, Presbyterian, where he worked as the defensive backs coach. In 2002 Summers returned to his hometown and worked the defensive backs at Tift County HS.
Davenport also has both collegiate and high school coaching experience as he comes to UAB after serving the past two years as the offensive coordinator at Rockdale County (Ga.) High School. He was the head coach at Decatur (Ga.) High for two seasons and in 2003 was named the Georgia Class AA State Coach-of-the-Year as his team finished 13-1, losing in the state semifinals at the Georgia Dome.
Davenport also spent four seasons as the head coach at Redan (Ga.) High School and served as the offensive coordinator at Southwest Dekalb High when the school won the 1995 Georgia State AAAAA state championship. Davenport was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech during the 1992 and 1993 seasons.
