March 23, 2007
NORFOLK, VA--Old Dominion University head football coach Bobby Wilder announced today that Hampton native and James Madison defensive back coach Chip West has been named assistant head coach-recruiting coordinator for the football Monarchs.
"I could not be happier with the addition of Chip West as the assistant head coach-recruiting coordinator to the ODU staff," said Wilder. "Chip has 11 years of college coaching experience at the 1-A and 1-AA level. Just as important to me, he has
coached the last three years in the CAA (formerly the Atlantic 10). Coach West helped
lead James Madison to the national championship in 2005. He is an excellent coach who
has experience coaching on offense and defense. He is also considered by many coaches in the league to be the top recruiter of Virginia high school players, most notably the Hampton Roads region."
West served the last three years at James Madison, coaching the defensive backs including 2005 All-American free safety Tony LeZotte, the Atlantic 10 co-rookie of the year as a freshman, and 2005 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year.
Prior to coming to JMU, West coached the defensive backs at Fordham in 2003 where the Rams were 9-3. He served as the wide receivers coach at Colgate for
four years and worked as a graduate assistant at West Virginia University. Colgate shared the 2002 Patriot League title with Fordham, finishing with a 9-3 overall record and a 6-1 league mark. The Raiders led the Patriot League in 2002 in total offense, averaging 392.5
yards per game, including 215.0 yards per game passing. In 1999 Colgate won the Patriot League title and competed in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. As a graduate
assistant at West Virginia for two seasons, West worked with the defense as the Mountaineers participated in the Carquest and Insight.com bowls.
West played football at Kecoughtan High School under current Virginia Tech assistant coach Curt Newsome. He earned his bachelor's degree in computer information systems from Livingstone College, and his master's in physical education from West Virginia while working as a graduate assistant coach. West was an all-CIAA wide receiver at Livingstone. He has a son, Justin (15), and a daughter, Jada (13).
West joins offensive coordinator
Brian Scott and defensive coordinator
Andy Rondeau who were added to the staff on March 6th.
West will be available for media interviews today at 1 p.m. in the ODU
Sports Information Office.
