Carr to coach UT receivers

3/16/2005

University of Toledo football coach Tom Amstutz should fill the final vacancy on his staff this week, just before the start of spring football practice on Saturday. Jon Carr, the former offensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois, is expected to join the Rockets as wide receivers coach.

Carr fills the position formerly held by John Shannon, who was promoted to offensive coordinator after Rob Spence left UT to take the same job with Clemson. Spence had been UT's offensive coordinator for the past four seasons.

Carr was a college quarterback at Southeast Missouri from 1987-89, and played under then assistant coach Jon Gruden, who went on to win a Super Bowl as head coach of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carr later graduated from Purdue with a degree in law and society.

Carr, who was the offensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois for the past two seasons, had the second-highest scoring offense in the Ohio Valley Conference last year at 26.5 points per game.

Before going to Eastern Illinois, Carr was the offensive coordinator at Tennessee State. In the 2001 season, he led the third-most productive passing attack in Division I-AA (302 yards per game), and his offense accounted for more than 35 points per game.

Carr spent six seasons at Tennessee State, also working with the tight ends, wide receivers and quarterbacks. While at Eastern Illinois, Carr, a Chicago native, was responsible for recruiting the Chicago area and junior colleges.

ATLANTA - With coach Chan Gailey still recovering from a heart attack, Georgia Tech's football team went ahead with its first full-pad practice of the spring yesterday.

The school received a waiver from the NCAA to postpone this week's workouts, but Gailey decided to keep his team on its regular schedule.

Assistant head coach Buddy Geis oversaw the two-hour practice, while coordinators Jon Tenuta and Patrick Nix ran the defense and offense, respectively.

Gailey, who had a heart attack Monday while playing racquetball, underwent an angioplasty to clear an artery that was totally blocked. He was moved out of intensive care on Tuesday and is expected to be released from Piedmont Hospital on Thursday or Friday.