MTSU football announced new roster hires on the offensive side of the ball for the 2026 season.
Head coach Derek Mason brought Al Poree and Ross Jenkins to the staff to coach running backs and tight ends, respectively.
“These changes were made with one purpose in mind — to make Middle Tennessee football better and get us competing for championships,” Mason said in a press release. “We evaluated every area of our operation, and I’m confident these adjustments put us in a stronger position moving forward.”
Poree has a wealth of coaching experience across North America, having spent the last two years coaching in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Elks.
Before coaching for the Elks, the former Georgia Tech defensive back coached running backs at Southeastern Louisiana along with stops interning in the National Football League.
Poree’s running back room helped Southeastern win the 2022 Southland Conference Championship. While at Southeastern, the Lions ranked top 10 nationally in offense, third and fourth down conversions and red zone offense in 2020.
Jenkins is another Southeastern Louisiana product having coached for the Lions since 2018. In his eight years at SLU, Jenkins rose to being an assistant head coach after spending time as the special team’s coordinator and tight ends coach.
Jenkins spent his playing career at Louisiana Tech from 2006-2010 as the Bulldogs quarterback. Though La Tech and MTSU face regularly in Conference USA, Jenkins never ran into the Blue Raiders as the Bulldogs’ signal caller.
With the new editions to the staff, Mason moved multiple coaches into new roles. Calvin Lowry, the former running backs coach, is now in charge of outside receivers. Joe Ganz, former Nebraska quarterback, is now the MTSU quarterback coach after spending two years with the tight end group.
Mason has made 11 other changes within the coaching department and support staff to go along with the new hires, including hiring Anthony Scelfo as the new offensive coordinator who was another Southeastern Louisiana coach before MTSU.
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