Cogmon lands coaching position at Tennessee State University, Josh Geiger will follow

Posted Feb 11, 2010 by Eddie Daniels

Updated Feb 11, 2010 at 04:38 PM

Former Zephyrhills and Leto head coach Jerrell Cogmon will take his wares to Nashville’s Tennessee State University where he will coach defensive ends for the Tigers.

This transition comes two months after his last coaching gig. Cogmon was selected to coach linebackers at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D., which ran from August 2009 until December 2009.

Prior to that, Cogmon spent four months as the coach of Zephyrhills, where he replaced Tom Fisher. He was hired in April, but in August, following an internal investigation by Zephyrhills concerning recruiting, Cogmon was fired. He has maintained his innocence in the matter.

“It’s extremely exciting and gratifying to be able to move so fast and being respected for the work you’ve done with kids and their development,” said Cogmon, who will travel to Nashville Sunday and start work Monday. “So from that standpoint, it feels pretty good. It’s an exciting challenge all together.”

Additionally, Zephyrhills defensive back Josh Geiger will have preferred walk on status with TSU. Geiger collected 51 tackles, eight passes defended, two fumble recoveries and a blocked punt.

“Josh was a kid that I thought was a Division I-type athlete when I was the head football coach there,” Cogmon said. “We were working real hard to get him into position to be able to earn that.”

Tennessee State head coach Rod Reed was an assistant at Bethune-Cookman when Cogmon played linebacker for the Wildcats. Cogmon said that relationship was just a starting point of reference with Reed and not the deciding factor in his hire.

“He compared and contrasted my work as a coach – I’ve sent kids to Tennessee State in the past, Crosby Baptiste from Leto – and compared my body of work to other candidates,” Cogmon said. “I think the biggest thing, from what he told me, that gave me a bigger advantage was that I had my master’s degree.”

Cogmon and Geiger join a Tigers squad that went 4-7 and was outscored 208 to 161.

Prior to Zephyrhills, Cogmon was the head coach at Leto (2003 and 2004) before resigning in January 2005. In two seasons, the Falcons went 1-9 and 3-7 after the school was 4-26 in three previous seasons.

Cogmon, who holds a master’s degree in educational leadership, served as an assistant coach at Tampa Bay Tech for five seasons before becoming the defensive coordinator and special education teacher at Freedom in 2002-03.