Sam Houston Hires NC State Assistant As New Defensive Coordinator

G5 Football Daily Staff | Feb 11, 2025

Dec 19, 2024; New Orleans, LA, USA; Dtailed view of a Sam Houston State Bearkats helmet against the Georgia Southern Eagles during the first half at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

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Sam Houston State football has announced the first hires for head coach Phil Longo in his debut season with the Bearkats program.

On Monday afternoon, a trio of defensive coaches joined the staff as Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay will serve as defensive coordinator, Gary McGraw leads the cornerback room and Isaac Mooring takes over as defensive ends coach.

Aughtry-Lindsay comes to Sam Houston after five years on staff at his alma mater, NC State.

He coached the nickels each season with the Wolfpack and served as the team's interim defensive coordinator for the 2024 Military Bowl. Aughtry-Lindsay played linebacker at NCSU from 2001-04.

This will mark the third time he and Longo have served together on the same coaching staff, first in 2011 when Aughtry-Lindsay served as linebackers coach at Slippery Rock. The pair later found themselves on staff together once again in 2018 at Ole Miss.

McGraw returns to Huntsville after coaching cornerbacks at Tulsa and Southern Illinois in the past three seasons.

In his first stint with the Bearkats in 2016, McGraw helped develop former FCS All-American Zyon McCollum who was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

McGraw was also on staff during the program's 2021 FCS National Championship run.

Mooring joins the Bearkat coaching staff after most recently serving as a defensive analyst at Texas in 2024, which came after four seasons as the defensive line coach at HCU.

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