FIU football team building a coaching staff with some strong credentials

An offensive coordinator who has coached five quarterbacks that went on to play in the NFL, including two first-rounders over the past two drafts …

A special teams coordinator at Virginia who had the nation’s No. 1 kickoff-return man in the nation in 2019 …

An offensive line coach and running-game coordinator at Nebraska who also played the position for the Cornhuskers …

Those three coaches – David Yost, Ricky Brumfield and Greg Austin, respectively, are all expected to be announced soon as part of football coach Mike MacIntyre’s first FIU staff.

The FIU boss is also expected to hire his son, Jay MacIntyre, to coach wide receivers. Jay MacIntyre helped Tennessee-Martin to a 10-3 record this past season, coaching its wide receivers.

In addition to hiring a staff, Mike MacIntyre – who was hired on Dec. 9 -- has been so busy that he hasn’t even found a place to live. At the moment, he is living in the FIU dorms.

Most of his first month as FIU’s coach, however, has been spent on the road, recruiting new players while also visiting with the athletes already on the roster.

All of that is in addition to hiring a staff, meeting with boosters and watching game tape of FIU’s 2021 season and also individual highlights of the returning talent.

Here’s a closer look at the four coaches FIU is expected to hire:

▪ Yost, whose last stop was Texas Tech, was out of coaching in 2021. Prior to that, he coached future NFL quarterbacks such as Brad Smith, Chase Daniel and Blaine Gabbert at Missouri; Justin Herbert at Oregon; and Jordan Love at Utah State. Yost has nearly 25 years of collegiate coaching experience, including a decade as an offensive/passing-game coordinator at the elite levels of the game. In 2018, he was the offensive coordinator when Utah State ranked second in the nation in scoring (47.5 points per game).

Yost also helped Smith become the first collegiate player with at least 8,000 passing yards and 4,000 running yards. Yost helped Daniel become a Heisman finalist with an offense that averaged 42.2 points.

▪ Brumfield, who will also serve as assistant head coach, spent the past four years coaching special teams at Virginia. He also coached Cavaliers tight ends and then cornerbacks.

Although he has 21 years of collegiate coaching experience, one of Brumfield’s best seasons came in 2019, when Virginia reached the Orange Bowl as ACC Coastal Division champions. Virginia’s Jake Reed led the nation in kickoff-return average that season (33.2).

▪ Austin, who has two Master’s degrees, made 18 starts at Nebraska, earning honorable mention All-Big 12 as a senior guard. He spent three years at Oregon as an intern and then graduate assistant; three years as an assistant offensive line coach in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles; two years as UCF’s o-line coach; and the past four years at Nebraska. Oregon went 36-4 during his time there. The Eagles won an NFC East title and Lesean McCoy led the NFL in rushing while Austin was there, and UCF went 13-0 during his stay in Orlando.

▪ Mike MacIntyre coached his son Jay at Colorado, but this will be the first time they are together on the same staff. Jay MacIntyre was a team captain at Colorado, making 86 catches for 1,035 yards in his career. He now gets to coach FIU’s top player, wide receiver Tyrese Chambers.