It didn’t take long for Ruffin McNeill to find a new gig.
Less than a week after McNeill was abruptly fired as head coach at East Carolina, he was announced as a part of Bronco Mendenhall’s new staff at Virginia. According to a release from the program, McNeill will serve as assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach for the Cavaliers.
In five years as East Carolina head coach, McNeill had a 42-34 record. In 2013, McNeill led the Pirates to their first 10-win season since 1991. ECU went 5-7 this season.
Additionally, Mendenhall, who left BYU to take the head job at UVA, announced that six members of his BYU staff – Robert Anae (offensive coordinator), Mark Atuaia (running backs coach), Jason Beck (quarterbacks), Garett Tujague (offensive line), Nick Howell (secondary) and Kelly Poppinga (special teams/outside linebackers) – will join him with the Cavaliers.
Mendenhall also decided to retain wide receivers coach Marques Hagans from the previous Virginia staff.
“The staff I have assembled to coach our team at Virginia represents the qualities that will help us be successful and work towards achieving our goals,” Mendenhall said. “As a group, these coaches bring great personal diversity and backgrounds, are experienced teachers and they have a remarkable history of success during their careers. My selection principles were to find coaches who display fanatical effort, are fiercely competitive and compassionate teachers, are dynamic developers of young men and who possess amazing professional competence.
“The opportunity to bring six of my current staff members from BYU is very important. It provides the continuity that is critical for this coaching transition and it demonstrates how vested these coaches are in the plan we have for the Virginia program. I look forward to announcing the final staff member in the near future and to working with this group of coaches after we complete the task at hand at BYU.”
Mendenhall and the rest of his BYU staff will stay on with the Cougars through their Dec. 19 bowl game against Utah.
For more Virginia news, visit CavsCorner.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
