Bowling Green State University Athletics
Meyer Completes Coaching Staff
January 10, 2001 | Football
Jan. 10, 2001
Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green State University football coach Urban Meyer has finalized his coaching staff for the 2001 season with the addition of offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon and special teams coordinator/running backs coach Stan Drayton. The following are complete bios and staff assignments for next year.
Tim Banks, Cornerbacks
Banks will enter his third season with the Falcons. Last year, his first as secondary coach, his youthful squad, tripled the team's interception total from the previous year. In 1999, he served as running backs coach tutoring current Falcons Joe Alls, Godfrey Lewis and John Gibson. Banks started his coaching career at Bowling Green in 1996 as a graduate assistant coach for the defensive staff. After his assistantship, Banks joined Jeff Pierce's staff at Ferris State. He spent the 1997 and 1998 seasons as the secondary coach for the Bulldogs. The Detroit, Mich. native earned four letters (1991-94) at Central Michigan, earning second-team All-Mid-American Conference honors his last two seasons. He led the Chippewas in tackles his junior season with 106 stops before recording 91 tackles as a senior. For his career, he was credited with 205 tackles and a pair of interceptions. He earned his undergraduate degree in industrial supervision and management from CMU in 1994. He and his wife, Robin, have been married for six years.
Tim Beckman, Defensive Coordinator/Safeties
Beckman, 35, joined the program in March, 1998, as the coach of the secondary, but he took over in 1999 as the defensive coordinator while also remaining the recruiting coordinator. He was responsible for guiding a defense which finished fourth in the conference in total defense and rushing defense, and second in sacks in 2000. Prior to his appointment at BGSU, the Berea, Ohio native spent two seasons at Elon College in North Carolina as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. The previous six years he was the secondary coach and recruiting coordinator at Western Carolina. While at Western Carolina, he helped in the development of Willie Williams, who was a sixth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers and led the AFC in interceptions in 1995. The Catamounts finished second in the Southern Conference in both 1992 and 1993. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Auburn in 1988 and 1989. In his two years there, the Tigers earned back-to-back top-10 national rankings and bowl berths as Southeastern Conference champions. He assisted with the defensive backs at Auburn while earning his master's degree in education. A 1988 graduate of the University of Findlay, Beckman majored in physical education and lettered in 1984 and 1985 on Oiler teams which qualified for the NAIA national playoffs both seasons. He attended Forest Park High School in Beaumont, Texas for two years before completing high school at Berea High School. He and his wife, Kimberly, have three children, Tyler, 9, Lindsay, 7, and Patrick, 3. His father, Dave, coached on the collegiate level and served as head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League for one season. He also worked for the Cleveland Browns and the San Diego Chargers in the NFL.
Gregg Brandon, Off. Coord/Wide Receivers
Brandon joins the Falcons after spending the past two seasons at Colorado, where he was the team's passing game and recruiting coordinator, last season. He coached the receivers and kickoff return unit as well as coordinated recruiting in his first season in Boulder in 1999. He was named passing game coordinator prior to spring practice in 2000, assuming those duties and handed over the recruiting organizational chores to the coordinator of football operations. Brandon, 44, played football for Barnett at Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs, and stayed in close touch with him throughout the years. When Barnett was hired as head coach at Northwestern in 1992, he joined the Wildcat staff as receivers coach. He was also Northwestern's recruiting coordinator for his last two seasons there (1997-98). In his seven seasons at Northwestern, Brandon assembled an extremely talented group of receivers, including D'Wayne Bates, the second all-time leading receiver in Big Ten history. Bates was a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award and an All-America candidate. Brandon played collegiately as both a defensive back and wide receiver at Mesa State (1974) and Northern Colorado (1975-77). He graduated from UNC in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in education, and began his coaching career that fall as head football coach at Ellicott (Colo.) High School. He spent three seasons there (1978-80) before joining the college ranks at Weber State, where he would coach the next six seasons (1981-86). He coached the tight ends and special teams in his first four seasons, the linebackers in his fifth year and the receivers and tight ends during his final year in Ogden. He was then named receivers coach at Wyoming, where he would work the next four years (1987-90). During his tenure with head coach Paul Roach, the Cowboys posted a 35-15 record, including a 16-0 run in Western Athletic Conference play in 1987 and 1988, and played in three bowls ('87 and '88 Holiday and '90 Copper). In 1991, he returned to Utah where he coached the linebackers for one season (1991) at Utah State. He was born Feb. 29, 1956 in Tucson, and is married to the former Robyn Mitchell. They are the parents of two sons, Nicholas (16) and Timothy (8).
John Bowers, Linebackers/Recruiting Coord.
Bowers is a 20-year veteran of the coaching profession. He comes to BGSU from Stow High School where he served as defensive coordinator the last two years. Bowers has experience in the MAC serving on staffs at Eastern Michigan (1998 and 1993-94) and Kent State (1997) where he was the defensive coordinator. In 1996 at Eastern Illinois, Bowers helped direct a defense that ranked 11th in the nation overall and seventh against the rush. The Panthers had a two-year record of 18-6 and the 1995 squad won the Gateway Conference championship. He began his coaching career at James Madison as a football graduate assistant coach from 1979-80. Bowers became an assistant football coach at Washington & Lee for one season, 1981, and then spent two years as an assistant at Shepherd. Bowers moved on to Austin Peay as an assistant coach from 1984-87 before joining Illinois State as assistant from 1988-92. A native of Hagerstown, Maryland, Bowers graduated from JMU in 1979 after competing in football and baseball. He was the football team's offensive most valuable player and captain twice, in both 1977 and 1978 and also earned his master's degree in education in 1980. He and his wife, Joanne have two sons David (17) and Ross (4).
Stan Drayton, Special Teams Coord./RB's
Drayton joins the Falcons after coaching the Villanova running backs and serving as their special teams coordinator during his five-year tenure. During the 1998 season, Drayton guided sophomore Brian Westbrook to one of the most successful seasons in college football history. Besides setting a I-AA record for all-purpose yards in a season with 3,026, Westbrook became the first player in the history of collegiate football at any level to rush for 1,000 yards and receive for 1,000 yards in the same season. For his efforts, Westbrook earned first team All-American distinction. In his first season on the Main Line in 1996, Drayton helped Curtis Sifford become the first Villanova running back to gain 1,000 yards in a season. Drayton came to Villanova from the University of Pennsylvania where he assisted with the running backs and was the Director of Football Operations. Before his stop at Pennsylvania, Drayton was a graduate assistant coach working withrunning backs and wide receivers at Eastern Michigan University (1994-95). Drayton began his coaching career in 1993 at his alma mater, Allegheny College. He is a 1993 graduate of Allegheny College where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in English. As a three-year starter at running back, Drayton was a three-time first team All-American selection and an Associated Press little All-American first team member. He currently holds the NCAA Division III record for touchdowns per game in a season (3.2). A member of the 1990 Division III National Championship team, Drayton is Allegheny's all-time leading rusher and scorer. He also was a two-time All-American in track & field excelling in the 100 and 200 meters. Born March 11, 1971, Drayton and his wife, Monique, are natives of Cleveland and Detroit.
John Hevesy, OL/Tackles and Tight Ends
Hevesy joins the Falcons after spending three years as offensive line coach at Brown and one at Syracuse. Hevesy's 1999 Ivy League Championship offensive line blocked for 3,262 passing yards and four school records. In 1998, Hevesy's offensive line blocked for nine school records, including a record 3,316 passing yards. He coached three All-Ivy players each season. In 1997, Hevesy served as a graduate assistant coach at Syracuse, working with the Big East Champions' offensive line. A native of Madison, Connecticut, Hevesy attended Daniel Hand High School. He went on to be a four-year offensive lineman for the University of Maine Black Bears, graduating in 1994. He went on to serve as an assistant coach at Trinity College from 1994-95 before joining the Brown coaching staff. He and his wife Kelli were married in December.
Dan Mullen, Quarterbacks
Mullen joins the Bowling Green staff after completing his second year as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame. Mullen worked on all facets of the offensive side of the ball. Mullen also had been a graduate assistant at Syracuse. The Orangemen won the Big East title and played in the Orange Bowl that year. Mullen spent the 1996 and 1997 season as the wide receiver coach at Columbia and spent the 1994-95 seasons as the wide receiver coach at Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y. He is a 1994 graduate of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., with a degree in exercise and sport science. He was a two-year starter at tight end for the school. Mullen earned first team all-Centennial Conference honors as a senior. He earned a graduate degree from Wagner in education in 1996 and was working on his master's of science in physical education at Syracuse. Born April 27, 1972, he is a native of Manchester, N.H.
Greg Studrawa, OL/Guards and Centers
A former starter at left tackle for the Falcons, Greg Studrawa returns home after spending three seasons as offensive line coach at Arkansas State. He also was an offensive line coach at Cincinnati for two years (1989 and 1990) and was the offensive coordinator at Wilmington from 1991-96. He served as a graduate assistant at Ohio State in 1997. A native of Fostoria, he is a graduate of St. Wendelin High School and was a first team All-Ohio pick as a senior. During his career at BGSU, he started two seasons at left tackle. Born November 3, 1964, Studrawa and his wife Cindy have three children Samantha (10), Katelin (7) and Allison (4).
Mike Ward, Defensive Line
Ward starts his second year as the defensive line coach after having spent the last eight years as the strength and conditioning coach and director of the BGSU Athletic Fitness Center at Bowling Green, located on the west side of Doyt Perry Stadium, and the weight room located in Memorial Hall. In his first year with the group, he saw nose guard Brandon Hicks earn first-team All-MAC honors after he finished among the MAC leaders in sacks. Ward, known for his enthusiastic approach and motivational techniques, worked with all 22 intercollegiate teams at BGSU. Ward, a native of Mansfield, Ohio, was an assistant football coach at the University of Findlay for six years prior to coming to BGSU. He served as the defensive line coach and the strength and conditioning coordinator for the Oilers before leaving in 1992. Prior to that, he was an assistant football coach and strength coach at his alma mater, Georgetown College, for two years. Ward earned a degree in health and physical education from Georgetown College in 1984. He also earned a graduate degree in secondary education from Georgetown The Lexington High School graduate received second-team NAIA Division I All-America football honors as an offensive guard in 1983. Ward is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He was twice named as the NSCA Professional of the Year by his colleagues in the Mid-American Conference. Ward and his wife, Jody, have one child, Michaela, 3.
