Toledo hires three new coaches for upcoming season

On Monday, Toledo Head Football Coach Tim Beckman announced the addition of Louis Ayeni, Scott "Izzy" Isphording and Glen Elarbee to the Rockets' football staff.

"We are very fortunate to have Izzy, Louis and Glen join the Rocket family," Beckman said. "They are all great family men, great teachers and individuals who know what it takes to build a championship football program."

Ayeni, who played at Northwestern from 1999-2003 and served as a graduate assistant for the Wildcats during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, will serve as the running backs coach for the Rockets. This will move Alex Golesh—who was in charge of the running backs for Toledo last year—to tight ends coach. Golesh will also remain as the recruiting coordinator for the Rockets.

"I got to know Lou in December when I went to Northwestern to watch them practice and prepare for their bowl game," Beckman said. "He's an outstanding young man who has a great background in running the kind of offense we want to run."

Ayeni began his playing career as a running back at Northwestern until he switched to the safety position for his senior season. In 2003 and 2004 he was the team captain, and also served as a team representative from 2002-04 for the Student-Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC). Prior to his stint as a graduate assistant for the Wildcats, Ayeni was the varsity track and field coach and defensive backs coach for his alma mater of Woodbury High School in Woodbury, Minn. from 2006-08. Ayeni also brings NFL experience to Toledo, having played for Tony Dungy and the Indianapolis Colts in the 2004 season and Mike Martz and the St. Louis Rams the following year.

Isphording is the new quarterbacks coach for the Rockets. He spent last season as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator at Ohio. The Cincinnati native previously held the position of offensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan in the 2007 and 2008 seasons where he helped the Eagles rack up a school-record 5,010 total yards of offense in 2008. Eastern Michigan's offense also led the Mid-American Conference in time of possession (32:48), redzone touchdown efficiency (73.6 percent) and redzone efficiency (88.7 percent) that season.

"I recruited and coached against Izzy when he was at Eastern Michigan," Beckman said. "He has coordinator experience and is a great recruiter. He will be a great asset to our quarterbacks."

Before holding the position of offensive coordinator for the Eagles, Isphording was the team's quarterbacks coach from 2004-06 and also served as Eastern Michigan's recruiting coordinator from 2004-07. From 1998-2004, Isphording was at Wittenberg where he held the positions of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach (1998-03) and assistant head coach (2001-04). The Tigers went 63-9 and won four North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) titles while he was the offensive coordinator.

Isphording's coaching career started 16 years ago when he coached the quarterbacks at Fort Hays State from 1994-95, followed by a stint at the Colorado School of Mines as the quarterbacks and receivers coach (1996-97).

Elarbee joins the Rockets' program as the new director of football operations after spending the last two seasons as the offensive graduate assistant for Oklahoma State where he was part of the Cowboys staff with Beckman. Elarbee spent the 2007 season at Louisiana State University, where he worked with the offense on the 2008 National Championship team.

"Glen has an outstanding background in coaching at a national championship program in LSU, as well as at Oklahoma State, where they went to two bowl games," Beckman said. "He knows what goes into making a football program successful. He will do a great job as our director of football operations."

Elarbee played football at Middle Tennessee State University, where he was All-Conference in his junior and senior seasons and was part of the 2001 Sun Belt Conference Championship team. After graduating from MTSU in 2002, Elarbee served as a graduate assistant with the team for two years then left to coach the offensive line at Texas A&M-Commerce in the spring of 2005. He returned to the Blue Raiders in June of that same year as the offensive line coach before heading to East Central Community College in Decatur, Miss. to become the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.