Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter has completed his first Bulldogs' staff, formally announcing Friday the hiring of three assistants and taking a bite out of a conference rival in the process.
Joe Wade, the Bulldogs' running backs coach the past three seasons, has been retained. Ron Antoine will coach the outside receivers and Cameron Norcross the offensive line.
Antoine was at South Alabama and Norcross at Nevada, which along with Fresno State is moving next season to the Mountain West Conference.
"That's not lost on us. Gaining Cameron put a little nick in one of our opponents. But it wasn't so much nicking somebody else as it was having the opportunity to get Cameron Norcross," DeRuyter said.
"His body of work speaks for itself. He's a guy that, because of his grit and character, kids love playing for him. You turn on that film and you see what they've done in the run game ... We're going to be balanced on offense and I feel really good about how we're going to do run game-wise because we're going to create some big holes and it doesn't take much for Robbie [Rouse] to get through those.
"He's a big-time addition to this staff. He had a lot of ties to Nevada, being a graduate from there and playing for Coach [Chris] Ault, but I think he was really excited about the vision we have and the potential we have here at Fresno State that he wanted to be a part of this thing."
All three coaches, DeRuyter said, have a passion for coaching and the edge that he was looking for in assembling his staff. Hired earlier were Dave Schramm as offensive coordinator, Nick Toth as defensive coordinator, Tim McDonald as secondary coach, Pete Germano as defensive line coach and special teams coordinator, Phil Earley as offensive assistant and recruiting coordinator, and Jordan Peterson as an assistant defensive backs coach.
Antoine worked with DeRuyter and Earley at Ohio as a graduate assistant and from 2001-04 as receivers coach and pass game coordinator. He played at Colorado State in the Mountain West and for the past two seasons was receivers coach at South Alabama.
Norcross and DeRuyter were on the staff at Nevada in 2005 and '06, when the Wolf Pack went 17-8 and in 2005 shared the WAC championship. He had been at Nevada the past 11 years, starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant and working his way up to tight ends and co-offensive line coach to offensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Jumping to a rival he played against and coached against wasn't that difficult, he said.
"The biggest reason is Coach DeRuyter and his vision of Fresno State athletics and Fresno State football," Norcross said. "I've been coaching against Fresno State for a long time and I see the energy that this area, the Valley, has for Fresno State football and it's something I couldn't pass up when Coach DeRuyter offered me the opportunity."
DeRuyter interviewed all of the assistants that worked under former coach Pat Hill, who was fired Dec. 4 after a 4-9 season. Wade, who has helped develop two of the top running backs in school history, was the only one retained.
"You look at the body of work that Coach Wade had, what he did with Ryan Mathews, what he's done with Robbie [Rouse] and the other running backs, he's got a toughness and a grit to him. He's an outstanding recruiter and so to be able to keep him on staff I think was a big plus for us," DeRuyter said.
The reporter can be reached at rkuwada@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6400. Read his blog at fresnobeehive.com/sports buzz.
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