Eagles Add Five Grid Coaches
March 5, 2004

Ashland University head football coach Lee Owens has spent most of the last two months recruiting student-athletes. In that role, Owens had to learn a lot of new names and faces.

That wasn’t the case this week when the new AU grid boss finalized his coaching staff. This week Owens announced the addition of five assistant coaches. All five have worked with Owens in the past. His association with many of the assistants runs deep, all the way back to Owens’ days on the high school level.

Greg Gillum will serve as AU’s recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach. Tom Stacy will work as the offensive coordinator and Jim Meyer has been hired as the defensive coordinator. Doug Geiser will tutor the offensive line and graduate assistant coach Pat Fuller will instruct the tight ends.

Information on the new assistants can be found below.

Greg Gillum – Gillum spent nine seasons as the recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach under Owens at the University of Akron. His association with the AU head coach dates to the mid-1980s and Galion High School’s Division II state championship team.

As the recruiting coordinator with Akron, Gillum helped attract student-athletes from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, Georgia, Oklahoma and Canada. The 2001 Akron recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the Mid-American Conference by RIVALS.com.

Gillum spent 12 years as a high school coach. He was the head coach at Brush High School from 1992-94. From 1983-91, Gillum worked as an assistant under Owens at Galion, Lancaster and Massillon Washington. He was the defensive coordinator at Massillon and later moved up to assistant head coach. Gillum was also the head baseball coach at Galion.

Gillum is originally from Plymouth, OH. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ohio State in 1983 and his master’s degree in educational administration from Dayton in 1990. Gillum and his wife, Jody, have two sons, Tyler (10) and Tanner (8) and a daughter, Myriah (6).

Tom Stacy – Stacy worked with Owens at Akron, serving as the Zips’ quarterbacks coach. The new AU assistant spent nine years in Akron. His association with Owens goes back to the 1980s and Galion High School. Prior to joining the staff at Akron, he was the head coach at Shelby High School (1991-94).

Stacy was Owens’ offensive coordinator at Galion (1983-86), Lancaster (1987) and Massillon Washington (1988-90). At Akron, he worked with quarterback Charlie Frye, who rewrote the Akron record book.

While coaching at Shelby, Stacy guided the Whippets to league championship games in 1993 and 1994. He also worked with the Galion state championship team in 1985. In 14 years at the prep level, Stacy-coached teams enjoyed 11 winning seasons.

Stacy is a 1981 Bowling Green graduate. He was a four-year varsity baseball player at Bowling Green. In high school at Tiffin Columbian (OH) he was a quarterback and defensive back.

Stacy and his wife, Shannon, have four children – Sarah (21), Brian (18), Kevin (16) and Kristen (13).

Jim Meyer – It will be Meyer’s responsibility to direct the Eagle defense. For the past two years, he was the defensive ends coach at Akron. Like the the rest of the AU staff, he brings a wide range of experience as both a college and high school football coach.

Before coaching with Zips the past two years, Meyer was the athletic director and head football coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary. His 1998 team had the school’s first winning season in nine years and the next year qualified for the state playoffs.

Meyer was part of Owens’ original coaching staff at Akron. He was the defensive line coach in 1995 and 1996 and one of his pupils was Jason Taylor, who has gone on to become one of the NFL’s top defensive players.

Prior to that first coaching stint at Akron, Meyer was the head coach at Kenyon from 1989-94. During his time at Kenyon he led the Lords to a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference championship in 1989. He was honored as the conference’s coach of the year.

Meyer’s background includes stops as the defensive coordinator at Bethany College (1982-86) and at Akron Central-Hower High School.

Meyer was a captain and the starting middle guard on the 1976 University of Akron team that was the NCAA Division II runnerup. He got his start in coaching working at Akron under head coach Jim Dennison in 1977 and 1978.

Meyer and his wife, Kathy, have two sons – Jay (20) and Chris (17).

Doug Geiser – Geiser spent nine seasons working at Akron. A 1992 Cornell graduate, he was the tight ends coach and video coordinator with the Zips. During his tenure at Akron he also served as the graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach for two years.

Before he joined the Akron program, Geiser spent three seasons (1992-94) assisting Gillum at Brush High School. At Brush, Geiser was Gillum’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

Geiser’s background includes a stop at Liberty-Benton High School (OH) where he was the defensive coordinator and offensive line coach. One season before that he was the linbackers coach at his alma mater – Triway High School (OH).

At Cornell, Geiser was a Dean’s List student and played under former NFL star Maxie Baughan. Geiser, who earned his bachelor’s degree in government, played on the 1988 Big Red team that claimed the Ivy League championship.

Geiser and his wife, Amy, are the parents of three-year old twin girls – Abigail and Rebecca.

Pat Fuller – Fuller will be Ashland’s tight ends coach. A year ago Fuller was a volunteer graduate assistant coach at Akron. From 1999-2002 he was a student manager at Ohio State and in 1998, he was an assistant football coach at Welty Middle School in New Philadelphia, OH.

Fuller is a 2002 graduate of The Ohio State University. He’s enrolled in Ashland University’s graduate program.

These five join one other full-time assistant coach – Steve Clinkscale. Clinkscale is AU’s secondary coach. This is Clinkscale’s third season on the coaching staff. He’s a 2000 AU graduate.