VILLANOVA, Pa. - First-year head coach Mark Ferrante announced several additions to the football staff for the 2017 season on Wednesday afternoon. In filling a number of vacancies on the coaching staff, Ferrante noted the exceptional quality of the candidates that the Villanova program is able to attract. Joining the staff are Brian Jones as running backs coach, Sean Devine as the offensive line coach, Ross Pennypacker as defensive line coach, and Brian Tracz as the strength and conditioning coach.

"It is impressive that we attracted such a high quality pool of candidates to fill the full-time positions on our coaching staff," Ferrante said. "We were able to bring in two coaches who have coordinator experience, as well as a 20-year veteran of the FBS ranks. I am excited to bring Brian Jones and Ross Pennypacker back to Villanova, as well as to welcome someone like Sean Devine who has previous CAA Football experience. Along with our new strength and conditioning coach Brian Tracz, I couldn't be more pleased with how these hires came together."

Below are additional details on the new hires to the Wildcats staff.

Brian Jones (CONNECTICUT '83) - RUNNING BACKS COACH
Jones has plenty of history at Villanova, where he was an original member of Andy Talley's coaching staff when Talley began to rebuild the Wildcats program in 1984. Jones was on Talley's staff for the 1985 and 1986 seasons, and has since amassed more than two decades of experience working with running backs at the FBS level. He coached for 20 years with Gary Pinkel, first at Toledo and then at Missouri where he spent 16 seasons. Jones most recently spent one year as an assistant coach at Central Methodist College in Fayette, Mo.

"Brian has more than 15 years of experience with running backs at a Big 12 and SEC program in Missouri," Ferrante said. "He was an original member of Coach Talley's staff here, and his wife and mother-in-law also have close ties to Villanova. I have am extremely excited to bring someone with his level of experience back into our program."

At the end of his first Villanova coaching stint, Jones was actually replaced by Ferrante when he joined Talley's staff as an assistant coach in 1987. Jones went on to make coaching stops at Davidson, Lafayette and Massachusetts before getting connected with Pinkel at the FBS level. Jones helped to produce a run game at Missouri which produced a 1,000-yard rusher seven times in a 10-year span from 2005-14. Among the recent top players he coached are Marcus Murphy, who was a first team All-SEC all-purpose back in 2014. Missouri also ranked 16th in rushing with an average of 237.4 yards per game during the 2013 season.

Sean Devine (COLBY '94) - OFFENSIVE LINE COACH
Devine comes to Villanova after spending the past four years at Delaware as the offensive coordinator, where he also worked with the Blue Hens offensive line. Devine is very familiar with CAA Football from his time at Delaware and a previous 14-year stint as an assistant coach at New Hampshire. He also gained four years of FBS coaching experience at Boston College. Devine is a 1984 graduate of Colby, where he was a college teammate of Villanova Director of Athletics Mark Jackson.

"I have gotten to know Sean as a competitor in the CAA Football coaching ranks, and also had opportunities to meet him on the recruiting trail," Ferrante said "Sean has a meticulous approach to the game when it comes to details and technique. That is evident in the work ethic of his players, and he also made that impression on me when we would bump into each other over the years."

Devine joined the Delaware coaching staff prior to the 2013 season, and during his first year on the staff he guided one of the top CAA Football offenses. Delaware ranked in the top half of nearly every statistical category in 2013, including finishing the year second in scoring offense (32.8 points per game), third in passing offense (240.0 yards per game) and third in fewest sacks allowed (18). He placed two offensive linemen - tackle Ben Curtis and guard JD Dzurko - on the All-CAA team in 2014. Curtis went on to earn All-America honors in 2015, when Delaware ranked second in the CAA in both rushing offense (219.4 yards per game) and time of possession per game (33:04).

Ross Pennypacker (MILLERSVILLE '05) - DEFENSIVE LINE COACH
This is the second stint at Villanova for Pennypacker, who was a graduate assistant and assistant coach for the Wildcats from 2006-07. He also spent two seasons at Cornell (2008-09) and three years at Bucknell (2010-12) at the FCS level, while he was most recently the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Kutztown for the past four seasons.

"I am excited to have Ross back in the area and on our coaching staff," Ferrante said. "His dad Rick is the legendary coach at Pottsgrove High School, and the field there is also named for him. Ross himself is a Spring-Ford grad and played collegiately at Millersville. He is familiar with Villanova from his earlier stint here, and he knows the type of quality student-athletes that we are able to attract and recruit here."

During his time as the defensive coordinator at Kutztown, the Bears had 15 defensive players earn All-PSAC honors. Pennypacker's defenses tallied three shutouts and ranked in the top half of the PSAC in rushing defense and turnover margin. Kutztown led the PSAC in red zone defense in 2014 and ranked in the top three in the league in total defense and turnover margin. Perhaps even more impressively, the Bears were 15-1 during Pennypacker's time on staff when the defense held opponents to fewer than 24 points.

Brian Tracz (FORDHAM '08) - STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH
Tracz comes to Villanova from Wagner, where he had been the Assistant Athletic Director for Athlete Performance since 2014. In that role, he oversaw the day-to-day supervision of a five-person staff in support of Wagner's 20-sport athletics program. He also served as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Seahawks football program.

"Brian is another local product who comes back home in joining our staff," Ferrante said. He attended St. Joseph's Prep and then played at Indiana before finishing his collegiate career at Fordham. Brian is a high-energy and disciplined strength and conditioning coach. In talking with people about him, all the feedback we received is that during his time at Wagner he was the best they had ever had in his role as the Assistant Athletic Director for Athlete Performance."

Tracz spent one year on the strength staff at Elon before going to Wagner. His previous experience includes being the director of human performance at New Mexico Military Institute and spending five years at Citadel, where he assisted nine varsity teams with program implementation, gaining experience with student-athletes in the sports of wrestling, baseball, football, track & field and basketball.