John Settle will be the new running backs coach at Rice, Mark Berman of Fox 26 Sports reported on Tuesday. Owls head coach Mike Bloomgren later retweeted the report.
Settle spent the past two seasons as the running backs coach and co-special teams coordinator at Kentucky, and prior to that spent six seasons coaching running backs at Wisconsin.
A former Pro Bowl and Super Bowl champion running back for the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins from 1987-92, Settle started coaching at Appalachian State in 1994 and has been in the profession ever since.
He spent two stints at Wisconsin, while also coaching backfields for Fresno State, Pittsburgh, the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns.
The 2022 campaign, Bloomgren's fifth, was the best yet for the Owls. Rice won five games and reached the LendingTree Bowl, which marked the program's most wins since 2015 and their first bowl trip since 2014.
Settle inherits a running back room led by Juma Otoviano, a rising senior who carried 71 times for 403 yards and one touchdown in 2022.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
College football source: @RiceFootball hires former Pro Bowl RB John Settle as the Owls running backs coach. Most recently at Kentucky,Settle has coached in the NFL with Cleveland (twice),Baltimore & Carolina. His college coaching stints include Wisconsin (twice) and Pittsburgh.. pic.twitter.com/04pLNiauKv
— Mark Berman (@MarkBerman_) March 28, 2023