It looks like there will be a noticeable change of coach within the Big Ten, as a high-level assistant is changing teams. Yahoo Sports Pete Thamel is reporting that Purdue co-defense coordinator Anthony Poindexter, a former defender for the US national team in Virginia in the 1990s, will leave West Lafayette to accept a position as assistant defense on coach James Franklin’s team at Penn State.
“Sources: Purdue’s defense co-coordinator, Anthony Poindexter, should move into the position of open defensive assistant at Penn State,” Thamel wrote on twitter.
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Former Penn State defense coordinator and security technician Tim Banks recently left for Tennessee, so that looks like the position Poindexter will fill. Poindexter arrived in Purdue in 2017 and also served as a safety trainer for the Boilermakers. He was the defensive coordinator and security technician for Connecticut from 2014-16 and trained in various roles in Virginia from 2003 to 2013. Poindexter was picked in the seventh round in the 1999 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens and then played a season for the Cleveland Browns .
Just the second player in UVA history to be twice the First Team’s All-American, Poindexter received consensus honors after his senior campaign. ACC Defense Player of the Year in 1998 was a finalist for the Thorpe and Nagurski awards while playing for the College Football Hall of Fame coach George Welsh. After guiding UVA to a part of the 1995 conference title and earning an honorable mention in All-ACC, Poindexter would become only the third Cavalier to be named a selection three times by the First Team All-ACC. Twice team captain, he was named co-recipient of the 1998 Brian Piccolo Prize as the ACC’s most courageous football player.
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A second All-American team in 1996, Poindexter took Virginia to three bowl games, including a 1995 Peach Bowl win. Elected the Dudley Award winner in 1997 as the best player in the state of Virginia, he holds the school record with seven fumble recoveries, while his 342 career tackles are the second most defensive of all time among Cavalier’s defensive backs. Twice Ned McDonald Award winner as UVA’s most outstanding defensive player, Poindexter holds the record for a single school game for assisted tackles (14 against Virginia Tech in 1996), while sharing the marks of a single game for interceptions (3 against NC State in 1996) and fumble recoveries (2 vs. Georgia Tech in 1997 and again vs. Duke in 1998). A member of the ACC All-Academic team as a junior, his number 3 jersey was retired by the Cavaliers in 2009.
Jamie Oakes of 247Sports contributed to this story.