Football Coaches
HEAD COACH MIKE SANTIAGO
He has been a winner as a head coach, he has been an assistant at a variety of college and universities and he has been a professional scout, but Mike Santiago is set to embark on something entirely new to his 30-year coaching career in football.
Incarnate Word today said Santiago is coming on board as the head coach for the University’s first-ever football team. UIW Athletic Director Mark Papich said Santiago will begin work immediately as the lead person in the establishment of San Antonio’s only scholarship football program.
UIW in April announced the football program with the Cardinals having their first kickoff in the fall of 2009. At that same time, the University said San Antonio native and New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson will fund construction of the new Gayle and Tom Benson Fieldhouse in support of the football endeavor.
Most recently, Santiago worked as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Utah State University for two seasons. While there, he coached the top two Western Athletic Conference leaders in all-purpose yards, and two of his quarterback protoges set records for rushing yards.
His head coaching experiences were gained during six years as the leader at Stephen F. Austin University of the 1-AA Southland Conference. His cumulative mark there was 39-27 and the Lumberjacks won the 1999 conference title with an 8-3 mark which was the nation’s best turnaround for that year. To date, that is the school’s only conference championship.
In addition to his stints at those two schools, the Arizona native was an assistant at McNeese State, Southwest Texas State, Western Michigan, Northern Arizona, North Carolina State and Lamar. Over his career, he has worked on the offensive side of the football with either quarterbacks, wide receivers or tight ends.
Another element of his football education was the year he worked for the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns as an area scout.
Santiago’s personal playing career included two years as a cornerback and wide receiver at Glendale Community College in Arizona followed by two years as a starting cornerback at Southern Utah. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Southern Utah with a double major in psychology and health and secondar education.
First up on Santiago’s agenda will be the hiring of two assistant coaches followed by a
comprehensive scouting and recruiting program covering the schoolyear 2007-2008. UIW will enroll its first class of
football players in the fall of 2008 while the recruiting process continues ahead of the 2009 kickoff.
JIM MARSHALL
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
OFFENSIVE LINE COACH
The new football program at the University of the Incarnate Word is picking up momentum with the announcement that Jim Marshall is on board as the Cardinals offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
UIW Head Coach Mike Santiago said Marshall is on campus and will join Santiago as the primary scouts and recruiters for the coming year.
“It was a coup for us to be able to bring Jim on board,” Coach Santiago said. “He is one of the top offensive line coaches in the nation and one of the guys I needed most was one with his experience. We got a wealth of experience in Jim.”
Santiago said he and Marshall first met some 18 years ago while recruiting Texas. Marshall has particular knowledge of the South Texas areas including San Antonio and Corpus Christi.
A veteran of 29 years of collegiate football coaching, Marshall most recently was an assistant at Alabama State University. His resume includes stops Arkansas State, Wyoming, Memphis, Tulane and UTEP, all Division I programs. For six years he was the head coach at the University of Richmond where in 1992 he was voted the Yankee Conference coach of the year. That same time he received the Virginia Division I coach of the year award as well as the Richmond Touchdown Club coach of the year honor.
A native of Crestline, Ohio, Marshall played football and baseball at Bowling Green State University and competed one year at the University of Tennessee at Martin where he earned his bachelor’s degree. At UTM he was a Small College All-American as a baseball catcher.
Incarnate Word announced the first scholarship football program in San Antonio last April and will play its first game in the fall of 2009. With financial support from New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, the University soon will begin construction on the Tom and Gayle Benson Fieldhouse on campus.
TODD IVICIC
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
SPECIAL TEAMS COACH
The football program at Incarnate Word took a significant step recently with the announcement that Todd Ivicic would be the Cardinals defensive coordinator.
Head Coach Mike Santiago said Ivicic is on board at UIW and already has joined the search for outstanding student-athletes to be among the first to play at Incarnate Word. Santiago and his staff will have their first group of athletes on campus in the fall of 2008 and those will complete a redshirt year before taking the field for NCAA Division II competition in the fall of 2009.
“I have known Todd for some 14 years now,” Santiago said. “We are fortunate to be able to pull him away from Tarleton State. He is very talented with a great football mind, especially in the areas of defense and special teams. He is a hard worker and his organizational skills are just outstanding.”
For the past three years Ivicic has been at Tarleton State helping the Texans to a 22-9 cumulative mark in that time. The last two seasons he coached the defensive line after spending his first year as the offensive line coach.
Led by Ivicic (EYE - vah- check), the Texan offensive line made way for several good running backs. In 2005, the line blocked for one of the best running backs at the Division II level. A Texan runner led the Lone Star Conference with 1,512 yards, and the offense averaged 383.4 yards per game.
In 2006, the Texan defensive line was instrumental in holding opponents to a league-low 90.5 yards per game on the ground. Ivicic also coached the LSC South Division defensive lineman of the year.
In 2007, Ivicic again coached an all-conference performer, and helped the Texans as a defensive team to the second highest sack totals of the season. The Texan special teams were first in the Lone Star Conference in kickoff returns, first in punting and third in punt returns.
Overall, Ivicic has 14 years coaching experience at the collegiate level.
Prior to his stint at Tarleton State, Ivicic worked six seasons at Stephen F. Austin where Santiago was the head man. Ivicic joined the SFA staff in January of 1999. In 2003, three of four of his starters along the defensive front earned All-Southland Conference honors. He also coached the special teams, which blocked eight kicks on the year. His defensive front produced SFA’s only first team All-SLC pick in 2004 and added six more blocked kicks.
Prior to his time at SFA, Ivicic was the defensive line and special teams coach at Sam Houston State from 1995-1998. He was the defensive line coach at Blinn Junior College in 1993-1994 and was a graduate assistant at SHSU in 1991-1992. He coached SHSU in the 1991 Division I-AA playoffs and coached Blinn Junior College in the Mineral Water Bowl in 1993.
Ivicic played defensive end for the Bearkats in 1989 and 1990 after transferring to SHSU from Blinn Junior College. He was a linebacker at Blinn in 1988 after playing at Trinity Valley Community College in 1987 as a defensive back.
A 1986 graduate of Taylor High School in central Texas, he was a three-time regional qualifier in track and was named All-Central Texas as a defensive back in 1985. Ivicic was a defensive back and a running back in high school.
He earned his a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from SHSU in 1991 and a master’s degree in kinesiology from SHSU in 1993.
KYLE KENNAN
DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS
ASSISTANT COACH
Kyle Kennan is the most recent addition to the Incarnate Word football staff and he brings extensive administrative experience to the job along with strong coaching genes.
His duties with the Cardinals will be as director of football operations as well as
coaching responsibilities.
For the last year, Kennan was a vice president of Coaches Inc., a company which worked with and represented football coaches. The five years prior to that he was with the National Football League Coaches Association. He also has spent working time with the NFL Players Association.
A graduate of Mandeville High School in Louisiana, Kennan earned his bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.
The gene portion of his resume comes from his father Larry, who has worked 16 years as a coach in the NFL with such teams as the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos,
Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks.
TONY MARCHIANO
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
Tony Marchiano came to Incarnate Word in late summer of 2007 as the strength and conditioning coach for the Cardinals athletic department. He became the first-ever person in this capacity on a fulltime basis.
At UIW he is working primarily out of the football office. The University will begin playing football in the fall of 2009. In the meantime, Marchiano will work with all Cardinals teams and their athletes.
A native of New York City, he graduated from Moon Valley High School in Phoenix, Ariz. There he played football, baseball, basketball and ran track. After those days he played football and ran track at Glendale Community College in Arizona and played basketball at South Mountain Community College, also in Arizona.
He gained experience as a player and coach with the Tucson Mirage of the Professional Indoor Football League and then coached high school track and college football, all in Arizona.
Since moving to San Antonio he has been a high school football coach and an AAU basketball mentor.
Prior to coming to Incarnate Word, his primary concentration in San Antonio has been as an individual fitness trainer.
