USF Promotes Canales, Hires Former NFL Wide Receiver
February 25, 2009 | Football
Coach Canales Bio
TAMPA ? USF head coach Jim Leavitt announced the promotion of Mike Canales to offensive coordinator and the hiring of former NFL player Phil McGeoghan to the position of wide receivers coach. Canales will also oversee the quarterbacks.
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“We are fortunate to have Coach Canales back as offensive coordinator and I know that he will do a tremendous job,” said Leavitt. “Mike knows this program and the offense inside-and-out and I know that he will continue to be a tremendous leader for our offense.
“Phil McGeoghan has a great football mind. He is a first-class coach with a ton of character. He is also very familiar with Coach Canales and the offense we will run. Phil's passion and expertise will immediately be assets to our program.”
It will be Canales' second stint as offensive coordinator at USF. The 47-year-old assistant was coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 1996-2000. He worked for the New York Jets, NC State and did a three-year run as offensive coordinator at Arizona before coming back to USF in 2007.
Canales has an impressive history with quarterbacks. He tutored San Diego Charger and All-Pro signal caller Phillip Rivers while he was at NC State. He also worked with former USF quarterback Marquel Blackwell during his freshman and sophomore seasons (1999 and 2000). Blackwell would go on to become the USF career record holder in passing yards and touchdowns, along with a litany of other records.
Canales spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons as the pass game coordinator for USF. During that time the USF offense averaged over 400 yards per game and wide receivers Taurus Johnson, Carlton Mitchell and Jessie Hester had standout seasons.
It will be a reunion for Canales and McGeoghan (pronounced mick-gay-gen), who worked together in the NFL.
After three seasons at the University of Maine (1998-2000), McGeoghan played in the NFL for four seasons, including 2003 when Canales was the wide receivers coach. McGeoghan was a part of four different organizations - New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders and Jets - in addition to playing in NFL Europe for the Berlin Thunder.
“It is a remarkable opportunity to coach at a BCS and BIG EAST school like USF,” said McGeoghan. “Coach Canales has been my mentor as a coach, player and person since 2003. I feel so privileged to be a part of Coach Leavitt's staff and call myself a Bull.”
McGeoghan put down the pads and picked up a headset in 2007 when he returned to Maine as an assistant coach with responsibilities over the tight ends and wide receivers. In 2008, he worked as the offensive coordinator for the Naval Academy Prep School, which oversees the professional and athletic development of midshipmen and cadet candidates. He was hired to oversee the prep offense by the current Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo.
“We called him ?full-go-Phil' when he was with the Jets,” said Canales. “He never did anything half-speed. He has a lot of energy and passion for the game. I have been impressed with how thorough and organized he is as a coach, and I am excited to get him here to USF.”
He ranks fourth all-time at UM in receiving yards and fifth in receptions. He also earned two All-America honors as a member of the track and field team at UM. He currently owns the America East Conference and UM high jump records with leaps of over seven feet.
His work in the classroom may have been even more impressive. In addition to Academic All-America awards, he was also the recipient of the Arthur Ashe and Dean Smith academic honors. He was president of the University of Maine's Student-Athlete population, a member of the Senior Skulls (top one percent of the University of Maine students) and he received the top senior student-athlete achievement award.
McGeoghan has an impressive list of mentors, references and coaches that he has worked with including: Herman Edwards, Fred Biletnikoff, Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak, Jon Gruden, Paul Hackett, Mike McCarthy, Chuck Bresnahan, Jim Haslett, Bill Callahan and Karl Dorrell.
