Phil Elmassian ( ; born April 28, 1951) is a retired

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. His last job was as the

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

for

Ferrum College Ferrum College is a private college in Ferrum, Virginia. The college was established in 1913 as the "Ferrum Training School" (also referred to as the "Ferrum Institute" by its board of trustees) for primary and secondary education to serve the ...

Playing career

Elmassian was a two-year starter on the

Wellesley High School Wellesley High School is a public high school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States, educating students on grades 9 through 12. The principal is Jamie Chisum, who took the position in 2014 after the departure of Andrew Keough. As of 202 ...

football team. After graduating, he went on the play college football at Ferrum Junior College for

Hank Norton W. H. "Hank" Norton (October 15, 1927 – January 16, 2019) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia from 1960 to 1993. Norton coached Ferrum to four NJCAA National Football Championship ...

transferring after two seasons to William and Mary under coach

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former college football coach and television analyst. He served as the head football coach at the College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the N ...

where he played defensive back.

Coaching career

Elmassian began his coaching career at his alma mater William and Mary in 1974, serving two seasons as the running backs and quarterbacks coach. He then moved to Richmond where he spent three seasons (1976–1978) as the running backs and quarterbacks coach for the Spiders. From 1979 to 1982 Elmassian earned his first defensive coordinator position at Ferrum College, which was classified as a

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

at that time. From 1983 to 1992 Elmassian spent time at East Carolina, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Virginia and Syracuse as a secondary coach. In 1993 Elmassian garnered his first defensive coordinator job at a major football college at Virginia Tech. He held the position for 2 seasons before serving as the Boston College defensive coordinator from 1995 to 1996. From 1997 to 1999 Elmassian served as the secondary coach at Wisconsin, during his stint at Wisconsin the Badgers ranked first in the nation in scoring defense in 1998 and fifth in the nation in 1999. Elmassian was the defensive coordinator for LSU in 2000 and West Virginia in 2001. Between the 2002 and 2007 seasons, Elmassian was a position coach at Marshall, Purdue and Nebraska. Elmassian next spent one season in 2008 at Louisiana-Monroe as its defensive coordinator before serving two years (2009–2010) as the defensive coordinator for Illinois State. Elmassian then went back to Purdue for one season in 2011 to serve as linebackers coach for the Boilermakers. In 2012, Elmassian was named defensive coordinator for head coach

Charley Molnar Charley Molnar Jr. (born July 23, 1961) is an American college football coach. Molnar served head football coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), for two seasons, from 2012 to 2013, compiling a record of 2–22. Molnar had pre ...

's staff at UMass. Elmassian was fired after the 2013 season. He then returned to Ferrum College to serve as defensive coordinator in 2014 where he resigned for health reasons toward the end of the season. He now assist on a sport's radio show in Roanoke.

References

External links

Illinois State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmassian, Phil 1951 births Living people American football defensive backs Boston College Eagles football coaches East Carolina Pirates football coaches Ferrum Panthers (junior college) football coaches Ferrum Panthers football coaches Illinois State Redbirds football coaches Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches UMass Minutemen football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches Washington Huskies football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches William & Mary Tribe football coaches William & Mary Tribe football players Wisconsin Badgers football coaches Sportspeople from Wellesley, Massachusetts