Robert Alan Phenicie (born March 4, 1966) is an

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

coach and former player. He is currently an analyst at

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. Previously, Phenicie was the head coach at

Idaho State University , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

. He was named the head coach in March 2017, staying until his firing, following the 2021 season. Phenicie's other coaching stops took him to the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Los Angeles Valley College, Cal State Northridge, the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

and

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

Coaching career

Following Phenicie's graduation from Memphis, he pursued his master's degree while serving as an offensive graduate assistant for the Memphis Tigers football team from 1989–1991. He then went to

, also as an offensive graduate assistant in 1991 and 1992. He then coached the wide receivers and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s at Los Angeles Valley College through the 1996 season. From there, Phenicie moved on to be the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

at Cal State Northridge for two seasons (1997–1998). He also coached the

s and the wide receivers. In 1999, Phenicie was an assistant at

. Phenicie then moved on to

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, serving as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2000–2002. He also added co-offensive coordinator duties for the 2002 season. In 2003, Phenicie joined the

coaching staff as

and

s coach. He helped head coach Bobby Hauck lead the Grizzlies to three national championship game appearances. In 2010, he made his second stop at

. This time, Phenicie stayed five years. He was the

in 2010 and 2011, coached the

s from 2010–2012, and coached the

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

s in 2013 and 2014. Phenicie then joined the

Idaho State , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

coaching staff as the assistant head coach for offense and wide receivers coach in 2015. Following the 2016 season, Phenicie was promoted to

, but soon after left to take a position on the

Northern Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

coaching staff. A week later,

head coach,

Mike Kramer Michael David Kramer (born July 25, 1955) is a former American football coach and former player, most recently the head football coach at Idaho State University of the Big Sky Conference. Kramer was previously the head coach at two other schools ...

, retired. The next day, a week before spring practices were set to begin, Phenicie was named the head coach at

. Phenicie's original contract was a two-year deal, and made him the head coach for the 2017 season, and guaranteed that he would remain on staff as at least the

in the second year. In December 2017, Phenicie was rewarded with a new contract, nearly doubling his salary, and making him the permanent head coach. Following his time at Idaho State, Phenicie returned to

as an offensive analyst. After a year back at Montana, where Phenicie helped lead the Grizzlies back to the FCS Play-offs, he was hired by

Dave Cecchini Dave Cecchini is an American football coach. He was announced as the 27th head coach for Bucknell University in February 2019. Previously, in 2014, he was hired as head football coach at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. Before coming ...

and the Bucknell Bison football program as the teams new offensive coordinator for the 2023 season.

Playing career

Phenicie began his college playing career as a

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

in 1984. He then transferred to

Orange Coast College Orange Coast College (OCC) is a public community college in Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides Associate of Art and Associate of Science degrees, cert ...

for a year, and then moved on to Memphis. He played in 11 games and caught four passes for 50 yards in 1987 for the Tigers.

Personal life

Phenicie received his bachelor's degree in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

from the

in 1989 and his master's degree in Athletic Administration from the

in 1991. He and his wife, Jennifer, have one daughter, Meghen.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phenicie, Rob 1966 births Living people American football tight ends Cal State Northridge Matadors football coaches Idaho State Bengals football coaches Los Angeles Valley Monarchs football coaches Memphis Tigers football coaches Memphis Tigers football players Montana Grizzlies football coaches Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Orange Coast Pirates football players Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from Huntington Beach, California UCLA Bruins football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches