Palermo and Hurtt Join Football Staff
Feb. 6, 2006
Coral Gables, Fla. (www. hurricanesports.com) – – University of Miami Head Football Coach Larry Coker announced today the hiring of John Palermo and Clint Hurtt as assistant coaches.
Palermo will coach the defensive line while Hurtt will assist in that area. In a related move, Coker also announced that Defensive Coordinator Randy Shannon will coach linebackers.
In making the announcement, UM Head Football Coach Larry Coker said, “We are very fortunate to be able to attract an outstanding defensive line coach such as John Palermo and are especially thrilled to have Clint Hurtt back on our staff. Clint is a very enthusiastic motivator and will be a great asset in recruiting.”
For the past 15 years, Palermo has been the Assistant Head Coach at Wisconsin, serving as outside linebackers coach from 1991 to 1995 and as defensive line coach for the last 10 seasons.
While at Wisconsin, Palermo produced four first-team All-Americans, and his players were named first-team All-Big Ten nine times. Four of his players were selected Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year and twice were named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Eight of Palermo’s defensive linemen have been chosen in the first six rounds of the NFL draft, including two, Wendell Bryant in 2002 and Erasmus James in 2005, who were taken in the first round.
Barry Alvarez, longtime Head Coach at Wisconsin and currently the Badgers Athletic Director commented, “John and I coached together for a lot of years at both Notre Dame and Wisconsin. He was a trusted and reliable assistant for me. There is no finer teacher in the game than John Palermo. I think he will do a tremendous job at Miami.”
In his 27 years of coaching at the collegiate level, Palermo has coached on 17 bowl teams, including Notre Dame’s 1988 national championship squad and three Wisconsin teams that won the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl (1993, 1998 and 1999).
Palermo played collegiate football at Florida State and earned his degree from there in 1974. He and his wife, Donna, have a son (Jason) and a daughter (Jessica). Jason was a starter on the offensive line for Wisconsin in 2005.
Hurtt, who served as the defensive line coach at Florida International in 2005, is no stranger to Hurricanes fans. Hurtt was a three-year letterman for the Hurricanes as a defensive lineman. He signed with UM in 1997 and played extensively as a freshman before redshirting in 1998 while recovering from an injury. He saw extensive action in 1999 and 2000 before an injury prior to the 2001 season ended his playing career.
After the injury, Hurtt joined the Hurricanes staff as a volunteer assistant in the strength and conditioning staff. In 2003, he was named a graduate assistant and worked with the defensive line in that capacity for two seasons.
FIU Athletic Director Rick Mello said of Hurtt, “I have had the good fortune of working with some outstanding football coaches during my career–Pete Carroll (USC Head Coach), Steve Mariucci (veteran NFL Head Coach), Donnie Henderson (Detroit Lions Defensive Coordinator) and Rod Marinelli (Detroit Lions Head Coach)–and Clint Hurtt is in their category at this point in his career. He was at our institution a short while but his impact will be felt for a long time.”
