Hofstra University Head Football Coach Dave Cohen today announced the first four assistants on his 2006 Pride coaching staff.   Cohen named Ed Foley assistant head coach/offensive line coach,   Mike Elko, defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach, John Perry, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, and Jaime Elizondo, wide receivers coach. Their appointments are effective immediately.

Ed Foley - Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line Coach

Coaching Experience: 18th year in 2006

Ed Foley comes to Hofstra after seven years at Fordham University including the last two as head coach. After a 5-6 season in 2004, a season in which the Rams dropped four games by a touchdown or less, Fordham slipped to a 2-9 mark in 2005. As Fordham's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach from 1999 through 2003, Foley helped rejuvenate a program that rose to the top of the Patriot League in 2002, when it won its first-ever league title with a 10-3 record. In 2003, the Rams compiled a 9-3 overall record and had 12 players named to the All-Patriot League Team, including six members of the offense, four of whom were named to the First Team.

Under Foley's guidance, the Fordham offense has set numerous team and individual records in recent years. The Rams set a team record for most rushing yards in a season in 2003, gaining 1,657 yards, while also setting a school record for most pass completions in a season with 255. In 2002, Fordham led the Patriot League in passing offense and scoring offense, while finishing second in total offense and setting a team record for most points in a season. In addition to winning the Patriot League title that season, the Rams advanced to the NCAA I-AA Playoffs, where they defeated Northeastern University in the first round.

In 2001, Foley helped the Fordham offense develop its first 1,000-yard rusher on the NCAA Division I-AA level, as well as the first-ever 1,000-yard receiver in Fordham's history. The Rams had the second-ranked passing offense in the Patriot League in 2001 as well as the second-best scoring offense. In 2000, Foley's offense established a running game that generated 1,635 yards (an average of 148.6 per game), the most for a Fordham team on the I-AA level until the 2003 team gained 1,657.

Foley arrived at Fordham after spending the 1998 season as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Jacksonville University, which sponsored a football team that year for the first time in the school's history. Foley helped lead the Dolphins to a 4-5 record during their inaugural season, as the offense scored 271 points in nine games (30.1 ppg).

Foley also served as an assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania from 1991 to 1993, and again from 1995 to 1997, spending the 1994 season as an assistant at Williams College.  At Penn, Foley coached the tight ends and tackles for five years and helped the Quakers to a perfect 10-0 record in 1993, when they also won the Ivy League Championship.  Prior to his stint at Penn, Foley served as the offensive line coach at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany for two years.

Foley was a three-year starter at Bucknell University, playing offensive guard for one season and center for two. During his junior year, he was named the team's top lineman, and he served as a captain during his senior year. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Bucknell in 1989 and a master's degree in educational psychology at SUNY Albany in 1991.

He is married to the former Rebecca Schonfeld and has a son, Charlie, born on January 4, 2000. His brother is Glenn Foley, the former New York Jets and Boston College quarterback.

Mike Elko - Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach

Coaching Experience: 8th year in 2006

Mike Elko comes to Hofstra after two seasons as linebackers coach/special teams coordinator at the University of Richmond. His first recruiting class at Richmond was a large part of the Spiders' 9-4 record including a 7-1 slate in the Atlantic 10 in 2005. Richmond defeated Hampton 38-10 in the first round of the I-AA playoffs before dropping a 24-20 decision at Furman. The Spiders ranked 12th in I-AA in scoring defense, allowing just 17.7 points per game, and 22nd in rushing defense, allowing just 120.1 yards per contest.

Before coaching at Richmond, Elko worked with Spiders Head Football Coach Dave Clawson at Fordham University as his linebacker coach and co-defensive coordinator in 2002 and 2003. While at Fordham, Elko

coached a defense that led the Patriot League in scoring defense (14th nationally in 2002) and sacks, as well as ranking third with 25 turnovers caused in 2002.  In 2003, the Rams led the league in pass defense.

Elko's coaching experience also includes time at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy where he served as Defensive Coordinator. He also coached at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, directing the secondary. He began his coaching career at Stony Brook in 1999 where he guided the linebackers in the fall and the defensive backs in the spring.

A member of the Penn football team for four years, Elko helped the Quakers win the Ivy League title in 1998.  He received a bachelor's degree in history in 1999.

Mike and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of a son, Michael, who was born in the spring 2003.

John Perry - Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach

College Experience: 13th year

John Perry comes to Hofstra after one season as associate head coach at Georgetown University in 2005. He joined the Hoya staff after serving as offensive coordinator at Dartmouth College from 2000 through 2004. Prior to his stint at Dartmouth Perry was an assistant coach at the Division I-AA level for eight years.

At Dartmouth, Perry immediately transformed the offense when he joined the team in 2000 and he helped the Big Green rank eighth in passing and tenth in total offense nationally at the end of the 2002 campaign. Two Dartmouth quarterbacks under Perry's tutelage, Brian Mann '02 and Greg Smith '02, ended their careers ranked among the Green's all-time passing and total offense leaders.

From 1997-99, Perry coached receivers at the University of New Hampshire, his alma mater. In 1999 he was also UNH's recruiting coordinator. Prior to returning to UNH, Perry spent three seasons coaching receivers at Brown,

including Sean Morey, the Ivy League's outstanding rookie in 1995 and the Ivy's outstanding player in 1997. His brother, James Perry, was Brown's record-setting quarterback and Ivy Player-of-the-Year in 1999.

Perry's coaching career began at Northeastern where he worked with the running backs in 1992-93.

A 1992 graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a double major in communications and history Perry earned conference All-Academic team recognition. At UNH, he was a two-sport athlete also lettering in basketball. Perry was a record-setting receiver in football (he caught passes in 42 straight games), a two-time all-conference selection and was a four-year letter winner. The Wildcats went to the Division 1-AA playoffs in 1991 and Perry was captain of the 1992 team. He also lettered in basketball.

He and his wife, Jen, have three children.

Jaime Elizondo - Wide Receivers Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
College Experience: 7th year in 2006

Jaime Elizondo is in his seventh year of coaching and his third season as wide receivers coach at Hofstra. In 2005, the Pride passing attack (306.5 ypg) ranked third in I-AA and first in the Atlantic 10. Hofstra also ranked second in the conference and 14th in I-AA in total offense (429.8 ypg). Over the past two seasons, he has also coached all four Pride starting receivers to career best campaigns with two, Marques Colston and Devale Ellis, earning all-conference honors.

Elizondo, a native of El Paso, Texas, came to Hofstra after two seasons (2002-03) as tight ends/special teams coach at Atlantic 10 rivals, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. In addition to his tight ends duties, he was also responsible for all aspects of the kickoff return unit, kickoff coverage, place-kickers, long-snappers, and PAT and field goal coverage. Under his direction Tribe kicker Greg Keuhn and punter Michael Mesi to All-Atlantic 10 honors for two consecutive seasons.

Elizondo began his coaching career at Georgetown Prep High School in Rockville, Maryland in August 1998. In January 2000, he moved over to College Park to become assistant recruiting coordinator for the University of Maryland football program, where he oversaw the best recruiting class in College Park in 15 years.

Elizondo then served as special teams coordinator/defensive secondary coach at Catholic University in Washington, DC from August 2001 to July 2002. The Cardinals led the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in net punt average, punt return yardage and kickoff coverage.

Elizondo earned a bachelor's degree in physiology and neurobiology from the University of Maryland in 1997 and a law degree from American University's Washington College of Law in 2002. Jaime and his wife Tammy reside in East Meadow, New York.

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