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Temple football coach Rod Carey adds three assistant football coaches from NIU

All three of the hires are on defense.

Rod Carey listens while Temple Athletic Director Patrick Kraft speaks during a press conference announcing Carey as the new head coach of Temple Football at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. Carey was formerly the head coach at Northern Illinois University.
Rod Carey listens while Temple Athletic Director Patrick Kraft speaks during a press conference announcing Carey as the new head coach of Temple Football at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. Carey was formerly the head coach at Northern Illinois University.Read moreHEATHER KHALIFA / Staff Photographer

At his introductory news conference last week, Temple football coach Rod Carey suggested that he would bring in many assistant coaches from Northern Illiniois University, where he was head coach the last six seasons.

On Tuesday, Temple announced the hiring of three assistant coaches, all from NIU. Jeff Knowles, Melvin Rice, and Walter Stewart will join the defensive staff. Carey will assign their responsibilities once his staff is completed, according to the announcement.

Carey was introduced as Temple’s coach on Friday, replacing Manny Diaz, who lasted only 18 days before resigning to become the head coach at Miami. Diaz replaced Geoff Collins, who left after two seasons for the head-coaching job at Georgia Tech.

Last week, the Inquirer and Daily News reported Knowles' hiring and that he is expected to be co-defensive coordinator with Fran Brown.

Brown, a former Temple assistant who spent the last two years as an assistant coach at Baylor, was hired by Diaz and is expected to be retained as assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator.

Knowles coached for Carey for two seasons at NIU, as linebackers coach in 2017 and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach last season. Before that, he coached three seasons at North Carolina State (defensive quality control) and at the University of St. Francis from 2008-2013.

Rice coached cornerbacks at NIU the last three seasons. He began his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at NIU in 2010 and moved to Minnesota from 2011 to 2014 as a defensive quality-control coach. He coached cornerbacks at Southeast Missouri State in 2015 before returning to NIU.

Stewart was NIU’s defensive line coach last season. He coached the defensive line at Eastern Kentucky in 2016 and 2017 and the defensive ends at Florida A&M in 2015, after starting as a graduate assistant/defensive line coach at Tennessee from 2013 to 2015.

Two others from Temple’s staff are expected to be retained. Ed Foley is expected to remain the special-teams and tight ends coach. Adam DiMichele, who was Temple’s quarterbacks and inside receivers coach and recruiting coordinator-offense is expected to be retained, but his job title isn’t known yet.

Former St. Joseph’s Prep coach Gabe Infante, who was hired by Diaz to coach Temple’s linebackers, will also stay. Infante told Philly.com that he will coach running backs.

One name to watch as a potential hire is NIU offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich, although he is expected to interview for the NIU head-coaching job, according to a source. It has also been mentioned in published reports that Uremovich is expected to interview for the NIU job, but if he doesn’t get the job, he could get serious consideration at Temple, a source said.