University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Walt Harris Names Charlie Partridge to Assistant Coaching Staff
1/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Walt Harris Names Charlie Partridge to Assistant Coaching Staff
1/29/2003
Partridge is a native of Plantation, Fla. |
University of Pittsburgh head football coach Walt Harris announced today the hiring of Charlie Partridge to the Panthers assistant coaching staff.
Partridge, a former associate of Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads at Iowa State, joins the Panthers as defensive ends coach. He assumes those duties from Curtis Bray, who will now coach the linebackers.
Charlie is an outstanding young coach who brings a lot of assets to our staff,? Harris said. ?He has great recruiting ties in South Florida and also has established contacts in such states as California and Texas. Charlie was an outstanding defensive lineman in college and I know he will do a fabulous job with our defensive ends. We?re very excited about him joining our program.?
A native of Plantation, Fla., Partridge served four seasons (1998-2001) at Iowa State in both administrative and coaching roles. He was a defensive graduate assistant in 1998-99, working with the outside linebackers. Following the 1999 season he earned a full-time appointment as the program?s director of football operations. Partridge and Rhoads worked together during the ?98 and ?99 seasons. Rhoads departed for Pittsburgh in March 2000.
In 2002 Partridge was hired by Eastern Illinois University as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. The Panthers advanced to the NCAA I-AA playoffs in ?02 and shared the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) championship with an 8-4 record. Two of the Panthers? losses came to I-A schools Hawaii and Kansas State.
An outstanding player himself, Partridge was an NSCA All-America defensive lineman for Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. A team captain and three-year starter for the Bulldogs, Partridge?s collegiate coaching career would begin at his alma mater, as he was a Drake graduate assistant during the 1996 and 1997 seasons. In this capacity, he coached the running backs, producing a pair of 1,000-yard rushers each season and worked as a strength and conditioning coach.
Partridge earned his bachelor's degree from Drake in secondary education in 1995 and master's degree in education from Iowa State in 2002. He and his wife Julie were married in July 2001.
Joining a football program with the great tradition of the University of Pittsburgh is a dream come true, Partridge said. I grew up in South Florida when Dan Marino was playing for the Dolphins so it is an honor to become a part of a school that produced a boyhood hero of mine. Coach Harris has done a remarkable job building Pittsburgh into a nationally renowned program again and I'm excited to join a team that strives to play for the national championship.
