According to reports from ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg, Wisconsin football assistant coach Randall McCray has left the UW program to take a position as defensive coordinator for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders.
With the addition of Chris Ash as the Badgers’ new secondary coach, it is not entirely surprising to see McCray go. Ash was the recruiting coordinator at Iowa State before joining the UW staff and it is likely he will take over the same role with the Badgers.
McCray, in addition to being recruiting coordinator for head coach Bret Bielema’s staff, had coached several positions, including linebackers and safeties, in his time at Wisconsin.
Below is McCray’s bio from UWBadgers.com:
“Randall McCray is in his fourth season as an assistant coach at Wisconsin and his second as recruiting coordinator / outside linebackers coach. McCray coached the Badger defensive line his first two seasons.
In his first season working with the outside linebackers McCray coached a pair of seniors, DeAndre Levy and Jonathan Casillas, that earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. The duo ranked second and third, repectively, on the team in tackles.
Three of McCray’s defensive linemen earned postseason accolades in 2007. DE Matt Shaughnessy was a consensus second-team All-Big Ten choice after leading the Badgers and ranking fourth in the Big Ten in tackles for loss with 18. DT Nick Hayden was Wisconsin’s sixth-leading tackler and tied for the conference lead with three fumble recoveries. DE Kirk DeCremer was a first-team freshman All-American and paced the Badgers with 5.5 QB sacks.
In 2006 McCray guided a solid unit that helped Wisconsin become one of the nation’s best defenses. Two of his players–Shaughnessy (second team) and tackle Jason Chapman (honorable mention)–earned All-Big Ten honors. The Badgers, who won a school-record 12 games in 2006, were No. 2 nationally in scoring defense (12.1 ppg) and fifth in the country in total defense (253.1 ypg).
Prior to coming to Wisconsin, McCray coached the defensive line and linebackers during a three-year (2003-05) stint at Toledo. He left Toledo for Rice, where he spent two weeks as recruiting coordinator and safeties coach, just before moving to Wisconsin.
McCray coached Toledo’s defensive line in 2005, helping the Rockets to a 9-3 record (MAC West Division co-champions) and a 45-13 GMAC Bowl win over UTEP. Toledo was 21st nationally in total defense in 2005 (316.8 ypg) and led the MAC in scoring defense (21.8 ppg), total defense, pass defense efficiency (111.0), tied for first in sacks (31) and finished second in rushing defense (125.6 ypg). Among McCray’s top players was DE J.P. Bekasiak, who is now with Hamilton of the CFL. McCray coached the Rockets’ linebackers during his first two years at Toledo. The Rockets won the MAC title in 2004.
In his first season at Toledo, McCray was faced with replacing two first-team All-MAC linebackers, David Gardner and Tom Ward, from the previous season. The two players who stepped in, Anthony Jordan and Brock Dodrill, finished the 2003 season ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the MAC in tackles. In 2004, Jordan and David Thomas finished second and third, in tackles on the team, with 107 and 91, respectively. Jordan’s total placed him 15th in the league.
McCray was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Illinois State in 2002 after serving as defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach for the Redbirds from 2000-02. In 2002, McCray guided Gateway Defensive Player of the Year Boomer Grigsby to three All-America nods and a third-place finish for the Buch Buchanan Award (top defensive player in Division I-AA football). McCray also coached two other All-Americans at linebacker, Galen Scott at Illinois State and Ronnie Merritt at Murray State.
McCray coached inside linebackers at Murray State (1997-99) and became the Racers’ defensive coordinator in 1999; defensive ends at Bethune-Cookman (1996); was in charge of quality control at Clemson (1995); defensive line at Tennessee-Chattanooga (1993-94) and was a graduate assistant at South Carolina from 1991-92.
A two-year letterwinner as an outside linebacker and running back at Appalachian State, McCray was a member of the Mountaineers’ 1987 Southern Conference Championship team, as well as two teams that advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
McCray earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Appalachian State in 1991 and a master’s degree in higher education from South Carolina. A native of Monroe, N.C., McCray and his wife, Michelle, have a son, Matt, and a daughter, Mallory.”