ASU’s Todd Graham adds former NFL assistant to coaching staff

Arizona State head coach Todd Graham announced Monday that longtime college and NFL assistant Shawn Slocum is the newest addition to the Sun Devils coaching staff.

Slocum will serve as an associate head coach, as well as a special teams coordinator and an outside linebackers coach.

Welcome to the #SunDevilFamily Shawn Slocum! http://t.co/c42jlt4jSF pic.twitter.com/HeW2NdXO2i

— Sun Devil Football (@FootballASU) March 2, 2015

Graham said Slocum has 25 years of coaching experience under his belt.

“We have enjoyed a high level of success, both offensively and defensively and I have wanted to take our special teams play to a championship level. This hire accomplishes that,” Graham said in a press release. “Shawn comes from a football family and he has coached and recruited at the highest competitive level. Shawn’s addition will further complement the fine staff that we already have in place. This is the best coaching staff I have ever had as a head coach.”

Slocum started his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Texas A&M under R.C. Slocum, his father. He went to the University of Pittsburgh in 1990 for one year to help coach the defense, and then he returned to Texas A&M, where he coached tight ends, linebackers and special teams from 1991 to 1997.

He went to USC for two seasons before returning to Texas A&M to coach the secondary and special teams from 2000 to 2002. In 2005, he became the assistant head coach and linebackers coach at Ole Miss.

Slocum went to the professional ranks in 2006, joining the Green Bay Packers’ staff as an assistant special teams coach. He was promoted to special teams coordinator in 2009, and was part of the staff that led the Packers to a Super Bowl XLV win in 2010. Green Bay won five division championships and earned seven playoff berths during Slocum’s nine-year tenure, and the assistant was invited to coach in three Pro Bowl games.

“I am looking forward to working with Coach Graham,” says Slocum. “I have followed his teams and success for a long period of time. I’m very impressed with the success of the Sun Devil football program. I am looking forward to bringing my family to Tempe and the ASU community and to competing for national championships at ASU.”

The 50-year-old Slocum takes over a vacant spot on the Sun Devils staff left by Paul Randolph, who moved into an administrative role with the school’s athletic department last week. Randolph was the senior associate head coach and the defensive ends coach. He had been a member of Graham’s coaching staffs since 2006, going back to their time together at Rice.

Randolph will become the associate athletics director for Championship Life — under the direction of Jean Boyd, senior associate athletics director for student-athlete development. Randolph’s new role will entail working with student-athletes on leadership skills, personal development and life skills, helping them prepare for life after college.

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