Florida Gators hire Kerry Dixon II as wide receivers coach

By Adam Silverstein
February 10, 2015

New head coach Jim McElwain filled the last remaining position on his initial coaching staff on Tuesday when the Florida Gators announced that Kerry Dixon II would take over as the team’s seventh wide receivers coach in as many seasons.

Dixon spent the 2014 season coaching running backs for FIU, a position he held with FAU the two seasons prior (2012-13).

“Kerry is a young, energetic, up-and-coming coach,” said McElwain in a school release. “He has strong recruiting ties throughout the state and as a former offensive coordinator he will bring value to the offensive game plan.”


A former Baylor quarterback and Hampton wide receiver, Dixon began his post-playing career as the head coach of Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, Texas (2005-06). He then took over at quarterbacks coach at Morgan State (2007) and Texas Southern (2008) before becoming the offensive coordinator (as well as the quarterbacks coach and wideouts coach) at Division II Stillman College for the 2009 campaign. Dixon crossed paths with McElwain that year as Stillman College is located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Florida has been forced to put a new wide receivers coach in position ahead of each of the last seven seasons. Dixon is the third such coach to have never coached the position before at the FBS level, joining then-graduate assistant Bush Hamdan and graduate assistant-turned-wide receivers coach Chris Leak, who held the job in 2014.

Dixon is considered to be a strong South Florida-area recruiter and is the second assistant McElwain has hired after National Signing Day as he was also forced to replace defensive line coach Terrell Williams with Chris Rumph of Texas.

McElwain, who coached wide receivers for much of his career as an assistant, could very well spend additional time with Dixon and the position group, such as Will Muschamp did with Florida’s defensive backs, Urban Meyer did with the Gators’ special teams and Steve Spurrier did with the entire offense.

The following video is from 2010:

Florida has also seemingly made a couple of program assistant hires as of late with (Florida State graduate) Marc Nudelberg, Cincinnati’s tight ends coach and special teams coordinator one season ago, joining the team as a quality control assistant. He spent the first eight years of his career in a variety of roles (student assistant, equipment manager, quality control coach) at FSU under both Bobby Bowden and Jimbo Fisher (2005-13).

19 Comments

  1. sean kidd says:

    Wow Mac! I am sure he will be good but this is what you were waiting on?

  2. FGDAVIDSON says:

    Seriously, what is the real story here. This is obviously a recruiting hire and nothing more. How many guys turned us down? Could have had this guy 2 months ago.

    • Ken (CA) says:

      I was thinking the same thing myself. The Oregon coach must have been a real possibility until news got out early, and then maybe waiting for a pro coach who probably has now said no, but not sure why we keep getting no-experience coaches at that position.

      • He was not. There is a reason he was not mentioned here.

        • Ken (CA) says:

          Ok, fair enough, bad assumption on my part, but the point itself does seem valid, that he was shooting for some big time name either n the CFP or the Pro Playoffs, and apparently didn’t get so he had to settle, otherwise it makes no sense to take not have made this hire 2 months ago and have another south Florida “power” recruiter helping out

  3. AJ says:

    Guessing there were a lot of names above him on the list. It takes time to work through all of the candidates who have some experience at the position before. Considering the turnover and lack of production at WR I would feel much more comfortable with an average to poor recruiter with proven success coaching the WR unit.

  4. Brandon says:

    This is totally a recruiting hire. Guy is young and can recruit. McElwain will develop the WRS.

  5. Gemstone says:

    This guy is a diamond in the rough. Young and very intelligent. Will be great coaching/mentoring the kids in a positive way. Great hire Coach Mac!

  6. Kenneth says:

    Not to worried about it, Coach Mac’s fingerprints will be all over the offense. Not the worst thing get a strong recruiter, that was in the middle of South Florida. Coach Mac gets a young guy he can mold to teach the WR they way he wants them to. Also guy is young and can relate to the players.

  7. SW FL Joe says:

    Guess Mac broke the bank hiring Rumph and this was all he could afford.

  8. 305Gator says:

    Why are you guys putting down this hire? I bet none of you know anything about this guy except what you read online, I admit it.
    I see two good things about this hire. One this is a young guy and may be relatively unknown so he will probably stick around for a while and we will end the turnover at WR coach once and for all.
    Two, he is from Miami and will help recruit the area. Miami is chock full of talent and the more of it that comes our way the better.
    I’m on board.
    Go Gators!

    • BRLgator says:

      He’s from Houston not Miami. Coached one year at FIU. This guy could be great and may well be a great recruiter. However, the comments/criticism are fair. This is clearly a hire that could have been made weeks ago and was done as a last resort.

  9. scroud says:

    I hope they find something for Chris Leak.

  10. Michael Jones says:

    Wow. . .not sure that interview casts him in the most flattering light. Hopefully a lot of positive things have happened over the past 4 years in Coach Dixon’s development. Hopefully we will recruit better down in south Florida with this hire.

    Hmmm. . . . . . .

  11. JLBOB says:

    I’m also sure he will be great and I’m not putting him down as a hire, but I agree with the sentiments “we waited so long for this?” Wish I knew more behind the scenes about what lead to this hire. Was really hoping to be wowed by something unexpected in a different way.

  12. Gatoralum88 says:

    I believe kudos are in order for myself after accurately reporting last week that Mac was not going to hire Adam Silverstein to fill this position. 🙂

Leave a Reply to Gemstone Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux