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André Powell is in his second season coaching Tiger running backs and his first season as special teams coordinator. Powell was given the added responsibilities of special teams coordinator after the 2007 season. Clemson running backs and his areas of emphasis within the special teams operation were instrumental reasons that the Tigers finished the season ranked in the top 25 with a nine-win campaign.
Clemson was second in the ACC in rushing in 2007 behind the performance of James Davis and C.J. Spiller. Davis was second in the ACC in rushing with 1,064 yards, as he is on the verge of becoming Clemson's career rushing leader. Spiller was ninth in the ACC in rushing and fourth in all-purpose running with 132.5 yards per game in 2007. Davis and Spiller are among the top running-back combinations in the nation entering the 2008 season.
In terms of special teams, Clemson was 15th in the nation in kickoff return average (23.9). Spiller was 14th in the country individually and had kickoff returns for scores against Duke and Wake Forest in consecutive games, the first Tiger in history to return a kickoff for a touchdown in consecutive contests.
Clemson was also most improved over the course of the 2007 season in kickoff return and punt return coverage. Powell came to Clemson with a background as a special teams coordinator, and Bowden did not hesitate to give him that title after the 2007 season. Powell is the first Clemson assistant coach to have the special teams coordinator title since 1998.
Powell came to Clemson after a six-year stint at North Carolina, and prior to that, he spent five years coaching running backs and wide receivers at Virginia. He has coached in seven bowl games as a full-time assistant coach, including the 2007 season with the Tiger program. The Indiana graduate has also worked at Army, Virginia Military, and Rhode Island.
Powell worked with some outstanding running backs prior to coming to Clemson, and many went on to noteworthy careers at the NFL level. That list includes former Giant great Tiki Barber, Cardinal running back Thomas Jones, and Steeler Super Bowl Champion Willie Parker.
Powell worked with wideouts and running backs at Virginia. He coached several former Cavaliers who currently play in the NFL, including Jones along with wideouts Germaine Crowell, Charles Kirby, Pat Washington, and Terrence Wilkins.
Powell coached running backs during his first season at Virginia in 1996, then he tutored the wideouts for three years before returning to teach the running backs in 2000. He came to Virginia from Army, where he was the running backs coach in 1995. He also spent the 1991 season at Army as the inside linebackers coach.
In between stints with the United States Military Academy, Powell was the running backs coach at Virginia Military in 1992 and Rhode Island in 1993,94.
Powell earned his bachelor's degree in health, physical education, & recreation in 1989 from Indiana, where he was a two-year letterwinner at running back. He was a member of Hoosier teams that participated in the 1986 All-American Bowl and 1988 Peach Bowl, and he was named team's Most Improved Player as a senior.
Powell was the lead blocker for 1,000-yard rusher Anthony Thompson in 1987. Thompson went on to be a 6,000-yard rusher in his Indiana career, and he is still in the top 20 in NCAA history in rushing yards.
He began his coaching career as a student assistant at Indiana during the 1988 season, a year that ended with a victory over South Carolina in the 1988 Liberty Bowl. After two years at Indiana, he was a graduate assistant coach at South Carolina in 1990.
A native of Lockhart, SC, Powell attended Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC for two years (1984,85) before transferring to Indiana.
An avid fisherman, Powell has won several tournaments and has been featured in North Carolina Sportsman magazine.
Powell and his wife Joann have a son, André II (12), and two daughters, Alayna (9) and Mikala (6).
