TROY, Alabama – Troy football head coach Neal Brown announced Friday that Al Pogue will return to the football staff to coach the Trojan cornerbacks.
Pogue joined the Troy staff prior to the 2014 season after spending three years at Auburn as the director of high school relations and as a quality control assistant. Prior to his stint at Auburn, Pogue spent 13 years as a high school coach in the state of Alabama.
"I'm excited to welcome Al back to the Troy family," Brown said. "We opened up a full search to fill our cornerback coach position, and Al's reputation as a teacher and developer of young men, along with his strong recruiting ties throughout the state made it the right choice to bring him back on staff."
During Pogue's first season at Troy, the Trojans improved their pass defense by 105.7 yards per game from the previous season and moved from 123rd to 36th nationally. Troy finished the 2014 season with 11 interceptions, which was the most by a Troy team since 2010.
"I want to thank Coach Brown for giving me the opportunity to return to Troy and work on his staff," Pogue said. "I am very excited about the future of this program and where we are headed with this group of coaches and student-athletes."
At Auburn in 2011, Pogue served as an offensive quality control assistant under Gus Malzahn, who was the offensive coordinator at the time. In 2012, Pogue worked as a special teams quality control assistant for the Tigers.
During his tenure at Auburn, the Tigers played in the 2013 BCS National Championship game against Florida State, defeated Missouri in the 2013 SEC Championship Game and defeated Virginia in the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Pogue, who spent 12 of his 13 years coaching in the high school ranks in Montgomery, Ala., was the head coach at Carver High School from 2008-10 where he produced the program's first-ever undefeated regular season in 2008. He was the head coach at St. Jude High School from 2006-07 after serving as the defensive coordinator for Sidney Lanier High School (2003-05).
Pogue's first head coaching position was at Calhoun High School in Lowndes County in 2002. He began his career coaching defensive backs at Lee High School (1998-01).
As a college football player at Alabama State from 1993-96, Pogue was a three-year starter at defensive back, earning All-America and All-SWAC honors at free safety; he began his career as a cornerback for the Hornets.
A native of Mobile, Ala., Pogue earned a bachelor's degree in special education from Alabama State in 1998. He and his wife Nikita, who also attended Alabama State, have two children, Allison (19) and Nasir (11). Allison is currently a student at Troy University.
COURTESY TROY UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
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