Villanova hires Columbia's Ola Adams as running backs coach

Villanova lost a major assistant coach when running backs coach Darrius Smith made a step up to the FBS with Massachusetts in February, but it appears they have found their replacement in Ola Adams. Adams was most recently the wide receivers coach under the now departed Pete Mangurian, and prior to that stint he was the defensive coordinator at SUNY-Cortland.

Here's Mangurian on Adams:

"I believe Ola Adams will help us with his defensive knowledge and his proven recruiting background. During this process I found him to be a great communicator and an analytical thinker," Mangurian said.  "Our players and our offensive staff will benefit from his defensive expertise. I am comfortable with his transition to offense. I am convinced he is a great teacher and I believe that to be the most important quality when hiring a coach."

This will be Adams first job coaching running backs so there isn't any historical data to go off of, but he'll be playing with a loaded deck in 2015, despite losing both Kevin Monangai and Austin Medley to graduation.

Gary Underwood is back after an injury-shortened breakout season, and Javon White and Matt Gudzak also return. A three-headed monster of a freshmen class is arriving as well in Jarrett McClenton, D'Andre Pollard and Aaron Fores.