Three More Added to Football Staff for 2021
12/17/2020 3:00:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss football coach Will Hall announced Thursday the addition of Greg Meyer and Dan
O'Brien as assistant coaches and Lance Ancar as the strength and conditioning coach.
Meyer will serve in the role of special teams coordinator, while O'Brien will oversee the safeties. Both come to Southern Miss from the University of Georgia.
Meyer joins the staff in Hattiesburg after spending the last three seasons as special teams analyst at Georgia. During that time, Georgia has posted a 30-7 record and gone to the Sugar Bowl in each of the past two seasons.
In 2020, the Bulldogs rank in the Top 10 nationally in kickoff returns (No. 4/31.33 per return), net punting (No. 7/42.66) and kickoff return defense (No. 10/16.80).
Prior to his stint at Georgia, Meyer worked at Eastern Kentucky as special teams coordinator and running backs coach, where he spent two seasons.
In his first season as special teams coordinator, Meyer tutored the top rated punting unit in the conference and one of the best in the nation. Eastern led the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in net punting (41.19 ypp) and punt return defense (2.5 ypp). The Colonels ranked third and fourth in the nation in those categories as well.
Meyer served as the special teams quality control coach at Tennessee for three seasons (2013-15). Before that he served in the same role during the 2012 season at Cincinnati. Meyer got his collegiate coaching start as a staff intern at Mississippi State in 2009. He then served as a special teams graduate assistant for the Bulldogs during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
He earned a bachelor's in business management and a bachelor's degree in English from Case Western Reserve University in 2010. Meyer completed a master's degree in kinesiology at Mississippi State in 2012. He and his wife Rylee have one daughter.
O'Brien heads to Southern Miss after spending the last two years at Georgia in defensive quality control.
O'Brien moved to UGA after working five years at the Naval Academy, along with four coaching in the secondary, with his main focus on the safeties his final two years.
In 2017, Navy finished the 2017 campaign with a 7-6 record, which included a 49-7 rout of Virginia in the Military Bowl. The defense improved in all four major categories in 2017: against the run (154.5 yards per game), the pass (215.8 yards per game), total defense (370.3 yards per game) and scoring defense (26.3 points per game).
Navy finished the 2016 campaign with a 9-5 mark and a 7-1 record in the American Athletic Conference. The Mids played Temple in the AAC Championship game and played in a bowl game (Armed Forces) for the 13th time in the last 14 years.
In 2015, Navy won a school-record 11 wins against two losses, won a bowl game for the 10th time in school history (beat Pittsburgh, 44-28, in the Military Bowl), won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy for the third time in the last four years, won the Lambert Trophy as the best team in the East for the first time since 1963, finished 18th in the country in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls and shared the West Division title of the AAC with Houston in Navy's first year of being in a conference after being an Independent for 134 years.
As a team, the defense finished the 2015 season ranked 32nd in rushing defense (143.0), 40th in total defense (364.9), 26th in scoring defense (21.8), 12th in red zone defense (.737), 13th in turnovers gained (27), first in fumbles recovered (15), third in turnover margin (+1.46), first in fewest penalties per game (3.1) and first in fewest penalty yards per game (26.1).
Navy finished the 2014 season with an 8-5 record, won a bowl game (beat San Diego State, 17-16, in the Poinsettia Bowl), won a bowl game in back-to-back years for the second time in school history. The Navy defense finished 32nd in pass defense, 37th in interceptions and 38th in the country in red zone defense in 2014.
O'Brien came to Navy from Elon, where he was the defensive backs coach for three years.
Prior to working at Elon, O'Brien spent four seasons as a defensive analyst and defensive graduate assistant at Alabama under the tutelage of Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. In O'Brien's four years at Alabama, the Crimson Tide went 43-11 and won the 2009 BCS National Championship. The Crimson Tide ranked fifth nationally in total defense, third in scoring defense and 10th in rushing defense in 2010 and ranked third in all three categories in 2009.
He has also had experience as a scouting assistant intern with the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick in 2005 and spent a year at Harvard working with the safeties in 2006.
O'Brien is a 2005 graduate of Boston College where he earned his communications degree and served as a student coach. He is married to the former Alicia Marcum and they have two sons, Rowan and Charlie.
Lance Ancar starts his new role at Southern Miss after spending the 2020 football season at Ole Miss as assistant director of football strength and conditioning.
Ancar came to Ole Miss after spending the last three seasons as director of football strength and conditioning at South Alabama.
Prior to joining the Jaguars, Ancar spent four seasons as a strength and conditioning coach at Alabama. While with the Crimson Tide, he assisted with the football program as it made three straight appearances in the College Football Playoff — winning the national championship in 2015 — and served as the head strength and conditioning coach for the baseball and men's tennis programs. In his role, Ancar worked with Alabama's swimming and diving and rowing teams as well.
He also has experience at the collegiate level at Minnesota State-Moorhead, where he was the Dragons' running backs and tight ends coach while serving as assistant strength and conditioning coach during the 2010 season.
Ancar earned a degree in health and physical education from North Alabama. He was a four-year letterwinner for the Lions from 2002-05, and was the recipient of the Rimington Trophy as the top center in NCAA Division II football while earning first-team All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Association as a senior. A three-time all-Gulf South Conference selection, Ancar helped UNA to a 33-16 record during his career including berths in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2003 and '05. He was later chosen to both UNA's and the Gulf South Conference's All-Decade Teams for the 2000s.
Ancar played five seasons in the Arena Football League as a fullback/linebacker with the Alabama Vipers (2008-10) — where he helped claim the Arena Cup his first season with the team — and the Georgia Force (2011-12).
Ancar is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and United States Weightlifting Association (USAW).