Dave Ungerer departs to get closer to family on East Coast

By Cliff Kirkpatrick

Gazette-Times Reporter

Oregon State special teams coordinator Dave Ungerer will not return this season, football coach Mike Riley said Tuesday.

It was a mutual decision so Ungerer can return to the East Coast to be closer to family. He is from New Jersey and his wife, Sylvia, is from Toronto. Most of his coaching ties are in the east.

Ungerer stayed on with the Beavers during the offseason and helped with recruiting, seeing the class through today's signing day.

"Dave and I talked at the end of the season, right after the bowl game, and he's looking into some positions in the east," Riley said. "So he's not going to be back. I think he is trying to get closer to he and his wife's family."

A hire will be made in about two weeks, Riley said. Former special teams coach Bruce Read is the top candidate after being let go by the Dallas Cowboys at the end of the NFL season.

Ungerer replaced Read two years ago when Read left OSU for another shot at the NFL. Besides the Cowboys, Read has coached with the New York Giants and San Diego Chargers.

Read worked with OSU's special teams from 2004-06 and 1997-98 in both of Riley's runs as coach, and with Riley when they were with the Chargers from 1999-2001.

Read is a Portland State graduate and his father, Don, lives in town and helps Riley on a volunteer basis. Read helped recruit some of OSU's specialists such as kicker Justin Kahut and long snapper Marcus Perry.

"There's nothing final about Bruce," Riley said. "Bruce and I talked. But there's nothing to talk about more."

In other coaching news, Daniel Drayton replaces Inoke Breckterfield as the defensive graduate assistant. Breckterfield took the defensive line coaching job at Weber State. Drayton was the undergraduate assistant last season after being with the program as a safety for five years.